In austere times, many of us choose to take a closer look at our outgoings to see whether there’s room for trimming. However, cutting expenditure on essential items such as your annual MOT can often bring us additional expense much later.

If you choose to ignore your MOT responsibility not only is your vehicle potentially unsafe to drive putting you and other road users at risk, you could also face a fine of up to £1,000 – considerably more than it would cost you to book in for an MOT. Aside from fines, leaving your car to run without this essential health check could mean relatively small faults escalate and cause much more expensive damage in the future.

It is estimated that 6.5million people forget to book in their car for an MOT every year. However many of these drivers deliberately avoid the task to save money is unknown but they could be leaving themselves open to prosecution.

Failing to hold a MOT certificate is an offence under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Although the offence doesn’t result in penalty points, most insurance policies will become worthless without one, which will leave you liable for the costs of any accident and in breach of the law. Driving without insurance has more serious consequences than no MOT and usually results in between six and eight penalty points as well as a hefty fine.

Triggs Garage has come up with the perfect solution for busy motorists, offering its customers a postal reminder service around two weeks before the test is due in the event they forget to book in.

Owner Richard Cousins said: “People still leave it to the last minute to arrange their MOT but at least with our reminder service they’d find it very difficult to forget altogether – and hopefully will avoid any costly penalties. Without an MOT you can’t get tax or insurance for your vehicle so it’s not something that you can avoid.”

An MOT must be renewed every 12 months and costs on average £50. In the event the vehicle fails an MOT, Triggs Garage offers a free re-test within 10 working days. When it comes to ordering repairs to return the vehicle to roadworthiness, motorists are advised that there’s always room for negotiation, especially in today’s economy.

Quotes are usually flexible to some extent, especially at independent-owned garages, and you’re likely to get a much better deal if you have more than one problem that needs fixing.

Triggs Garage in Brentwood provides a free collect and drop-off service for MOTs. For more information or to book an MOT call 01277 726021.