DVSA to clamp down on MoT fraud

CHANGES to the MOT which came into effect in May have been well received by independent and franchised dealer test stations as well as the public

Neil Barlow, DVSA’s Head of MOT Policy driver and vehicle standards agency said that since then it has been reviewing the test recording data to help the agency improve the service further.

One area the agency is currently focussed is on risk rating garages to determine how it directs resources to support garages and carry out enforcement activities. He said: “Over the last few months, we‘ve been running some trials to see how we can better assess risk and focus our efforts more specifically than we do now. This will help improve MOT quality and catch more MOT fraudsters.”

The future overall risk score for a garage will be made up of 2 key elements – analysis of the data and the results of an improved site assessment.

Barlow added that data produced by each tester will be analysed to look for trends in their results. This will be things like:

• what they record
• how long tests take
• disciplinary history

This information will help the agency develop an overall impression of the garage. This is the same data that testers and those that run garages can look at through the test quality information feature of the service.

Barlow said: “So, we’ll do some calculations based around testers and this will be pulled together to form an overall score for the garage. We’re working hard to make sure that this information is clear and open to those that need it.”

Vehicle examiners will still visit sites and carry out checks to make sure they comply with DVSA’s rules and that they have good systems for managing the quality of testing. This will include a check of an MOT carried out. These checks will be done at fixed intervals, which will initially be every 3 years, although more regular in the longer term.

Barlow added: “The overall risk rating will be created by combining the data and the site assessment. The garage will be given a red, amber or green rating, which will give us a clear view of where to focus our support and enforcement efforts.”