What year does a car become Pre-cat in the uk?

Question

What year does a car become Pre- catallyc converter, so it dosn't need one to pass an mot.

Answer 1

It's a common misconception but not having a CAT fitted will not cause a failure automatically as the MOT test does not check for the prescence of a CAT (i.e. the tester will not physically look to see if there is a CAT on the car). However, if your vehicle is post- Aug 1992 then the emissions will be tested to a level where it would be assumed there is one on the car (CAT limits as opposed to Non-CAT limits). So long as the car can meet the relevant emissions limits for a vehicle of it's age or make and model, with or without a CAT, it will pass (however it would be unlikely although not impossible to pass if the CAT is meant to be there but has been removed for some reason).

Hope this makes sense.

Answer 2

In the UK from 1st January 1996 the MOT has included an emissions test for vehicles equipped with three way catalytic converters.

Cars registered after 1st August 1992 (i.e. K prefixes onwards) are required by law to have catalytic converters fitted and will fail the test without them.

Cars registered before 1st August 1992 (i.e. J prefixes and earlier) do not require catalytic converters to pass the test.