Any one have any idea? This was posted on a local VW group saying the rules changed on 10th March.

This might be worth knowing if you have a buggy or other kit/modified VW. So on the 10th of March, with no public announcement I am aware of, the rules changed about MOT exemption. In the past if the vehicle was over 40 years old, registered as historic and had no substantial changes in the last 30 years it was MOT exempt. The 30 years bit has gone. so it is perfectly possible that you set off on a trip driving your old historically modified vehicle, and half way through that trip on the 10th of March you went from driving legally to driving a vehicle on the road with no MOT. The rules as they stand now are on this link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/historic-classic-vehicles-mot-exemption-criteria/historic-classic-vehicles-mot-exemption-criteria--2?fbclid=IwY2xjawQiuFNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFDcGxGUUVBSE5rSHhnbjJBc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHt8VTo2si-eGJ2PTWH1cucNNm28hjhRqyIfse6raDLWZAnIhZzlEOJjFNXhh_aem_WBe-VS306O1X-jOUXlQi0Q

Have a look at the thread in Buggy Box

https://www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,15813.0.html

Just for clarification, in case people are still unsure

When the rules were re-written a few years ago, the phrase that followed was "Radically altered in its Visual Appearance"

And that meant that EVERY BUGGY NEEDED AN MOT

The 30 year rules that followed applied to Factory production cars only - Not kit cars, not Custom Cars, Not modified cars

Nothing has changed in our world, but you do need an MOT on a Buggy 

Just for clarification, in case people are still unsure

When the rules were re-written a few years ago, the phrase that followed was "Radically altered in its Visual Appearance"

And that meant that EVERY BUGGY NEEDED AN MOT

The 30 year rules that followed applied to Factory production cars only - Not kit cars, not Custom Cars, Not modified cars

Nothing has changed in our world, but you do need an MOT on a Buggy 

 "Radically altered in its Visual Appearance"?


If only any of them had actually used that expression if that's what they meant while having their secretive discussions in their smoke filled rooms and gentlemen's clubs.

Us plebs only had what they actually published to go on...mind readers we are not...    

My buggy does have Historic tax, is a kit conversation and has had no substantial changes since 1978 and yet apparently I've been an outlaw since 2012     

This is still in the notes on the back of the current MOT exemption declaration form...

Rather than take a paragraph, try reading the whole document in context 

It does refer to vehicles that have been substantially changed / modified / whatever.
If you read that document also, it has never ever mentioned that a Q plate would ever be mot exempt either.
Everybody has just made that assumption.

Yes, your vehicle may not have altered in any way since 1978, but in 1978 it was not classed as a standard unmodified production vehicle either, therefore you have never qualified as MOT exempt.

So with the money you have saved over the last umpteen years, you can now afford to MOT it    

That whole document is invalid and illegal as there is no Welsh translation commonly available     

We'll have to agree to disagree Dave, my conscience is clear though and the money I've saved will certainly pay for my new screen wash pump, a tin of brake cleaner and the test fee...    

A Q plate of kit if registered historic and not substantially modified in the last 30 years can be mot exempt according to their notes but the front page suggests they will never be. An mot is listed as a requirement for breakdown companies to attend unless exempt so just go on as we are.

A Q plate of kit if registered historic and not substantially modified in the last 30 years can be mot exempt according to their notes but the front page suggests they will never be. An mot is listed as a requirement for breakdown companies to attend unless exempt so just go on as we are.

Where does it state that on the front page? I'm not seeing it?

Sure I spotted it somewhere but that post was typed early this morning awaiting a 02.40hr courtesy car pick up. Will breeze through the stuff when I have time.

A Q plate of kit if registered historic and not substantially modified in the last 30 years can be mot exempt according to their notes but the front page suggests they will never be. An mot is listed as a requirement for breakdown companies to attend unless exempt so just go on as we are.

My understanding is that a Q Plate Un-Modified car "May" be exempt, but a Q plate "Modified" car would not, irrespective of not changing over the last 40 years.

Volkswagen had a stricter set of rules and regulations before a car could hit the road way back when, and although ours are probably in just as good if not better for the modern road conditions, we simply dont have the Construction & Useage Certification that the original Manufactures had, and therefore all of ours are in the class of Modified Cars. The V5 date only refers to registered keeper date, and not the conformity of the car itself. Shame the powers that be are making such a pigs ear of conveying this.

ie: a Q plated VW Beetle may qualify, but a Q plated Kit Car would not as its classed as as Modified

The one I cannot fathom out though is a Baja ?

The one I cannot fathom out though is a Baja ?

A Baja which still has an unmodified chassis, original style suspension and axles, and original type engine and transmission (even if altered in capacity/ gear ratios etc) is a VHI as far as I read the rules. Doesn't matter what has been done to the body within reason. It is still recognisable as a Beetle to anyone who knows what a Beetle looks like, so not radically altered in its appearance.

The one I cannot fathom out though is a Baja ?

A Baja which still has an unmodified chassis, original style suspension and axles, and original type engine and transmission (even if altered in capacity/ gear ratios etc) is a VHI as far as I read the rules. Doesn't matter what has been done to the body within reason. It is still recognisable as a Beetle to anyone who knows what a Beetle looks like, so not radically altered in its appearance.

Totally agree 

FYI though, when I was shouting at DVLA all those years ago, the guys didn't know what a Classic Beetle was and had never heard of the films with Herbie in   

The one I cannot fathom out though is a Baja ?

A Baja which still has an unmodified chassis, original style suspension and axles, and original type engine and transmission (even if altered in capacity/ gear ratios etc) is a VHI as far as I read the rules. Doesn't matter what has been done to the body within reason. It is still recognisable as a Beetle to anyone who knows what a Beetle looks like, so not radically altered in its appearance.

Totally agree 

FYI though, when I was shouting at DVLA all those years ago, the guys didn't know what a Classic Beetle was and had never heard of the films with Herbie in   


[       there is a simole answer hands up who wants a job at DVLA

[       there is a simple answer hands up who wants a job at DVLA

That's all the country needs, an organisation that is 99% computer based being run by a bunch of septuagenarians