Ricky Yates

The 'Carly' at Nepomuk having a new crankshaft sensor fitted © Ricky Yates

In order to legally keep a car on the road in the United Kingdom, it has to have an MOT certificate. This shows that it has passed its MOT test, proving that it is mechanically sound and its exhaust emissions are within the accepted limits. The abbreviation MOT comes from ‘Ministry of Transport’, the then government department which first introduced the test in 1960.

In the Czech Republic, the equivalent of an MOT test is also known by a set of initials – STK. These stand for Stanice technické kontroly / Technical Inspection Station. Whilst in the UK, once a car is three years old, it has to pass an MOT test annually, in the Czech Republic the STK test only has to be undertaken once every two years.

As I wrote in my June 2009 post entitled “Driving on the ‘right’ side of the road”, my RHD Renault Scenic underwent its first STK test in December 2008, as part of the complicated procedure of obtaining a Czech registration document and Czech number plates for it. But as I explained in a subsequent post entitled ‘Check this Czech car out!’, I didn’t successfully achieve this until 25^th June 2009.

Knowing that any vehicle has to have an STK test once every two years, I had assumed that the ‘Carly’, as it is affectionately known, would need to be tested again in December 2010. But when I asked my good friend Adrian Blank of Nepomuk, who helped me negotiate the minefield to get the car registered here in the Czech Republic in the first place, he assured me that the date the authorities would use would be two years from the date of registration, meaning that it did not need to be tested again before 25^th June 2011.

Theoretically, I could have taken the ‘Carly’ to any STK centre in Prague for its test. But being aware of both my limited Czech and recurrent expression by many Czech people of their belief that you cannot register a RHD car here, I decided that it would be wise to once more work through Adrian, even though it would mean a journey out into the south-western Bohemian countryside. Therefore last Thursday, two days before the second anniversary of the ‘Carly’ becoming Czech, I set off.

Adrian suggested that, rather than travelling via Nepomuk, I should drive directly to the test centre at Horažd’ovice and he would meet me there. Fortunately, this worked out perfectly as we arrived at the centre within thirty seconds of each other. There is no system of booking a test at Horažd’ovice – you just turn up and wait your turn. Adrian discovered that there were two other cars in front of us so, having paid the test fee and handed over the car’s paperwork and keys, we went off and enjoyed coffee and cake together in a nearby outdoor coffee shop.

Stickers on the rear number plate of the 'Carly' showing the validity of its STK tests © Ricky Yates

Upon our return to the test centre, I was pleased to discover that the car had duly passed both its emissions and mechanical tests and my papers had been dated and stamped for a further two years. But, much more importantly, I had two new little hexagonal stickers on my rear number plate – one green for emissions and the other red for the mechanical test.

As in many continental European countries, the way the police can easily check as to whether a car has a current STK test certificate, is to look at these two stickers as illustrated in this photograph. On the outer rim of each sticker, is a hole between ‘5’ & ‘7’ indicating June, the sixth month. Then on the inner part of the sticker, there is a hole in the same box as ‘13’. My STK certificates are now valid until June 2013.

Adrian had also kindly ordered a new sensor for the crankshaft to try and resolve the occasional recent problem of the ‘Carly’ not wanting to start, despite the starter motor turning over. So after the STK test, I drove across to Nepomuk where it only took one of Adrian’s mechanics half an hour to fit before I was able to drive on back home to Prague.

British car © Sybille Yates

Change is coming! © Sybille Yates

This morning, I walked out of the offices of ‘Praha Hlavní Mesto’ in the centre of Prague with an incredible sense of satisfaction. I had achieved what I had been told so many times, by a whole variety of people, was impossible to achieve. In my rucksack were Czech number plates and a Czech registration document for my previously British registered right-hand drive (RHD) car. Today my red Renault Megane Scenic has legally become a Czech car!

Czech car © Sybille Yates

It should really be what we have achieved as I would never have managed to do this without the help and support of Sybille, the knowledge of the whole variety of procedures to obtain the appropriate protocols which came from Adrian Blank of Nepomuk, together with being accompanied through the final stages by Gerry Turner speaking in Czech on my behalf.

In my previous post entitled “Driving on the ‘right’ side of the road”; I explained how Gerry & I had gone to the imposing offices of the Czech Ministry of Transport on Wednesday 3^rd June, to submit my application and accompanying papers for a ‘Certificate of Exemption’ for my RHD car. Adrian of Nepomuk had said that I should receive the certificate a week to ten days after submitting the application. When after two weeks, I had neither heard nor received anything; Gerry made a phone call asking what was happening. “Oh it will be in our system and we can take up to four weeks to process it” was the somewhat unhelpful answer given to Gerry. However, on Monday 22^nd June, a registered letter arrived at our flat containing the certificate of exemption. The fact that the certificate was dated 17^th June 2009, the date of Gerry’s phone call, does seem a little more than coincidence!

On the afternoon of Monday 22^nd, I duly delivered the certificate to the Magistrát office in Vysorany, Prague 9 where all my other papers were already lodged. I had to return to the office on Tuesday to put two signatures onto the completed paperwork. Then it was a third visit in three days to collect the completed file on Wednesday. On this third occasion, Gerry accompanied me to ensure I discovered correctly what to do next.

We were told to go to the offices of ‘Praha Hlavní Mesto’ in the centre of Prague, pay 3000 Kc (about £100) environmental fee as my emissions are only ‘Euro 2 standard’, and there I would finally be issued with a Czech registration document and Czech number plates. We hopped on the tram, changed onto the Metro and arrived at the correct office. Through the good offices of Gerry, we explained to the lady on the information desk, what I had come to do. She checked through all the papers giving her approval to everything I had until she asked, “Do you have your insurance certificate with you?” What was the one thing I had not got with me????

So it was that Gerry and I reconvened at the offices of ‘Praha Hlavní Mesto’ at 9.30am this morning. We took our numbered ticket and waited for our number to come up on the electronic board to tell us which kiosk to attend. After about a half hour wait we were summoned.

The lady at kiosk 35 was perfectly friendly. We presented all my papers, including my insurance certificate. “Did I have my passport and residency document with me, not just the photocopies in the file?” Fortunately I had anticipated that one! “Had I personally imported the car?” This question reflects the concern of the Czech authorities of a glut of cheap second-hand British RHD cars being brought into the Czech Republic by unscrupulous dealers. “Did I have 3000 Kc to pay the environmental charge?” I went off to the cash desk, handed over the cash and returned with a receipt.

Then the magic moment came. Number plates were produced from a drawer. Stickers were attached, marked to show the end date of the validity of my mechanical and emissions protocols. A registration document in two parts, showing my new car registration number and my full name and address, came out of the computer printer. All these were presented to me. As a parting gesture, the lady then said to me in Czech, “May God bless you”. Gerry replied by telling her in Czech, how appropriate her words were as she had just said them to the English-speaking Anglican Priest in Prague. The poor lady nearly fell off her chair both with shock and with laughter!

This afternoon, the car underwent it’s transformation from being a British car to being a Czech car. Off came the British number plates and the ‘GB’ sticker. Using the British plates as a template, I successfully drilled two holes in each of the Czech plates and then proudly screwed them onto the car before, of course, posing for the photograph!