A log book and MOT certificate with the V5 registration certificate should be enough, right? Think again.

Everybody knows that not all dealerships and garages are completely ethical and it is possible to get a fake MOT certificate or for a garage to have passed a car that in fact has a few things wrong with it. This can easily lead to a road traffic accident.

A way to get around this is to use the computerised MOT scheme to check whether the certificate you have in your hand is authentic.

Computerised MOT scheme aims to wipe out car crime

You can also request the test history of the vehicle you are planning to buy and receive a response via email. If the vehicle you want to buy has an old MOT certificate that was not issued using MOT Computerisation, there will be no record of the test.

The older style MOT certificate is completed by hand and embossed with the stamp of the issuing garage. If the MOT certificate of any car you are trying to sell has been lost or damaged, you can obtain a duplicate from any MOT garage or station.

The new certificate is called a VT20 and is the receipt for an MOT test, but should not be relied on for proof. Only the computer record can prove a vehicle has a MOT which is valid.

To check the MOT status, all you need is the registration number of the vehicle and the test number from the new style MOT test certificate.

As well as reducing MOT certificate crime, the computer record will improve the standards and consistency of the MOT test and enable all UK drivers to buy a tax disc online at www.directgov.uk.

The computerised MOT scheme was introduced to force compliance with the requirement for test certificates, reduce MOT certificate crime and improve standards. Read more at www.motinfo.gov.uk

Big brother electronic road systems

The computerised car systems hint at a George Orwell world where smart cars could monitor driver behaviour - theoretically designed to protect them and help prevent car accidents - and inform the Government, who would then fine them accordingly.

A new proposed smart microchip is being proposed by the Government to pick up information about breaking speeding limits and not paying for your road tax in time, which would be linked to MOT information on the computerised system.

Critics have called the proposal "the spy in the dashboard" and civil liberties group say the EVI scheme (also known as Electronic Vehicle Identification), which could be fitted to every car over the next five years, is in breach of personal rights.

The police say that EVI would allow them to track down terrorists, criminals and car thieves by picking up information about the car from equipment on roads. By following the route of the car, they can isolate and target the perpetrator. Dangerous cars and dangerous drivers would be forced off the roads and car accidents would be reduced.

But motoring organisations, civil groups and lawyers trying to protect the hundreds of thousands of motorists penalised on a daily basis for speeding offences are alarmed by the proposals. They say it will affect those who can least afford to cope with penalties and charges, but who most need a car and who prevent as many car accidents from happening as authorities say they will.

EVI is already being used in some parts of Europe, and a feasibility project was agreed in 2002 with ERTICO (umbrella organisation with representatives from the ministries of transport and the police).

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