Precisely, and that is the big worry. I know from my own friends and assocaites just how ignorant of the basics most folk are these days and how litytle they check on a regular basis. cars today are too trouble-free for their own good and gone are the days of Saturday morning checking over the car (except us here of course!) Most everybody just puts fuel in and drives.ACTIVE8 wrote:So, if the cars are checked every two years, and as I mentioned above roadside stops/checks etc are rare, then it will mean there might be more cars out there driven around in a dangerous condition !
In fact, there is an argument for a basic safetry check to be carried out every 6 months really. What Alan S suggests here is an excellent idea.
That is of course what used to happen in the good old days when petrol stations were properly attended and not a just range of pumps tagged onto the end of a grocery shop.I think if Service stations were mandated or if they took the initiative of employing just one person to fill the car with petrol, check tyres and oil, clean the windscreen etc just like they used to years ago and even if they charged a small fee for this service (say A$5.00 a car) there would be a lot of people particularly the elderly and some women who would take advantage of this just to feel a bit of security in what they were driving. The one doing the checks would naturally point out things like tyres wearing unevenly, low oil levels, leaks and anything noticed during the checks and from the garage/service stations aspect, a lot of business would come to them without going the hard sell.
As for the loss of revenue. Simple. They will double the cost and because it is two-yearly also make it very much more stringent on the argument that testable items have to be good for two years further service. I cannot help thinking it'll be a back-door attempt to rid the Uk roads of a very large number of older cars on the basis that it'lll be near impossible to get say, a ten year old car, through the test as is the case, I believe, in Japan.
