If your MOT is due, here’s how you can save the pennies and get it done at the best price

Taking your car for its MOT is one of those really annoying tasks in life. Unfortunately, however, it’s a necessity. If you get caught driving a vehicle on the road with an expired MOT certificate, you can get a fixed penalty notice from the police of £60, or a court fine up to a maximum of a £1,000.

So if your MOT is looming and you’re desperate to keep the costs down, here are some top tips to help you!

Carry out some DIY

The first thing to do before taking your car for its MOT is to carry out a little DIY and check that everything is working as it should be. That way, you can get anything that needs fixing repaired before it goes in for its MOT – and as a result, there’s less of a chance of your car failing its MOT.

To give you a few tips on what you need to check, take a look at the following:

• Are all the lights (headlights, rear lights, rear registration plate light, rear fog lamps, brake lights and indicator lights) in good condition and working fully?
• Is the tyre pressure correct? Look in the vehicle handbook, or consult your garage or tyre dealer to find out the recommended tyre pressure.
• Is the tyre tread correct? The legal minimum tread is 1.6mm.
• Are there any cracks in the windscreen? Are the windscreen wipers in good condition or are they looking a little worn?
• Are the handbrake, horn, mirrors and seatbelts in good working order?
• Is the correct amount of oil in the engine? There are tips on how to check this here.
• Is the exhaust making unusual sounds or leaking?
• Is the registration plate easy to read and properly secured to your car? Are there any cracks?
• Is the Vehicle Identification Number displayed?

If any of these are not working as they should be, get them fixed. You can view a list of what the MOT test will look at here.

Shop around

The good news is there is a limit to how much you can be charged for your MOT. The government has stipulated that MOTs on cars and motor caravans must cost no more than £54.85, while MOTs for motorbikes can cost no more than £29.65. You can view the full list on the Directgov website.

However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t shop around to ensure you’re getting the very best deal, as some garages will charge less than this. Just remember that you will still have to pay for any repairs on top of the price of the MOT.

CHEAPER PETROL

by collecting 3p Vouchers from the Ely Standard or Cambridge Times, you can save 3p a Litre at a number of local garages including Witcham Toll, A10 Waterbeach,  Ely Bypass, and Soham Downfields.

A useful website is www.petrolprices.com which is useful in that it enables you to put in a postcode, where upon the website shows a list of all local garages and their petrol prices. Remember to knock your 3p off with a voucher when searching locally for the garages participating in this scheme

THE ANALOGUE TV SWITCHOFF

Digital switchover involves the switch-off of the analogue terrestrial transmissions network that has been in place since the 1930s and its replacement with all-digital terrestrial network. At the moment digital and analogue signals are broadcast simultaneously. But whilst the analogue signal is maintained, the digital signal can’t be broadcast in full and at full power across the UK.

Switchover will affect all viewers who have any televisions through which they can only receive analogue services BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4/S4C and (where available) Five services through the TV aerial.

To receive TV services after switchover, all these televisions will need to be converted either by the purchase of a set-top box, or by the purchase of an integrated digital television (iDTV) which has an in-built digital tuner, or through connection to a cable or satellite digital service. Video Recorders will lose some functionality, for example they will no longer facilitate time-shift recording or record a different channel to that being viewed.

It will take around four to five years to complete the switchover process. It will take place region by region (very likely to be based on ITV regions). Viewers in each region will have a minimum of two years’ notice about when the switching process will start in their region.

The process of switchover will take place between 2008 and 2012, ITV region by ITV region:

2008 – Border
2009 – West Country, HTV Wales, Granada
2010 – HTV West, Grampian, Scottish Television
2011 – Yorkshire, Anglia, Central
2012 – Meridian, Carlton/LWT (London), Tyne Tees, Ulster

In each region, consumers can expect changes to take place over a period of weeks. This could happen as follows:

• Messages appear on screen saying that from next month one analogue service (for example BBC TWO) will no longer be available
• On the named date, the analogue service stops and the digital multiplex carrying BBC TWO (and also BBC ONE, BBC THREE, BBC FOUR, CBBC, CBeebies) will move to the frequency channel vacated by analogue BBC TWO
• Shortly afterwards, messages appear on screen saying that some or all of the other analogue services are about to stop
• On the named day, or days, BBC ONE, ITV1, Channel 4 (or S4C in Wales) and Five stop transmitting in analogue, and the multiplexes carrying these digital services move to the frequency channels vacated by the analogue service

Each of these changes should happen overnight. Each set top box or integrated digital television for terrestrial services will need to rescan (either automatically or manually) so that the viewer can watch the digital services at their new settings.

Some households can’t receive digital terrestrial television at the moment and won’t be able to until switchover. This sequence of changes at switchover in a region will provide an extra prompt to them to get equipment, and give them the chance to connect and test it before the analogue is completely switched off.