Latest MOT 'enhancements'

where is that bit?

As with most things in Italy, it depends on how well you know the man who does the testing. I have a friend in Italy who drives around in a 20 year old wreck. Last year the tester told him, 'I'll pass this time but I don't want to see it again' That would count as a fail anywhere else.

Does the heater run all the time? What about resetting it with the exhaust hot then presenting it still hot?

I have tried a re-set while hot but the light comes back on within moments. I think the cheapest fix will be a resistor across the feed wires and very quick to try. Another wander around a breakers might turn one up and they are easy to remove and test.

"Snow from the Continent brings England to A standstill!"

TUV is a German acronym for Technischer Uberwachungs-Verein. In English it means Technical Surveillance Association.

It's the German equivalent of the MOT, or VOSA nowadays I suppose. When I was in germany in the 70s, we brits called it the tough test, as apparently it was much tougher than the MOT test of the time. I briefly had a flat within sight of the Tuv place in Osnabruck, and a thing I discovered was that if your car failed the test, there was no driving it away and fixing it, it stayed there till it was fixed or taken away on a recovery vehicle. Another thing they used to do was divert the passing traffic through the test site for unannounced checks on lighting etc. I once had that happen to me, and as I knew I had a sidelight not working, I blagged it by pretending I didn't understand any German and going straight to headlights.

Steve

they showed a mobile tuv station on top gear, it was an artic with slideouts and all sorts of stuff to test with inside including lift and plates that wobbled suspension, brake testers etc.

I saw that the other day, but surely that was a repeat, I'm sure I've seen that bit before.

Steve

Priceless, truly priceless.

"Live in the UK? But it'll be over-run with Bulgarians next year! I know, I'll move to... Bulgaria"