Majority of motorists prefer to pre-book MOT a month in advance

Almost two-thirds of car owners would prefer to book their MOT early if given the option, according to a new consumer survey.

Marketing Delivery's survey polled 500 dealer customers and said pre-scheduling MOT appointments could help workshops balance out the peaks in workload typically seen during the plate-change months of March and September, creating capacity for pre-delivery inspections and the turnaround of incoming part-exchanges, positively impacting speed to market.

The survey found that 60% of UK car owners agreed with the statement: “I’d prefer to book my MOT up to a month (minus a day) earlier if I could still keep the original renewal schedule.”

Overall, 78% of the car owners surveyed were already aware that they could book an MOT up to a month before it expires and still maintain the original renewal schedule.

However, awareness of this option was found to be lower among younger drivers, with 50% of 18- to 24-year-olds stating they did not know this was possible, indicating a potential demographic to target with additional guidance.

Marketing Delivery is currently running ‘MOT pull forward’ campaigns for its retailer clients, where customers with vehicle MOTs due in August or September are sent personalised emails and SMS communications encouraging them to book early, with optional Safety Recall checks, where applicable, to strengthen the proposition.

Charlotte Murray, managing director at Marketing Delivery, said: "There is a very receptive market for these ‘MOT pull forward’ campaigns, and workshops can introduce time-limited incentives to further maximise response rates, for example by offering price promises on consumables such as tyres and wiper blades.

“Our VoiceBox platform can automatically identify those customers who are due an MOT and deliver a tailored message encouraging them to make an earlier booking."

Combining MOT and service bookings

In a previous survey commissioned by Marketing Delivery, 68% of UK car owners indicated they would be more likely to book their vehicle in for a service or MOT with a dealer that monitors the date on which it is due and makes the effort to contact them about it in advance.

Only 5% of respondents said they would not be influenced positively by this type of bespoke reminder.

Conversion rates for booking prompts issued to customers are higher when forthcoming jobs are combined.

Marketing Delivery’s data shows that combined MOT and service reminders - when both appointments are due within 30 days of each other – achieve a 44% conversion rate.