Alert at the MOT: more than 20 million vehicles fail it and many are still on the road without it

The ITV has always been a tough nut to crack: that appointment we have to keep every so often, which turns owning an older car into a real lottery. But it is essential to go through this procedure to have all the guarantees that the car can be driven safely. Unfortunately, the age of the vehicle fleet is very high, and the consequences show up in the technical vehicle inspection.

This is what emerges from the report issued by AECA-ITV, the Spanish Association of Collaborating Entities of the Administration in the Technical Vehicle Inspection, which was covered by Top10motor. According to this report, in 2018 a rate of 20.9% of vehicles rejected was recorded for irregularities detected at a first inspection.

Some ITV inspection stations affiliated with this association handled 20,714,602 vehicles in 2018, a 2.52% increase over the previous year. However, the number of irregularities detected during inspections reached 27,225,449, a truly high figure.

From this large number we move to another: serious defects, those that prevent a vehicle from passing the ITV. These totalled 8,385,076, which meant that the vehicle was immobilised and had to be towed to the workshop by a tow truck.

The Top 3 faults are, in first place, problems with lighting and signalling, accounting for 24.9% of the defects found. In second place are problems with axles, tyres and suspensions, at 20.1%. Rounding out this podium of serious defects are those relating to emissions, which account for 16.2%. The average number of faults found on each affected vehicle is 2.5 infringements, so this is really a serious problem and not isolated defects.

The vehicles that recorded the most serious defects were lorries, at 30.6% of the total, followed by trailers and semi-trailers at 28.9%, and buses, at 26.8%. In total, the vehicles that had to correct faults and go through the ITV again numbered 4,331,123.

20% of vehicles are on the road without a valid ITV

The Directorate-General for Traffic estimates that there are around 20% of vehicles driving without a valid ITV. This amounts to one fifth of the vehicle fleet in our country, which is quite worrying. The largest number of vehicles without a valid ITV are vans, which account for 40% of that percentage, followed closely by motorcycles and mopeds.