Anyone who has a passenger car, commercial vehicle, bus, three-wheeled motor vehicle or a trailer with a permitted maximum mass of more than 3500 kilos will receive or have to deal with this, the general periodic inspection or MOT. What do we actually know about the APK inspection? The MOT is there to check whether the above vehicle meets the legal environmental and safety requirements. This is a legally required inspection in Europe. Every new car that runs on petrol must be inspected for the first time after four years. After this first inspection, the car must be inspected every 2 years until the car is 8 years old and from that moment the car must be inspected every year. A new diesel car must be inspected for the first time after 3 years. After this first inspection, diesel cars must be inspected every year.
During a Dutch Periodic Vehicle Inspection your car will be checked at various points. The different parts of the APK are: Road Safety, Environment and Registration. Bodywork, lighting, steering, tires, shock absorbers, wheel suspension and brakes fall under the Road Safety category. Emissions of exhaust gases and the presence of parts such as a catalytic converter and particulate filter fall under the Environment category. The mileage, vehicle identification number and fuel used fall under the Registration category. All of the above points are included in the APK inspection.
Diesel cars with a year of construction from 1980 must also be checked to see how much soot they emit. For cars with a petrol engine or an LPG engine with a regulated catalytic converter, built in 1993 or later, there is also a four-gas measurement. This is to determine whether the car does not emit too much exhaust gas than is legally permitted. If a car is older than 30 years, it must be inspected once every two years. If a car is older than 50 years, it no longer needs to be inspected, unless it concerns a bus, taxi, transport of dangerous goods or a public transport car. Electric and hybrid cars must of course also be inspected, the inspection is in principle the same as for a petrol or diesel car. As an extra, the electric powertrain is checked for electric and hybrid cars. The fine for an expired MOT is €140 excluding administration costs.
