27th August 2015 | By Ray Tyler

New MOT system

Another day at the office or should I say workshop – after 6 days of trouble free MOTing with regards the new web based system I was about to give praise where praise is due, but after another day of logging on issues we are left with a lot of wasted time and inconvenienced customers.

Yesterday was a bad day from the outset – Hindered by the DVSA announcing that an update was taking place which slowed the whole system down, our testers found themselves with a system that was slower than its predecessor. Our tester on the day was having to play catch up all day.

On a positive note when the system was up and running correctly, we have found it to be very good. There are still a few glitches that need to be ironed out but all in all the new system looks to be a vast improvement on the old dial up system.

I just wish that the DVSA would think more about the consequences of their actions. Carrying out updates during the week is a ridiculous decision. Surly this could have been left until the weekend especially as we have an impending August bank holiday when a majority of garages that carry out MOT’s will be closed for business. The DVSA will have more than 48 hours to conduct any website maintenance.

One anomaly that I have noticed is that I personally can not do a duplicate or replacement MOT certificate (although I used to be able to). My testers are able to search for and print off a replacement certificate but the facility for an Authorised Examiner who is not a tester to print off a duplicate or replacement is not yet available. The DVSA have announced that it will become available but no time announcement has been made. Should this have been picked up whilst testing the new system and why does it take so long to add the facility to a website? Website building is not that difficult once all the template is there it is simply the addition of a tab that is already available to other users.

Perhaps I expect too much and should be thankful that this is all I am commenting on. In the mean time should you need a duplicate or replacement certificate you can either ensure that one of my testers are available alternatively you can contact the DVSA’s Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 9000 (Monday to Friday between 7:30am and 6pm) which can issue duplicates for a £10 fee

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