Personally I think its a very bad idea... and speaking as someone with 4 cars and 2 bikes directly affected by this legislation I have more to gain from it than most.
Firstly, I actually appreciate a second pair of eyes having a look over my vehicles once a year. Like many, I don't do many miles in each of them (in fact one recorded just 44 miles last year - its 22 to the MOT station) and as we all know actually not using a vehicle can be worse than using one - so the comment of only doing a few hundred miles a year is no excuse not to test.
I plan to continue to have a yearly inspection on the anniversary of each MOT just for my own piece of mind as much as anything.
Secondly, its a misconception that all pre 72 vehicles are kept in tip top condition, polished every Sunday and only brought out when the sun is shining - they are not.
A lot are run on a shoestring, by people with little or no expertise in maintaining them. With cars in particular modifying is a big thing these days, and some peoples imagination (& stupidity) seems only limited by what they can get past the MOT man... I shudder to think what we're going to be allowing on to the roads now!
Thirdly, if I'm looking at a vehicle to buy I'd like to think that a valid MOT does at least mean it is fit for the road (not always the case I know) and it's not going to kill me on the way home.
The current MOT at least stops unscrupulous vendors tarting up old bangers and flogging them on as "restored" - not everyone buying classics these days is technically minded, knows what to look for or are equipped to check - they may be persuaded that vague handling was "the way they used to be" when it could be something serious about to fail.
and... As touched on above, this will mean Insurance premiums going up!
Mike