Fail for WoF Reforms Leads Latest MTA Review

The fail mark is one of two given to the Government at this inspection – but is outweighed by passes in Crime, Fuel, Immigration and Education for an overall pass.

MTA Head of Advocacy James McDowall says the six-monthly WoF delivers a serious message in an innovative format on how well Government is working with, and for, the automotive sector.

“There is possibly a degree of irony that the Government’s own Warrant of Fitness reforms get a fail in the MTA’s WoF inspection,” Mr McDowall says.

“The reforms were a significant, serious issue for MTA members and industry and unfortunately the Government chose to go ahead with changes that were unsupported and unwelcome to many in the sector.”

MTA published an open letter to Government in newspapers around the country at the end of last year, highlighting concerns about the proposal, including:

• That short-term savings for motorists will be outweighed by increased costs from delayed maintenance and repairs
• There will be more unsafe vehicles on the roads as a result of the change in frequency.

“Our position is formed by MTA members, who carry out 80% of the country’s WoF inspections and who were clear in their reservations,” Mr McDowall says.

“Reservations that were based purely on concern for the safety and bank balance of everyone on our roads.”

MTA’s press release and submission on the WoF reforms can be found here.

In its upcoming election year manifesto, MTA is calling on Government to defer the change in WoF frequency for vehicles aged eight to 14-years old for two years while further evaluation can be carried out.

In better news for the Government, progress on crime reduction gets a big tick, while the “reassuringly calm and consistent” messaging on the fuel situation also meets with approval.

A strong performance in the last six months for Immigration and Education has also been applauded.

But grim economic data means the absence of the “long-promised green shoots” adds to pre-election pressure on the incumbents.

“The Government has five months to turn that around,” Mr McDowall says.