Almost two million people will get a 12-month extension to their MoT certificates if their tests were due to fall during the coronavirus lockdown.
The new rules are set to apply to the 1.9million people living in Northern Ireland, BelfastLive reports.
Plans were announced in an effort to make sure the region's test centres aren't overwhelmed when lockdown ends.
The rest of the UK currently gets an extension of six months, the DVSA confirmed to Mirror Money.
Northern Ireland infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon said: “I have decided the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) will continue to issue temporary exemption certificates (TECs) to those vehicles, private cars, goods vehicles, trailers or motorcycles until their normal MoT date.
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“This means a vehicle will get an exemption for one year which will bring it back into the system when there is capacity to test it.”
In March it was announced that drivers anywhere in the UK would get a 6 month exemption on their MoT, allowing them to continue essential travel.
All cars, vans and motorcycles which usually would require an MoT test have been exempted from needing a one since 30 March.
Lorry, bus and trailer annual MoTs have also been suspended for three months because of the coronavirus outbreak.
However, it does not exempt you from fines if your vehicle is spotted in an unroadworthy condition - and garages have remained open for essential repair work, transport minister Grant Shapps said.
"Allowing this temporary exemption from vehicle testing will enable vital services such as deliveries to continue, frontline workers to get to work, and people get essential food and medicine," Shapps said.
"Safety is key, which is why garages will remain open for essential repair work."
How the 6-month extension works
Your vehicle’s MoT expiry date is automatically extended by 6 months if it’s eligible. This will be done about a week before it’s due to expire.
This means that:
- your vehicle will still have a valid MoT certificate for an extra 6 months
- you can still tax your vehicle - you might need to wait to do this until later in the month if both your MoT and vehicle tax run out this month
- your insurance will still be valid
- your vehicle’s record will be updated so the police can see you have a valid MoT
You should check the expiry date has been extended three days before your MoT was originally due to expire.
If the expiry date has not been extended 3 days before it was due to expire, email covid19mot@dvsa.gov.uk
The DVSA said you will not get a new paper MoT certificate with the new expiry date on it.
