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Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

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MyNameIsUrl
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Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439505

Postby MyNameIsUrl » September 3rd, 2021, 5:06 pm

A car has been parked since the beginning of the pandemic and both tax an MOT have lapsed. Can I legally drive it to a prearranged MOT test?

Gersemi
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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439506

Postby Gersemi » September 3rd, 2021, 5:17 pm

MyNameIsUrl wrote:A car has been parked since the beginning of the pandemic and both tax an MOT have lapsed. Can I legally drive it to a prearranged MOT test?


Yes, as long as the MOT is pre-booked.

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot

If the MOT has run out

If your tax is due to run out, register your vehicle as ‘off the road’ - you cannot renew your vehicle tax if your MOT has expired.

Book an MOT test.

Tax your vehicle once it has passed its MOT.

You cannot drive or park your vehicle on the road if the MOT has run out. You can be prosecuted if caught.

The only exceptions are to drive it:

to or from somewhere to be repaired
to a pre-arranged MOT test

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439507

Postby staffordian » September 3rd, 2021, 5:21 pm

I'm 99% certain you can.

You definitely can drive to a pre-arranged MOT test (has to be pre arranged to be a legal drive), and as you can't tax a car without the MOT it follows that must be ok too.

However, when the tax lapsed, I think you should have declared the car SORN (statutory off road notification) rather than simply let it lapse.

Guess that's academic now if the car is to be MOT'd and taxed.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439513

Postby JohnB » September 3rd, 2021, 5:53 pm

Remember to insure it first

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439537

Postby pje16 » September 3rd, 2021, 7:44 pm

JohnB wrote:Remember to insure it first

How can you do that without an MOT? - not challenging you - just curious

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439538

Postby pje16 » September 3rd, 2021, 7:47 pm

Seems as if you can
https://www.kwik-fit.com/blog/can-i-tax ... out-an-mot
BUT
The most important thing to note with the insurance is that without an MOT certificate, your insurer likely won’t cover you in the event of an accident.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439549

Postby Dod101 » September 3rd, 2021, 8:23 pm

pje16 wrote:Seems as if you can
https://www.kwik-fit.com/blog/can-i-tax ... out-an-mot
BUT
The most important thing to note with the insurance is that without an MOT certificate, your insurer likely won’t cover you in the event of an accident.


In which case it is de facto not insured as far as the owner is concerned but may of course meet the legal requirements for third party bodily injury cover.

Dod

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439578

Postby gryffron » September 3rd, 2021, 11:33 pm

Dod101 wrote:
pje16 wrote:The most important thing to note with the insurance is that without an MOT certificate, your insurer likely won’t cover you in the event of an accident.

In which case it is de facto not insured as far as the owner is concerned but may of course meet the legal requirements for third party bodily injury cover.

Dod, the point of legal insurance is to cover others, not you.

Insurers cannot deny third party cover on the basis of (lack of) MoT or roadworthiness of the vehicle. Road Traffic Act 1988.
They can deny comprehensive payouts, and may even (very rarely) try to recover costs of third party payouts from the insured in cases of extreme negligence. But they can’t refuse third party cover, which is what you need to legally take the car on the road to an MoT.

So the procedure is:
Obtain insurance.
Prebook and obtain MoT. Make sure the garage knows your prior MoT has expired and makes a note of your reg number.
Obtain road tax.

Since insurance companies charge a fortune to change your cover level, it may be cheaper to obtain your final desired level of cover from the start, even though some of it may be worthless until you get the MOT. It can cost more to obtain 3rd party cover first, then modify it later. Unless you expect the whole procedure to take a long time. But frankly, there’s no reason it can’t all happen the same day.

Note you can still be prosecuted for driving an obviously unroadworthy vehicle, EVEN if you are taking it to a pre-booked test or repair.

Gryff

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439605

Postby Dod101 » September 4th, 2021, 9:10 am

gryffron wrote:
Dod101 wrote:
pje16 wrote:The most important thing to note with the insurance is that without an MOT certificate, your insurer likely won’t cover you in the event of an accident.

In which case it is de facto not insured as far as the owner is concerned but may of course meet the legal requirements for third party bodily injury cover.

Dod, the point of legal insurance is to cover others, not you.

Insurers cannot deny third party cover on the basis of (lack of) MoT or roadworthiness of the vehicle. Road Traffic Act 1988.
They can deny comprehensive payouts, and may even (very rarely) try to recover costs of third party payouts from the insured in cases of extreme negligence. But they can’t refuse third party cover, which is what you need to legally take the car on the road to an MoT.

So the procedure is:
Obtain insurance.
Prebook and obtain MoT. Make sure the garage knows your prior MoT has expired and makes a note of your reg number.
Obtain road tax.

Since insurance companies charge a fortune to change your cover level, it may be cheaper to obtain your final desired level of cover from the start, even though some of it may be worthless until you get the MOT. It can cost more to obtain 3rd party cover first, then modify it later. Unless you expect the whole procedure to take a long time. But frankly, there’s no reason it can’t all happen the same day.

Note you can still be prosecuted for driving an obviously unroadworthy vehicle, EVEN if you are taking it to a pre-booked test or repair.

Gryff


I am not arguing with you but I know what insurance is legally required. It is third party bodily injury cover and if valid insurance is not in place you are acting illegally. If though you do not have valid insurance there is an outfit called the Motor Insurers' Bureau which will pick up the costs.

Anyway purely of academic interest for me.

Dod

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439614

Postby sg31 » September 4th, 2021, 10:26 am


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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439684

Postby Lootman » September 4th, 2021, 3:24 pm

gryffron wrote:Note you can still be prosecuted for driving an obviously unroadworthy vehicle, EVEN if you are taking it to a pre-booked test or repair.

Wouldn't you have to have known it was unroadworthy, and then drive anyway, to be successfully prosecuted for that?

And how can you know it is not roadworthy without the inspection that you are on your way to?

Otherwise it is a Catch-22.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#439692

Postby AF62 » September 4th, 2021, 4:11 pm

gryffron wrote:Since insurance companies charge a fortune to change your cover level, it may be cheaper to obtain your final desired level of cover from the start, even though some of it may be worthless until you get the MOT. It can cost more to obtain 3rd party cover first, then modify it later.

Gryff


Or alternatively just pay for one days insurance from the many companies that offer it. And then when it has an MOT *if* the car is to be driven buy a normal annual policy.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440457

Postby stockton » September 7th, 2021, 9:33 pm

Lootman wrote:
gryffron wrote:Note you can still be prosecuted for driving an obviously unroadworthy vehicle, EVEN if you are taking it to a pre-booked test or repair.

Wouldn't you have to have known it was unroadworthy, and then drive anyway, to be successfully prosecuted for that?

And how can you know it is not roadworthy without the inspection that you are on your way to?

Otherwise it is a Catch-22.

Tyres+.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440474

Postby Lootman » September 7th, 2021, 10:51 pm

stockton wrote:
Lootman wrote:
gryffron wrote:Note you can still be prosecuted for driving an obviously unroadworthy vehicle, EVEN if you are taking it to a pre-booked test or repair.

Wouldn't you have to have known it was unroadworthy, and then drive anyway, to be successfully prosecuted for that?

And how can you know it is not roadworthy without the inspection that you are on your way to?

Otherwise it is a Catch-22.

Tyres+.

Tyres are probably the one exception where an ordinary person can determine a lack of roadworthiness, or at least should be able to. For other things like brakes, steering, suspension, emissions etc., it does not seem reasonable to expect a layman to determine that, other than regular inspections and tests. If those happened and the incident was a freak occurrence then it is not clear to me how such a prosecution could prevail.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440499

Postby 9873210 » September 8th, 2021, 3:38 am

Tyres, windshield, mirrors, lights, dragging exhaust pipes or body panels, flashing red lights on the dash, visible black smoke, fluids under the car.

There are clearly shades of grey, but there are a many unroadworthy conditions that will reveal themselves to a cursory walk round, or at least will reveal that a prudent driver should check further.

One of my nephews drove his family's second car exclusively for a couple of months. A few weeks ago his younger brother drove it, pulled over after less than a mile, and had it towed to a mechanic. Was it unroadworthy? Yes, according to mechanics report, most of the brake systems needed to be replaced. Was it obvious, well it was to younger nephew, a prudent and careful new driver. Older nephew should not be let out without a keeper.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440624

Postby DrFfybes » September 8th, 2021, 2:11 pm

9873210 wrote:Tyres, windshield, mirrors, lights, dragging exhaust pipes or body panels, flashing red lights on the dash, visible black smoke, fluids under the car.


TBH you shouldn't be driving a car like that irrespective of MOT, Tax, or insurance.

Besides, if it is obviously unroadworthy it invalidates your MOT :)

Paul

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440627

Postby Dod101 » September 8th, 2021, 2:16 pm

DrFfybes wrote:Besides, if it is obviously unroadworthy it invalidates your MOT :)

Paul


I am not sure if that is the correct expression. After all the MOT is evidence only that at the time of inspection the vehicle was roadworthy. A lot can happen in three, six or nine months.

Dod

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440630

Postby pje16 » September 8th, 2021, 2:21 pm

Correct it is only valid (roadworthy) at the time of the test
If you get stopped by the police next day, say for a light being out, saying you MOT was yesterday won't help you
I knew someone years ago who swapeed his balding tyre for a good one , got his test and swapped it back again afterwards :roll:
See why it's only valid at the time of the test
Last edited by pje16 on September 8th, 2021, 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440634

Postby Lootman » September 8th, 2021, 2:25 pm

pje16 wrote:Correct it is only valid (roadworthy) at the time of the test. If you get stopped by the police next day, say for a light being out, saying you MOT was yesterday won't help you.

True, but you will only be stopped by the police if the problem with your vehicle is visible and obvious, in which case you should have known about it yourself, making you guilty.

But if the flaw is something that requires an inspection by a mechanic to detect, then you are not likely to be stopped by the cops for that anyway.

pje16 wrote:I knew someone years ago who swapeed his balding tyre for a good one , got his test amd swapped it back again afterwards.

I had a similar experience with emissions. To pass the test the engine has to be detuned. After it passed it was immediately tuned back so the car ran better!

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Re: Taking a car for its MOT, without an MOT or tax

#440675

Postby DrFfybes » September 8th, 2021, 4:14 pm

Dod101 wrote:
DrFfybes wrote:Besides, if it is obviously unroadworthy it invalidates your MOT :)

Paul


I am not sure if that is the correct expression. After all the MOT is evidence only that at the time of inspection the vehicle was roadworthy. A lot can happen in three, six or nine months.

Dod


DOh - I meant insurance!


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