Explaining SVA (Single Vehicle Approval)
Your kit car will be your pride and joy and of course will be unique as you will have built it up to your specification. Therefore you will need to take out specialist insurance and there are many factors that need to be taken into account. However as you will have your kit car yourself then before you can get insurance your vehicle has to be provided safe and roadworthy so therefore you will need SVA (single vehicle approval).
SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) means that an examination will have to be carried out on your vehicle. This examination will be conducted by VOSA with the whole purpose of the examination being to approve your vehicle as being road worthy and meeting the safety standards.
If your Kit car has not been registered to be on the road before then you will have to have this examination before taking your pride and joy out and about on the roads in the UK. It will be classed as being and “amateur built” vehicle under certain categories. This included if your car has four wheels or more and no more than 8 seats. If it has less than 8 seats and three wheels and has a maximum weight of more than 1000kg, a 50 cc or more engine capacity or it is a light goods vehicle with a maximum 3,500 kg and has three or more wheels.
There are many specialist VOSA testing stations throughout the UK so the chance of there being one near you is great, however you can go to any testing station in the country. If you are a member of a specialist Kit car club then you could get advice and information from the club in regards to where to go for the test and how much it would cost.
In order for your vehicle to pass the test there are many different aspects of your car that will need to pass the test. The actual parts that would have to pass would depend on whether you have built a car or a light goods vehicle. For instance your Kit car would be checked for the following:
- Doors, latches and hinges
- Exhaust emissions
- Seat belts and their anchors plus the installation
- Brakes
- Noise and silencers
- Interior fittings
- Speedometers
- Overall vehicle construction
Of course these are just and a few to give you an idea and the list is generally a great deal longer. To have your vehicle tested you must ensure that you turn up at the designated time and you have paid the associated fees. There must also be enough fuel in the car for the test to go ahead and the vehicle identification number must be clearly accessible.
After the SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) test has taken place if your Kit car has passed then you will be given a Ministers approval certificate and you are free to legally drive your Kit car on the road. However if your car failed the test then you will be given a list of the reasons why it failed. You would then have to take the car back and out these things right and pay to have a re-test
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