[Miss Poppy]

I've been told I should put my car in early for its MOT so that if there are any problems I can shop around to get them fixed and not have to have them done at the MOT garage.

But surely, if the car fails its MOT then it's 'not roadworthy' so I shouldn't be allowed to drive it home/around for other garages to look at it?

Can anyone clarify this for me?

Many thanks!

Originally Posted by Miss Poppy

I've been told I should put my car in early for its MOT so that if there are any problems I can shop around to get them fixed and not have to have them done at the MOT garage.

But surely, if the car fails its MOT then it's 'not roadworthy' so I shouldn't be allowed to drive it home/around for other garages to look at it?

Can anyone clarify this for me?

Many thanks!

You can drive it home from the testing station, providing you are driving it straight home. You can only drive it to another garage if they are the ones who are going to be doing the work and the re-test, technically.

I think

[nicemms]

I don't think you can drive it home if it fails its MOT, even if you take it in early.

[RoundRobin]

Originally Posted by nicemms

I don't think you can drive it home if it fails its MOT, even if you take it in early.

So what would you do with it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A12921581

However, if you intend to drive your car away from the test station with a Refusal of an MOT Test Certificate, there are some stipulations. It is illegal to drive a car of MOT-testable age that does not have a current MOT test certificate on public roads, with the exception of driving it away to a place of repair, which may include your home residence. From there you may be permitted to drive to a pre-booked place of repair, and to a pre-booked MOT test station.

Just found this

[Sigurd]

You can take your car for an MOT several weeks before the due date:

An MOT can be carried out at any time

If the vehicle is tested within the calendar month prior to when the MOT is due, the test certificate will run from the date of the test to one year after the expiry date of the current certificate. For example, if the current certificate was due to expire on 1 April 2007, and the vehicle was presented on or after 2 March 2007, the certificate would run from the test date until 1 April 2008.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring...Mot/DG_4022112

Let's say your current MOT certificate expires on 31st January and you take the car in for a test on (for the sake of argument) 4th January. You car fails. However, you've still got an MOT test certificate which is valid for several weeks, during which time you can arrange to have your car repaired and, as I understand it, legally drive it on the road as much as you want.

I don't know if there are circumstances in which an MOT testing centre would decide that a car was so unsafe that it would have to be taken off the road right there and then.

[nicemms]

Looks like I was wrong.. Sure I read somewhere that you couldn't.

[paulyoung666]

or you can be like me and clean forget to take the car for its mot !!!!! , last time i realised the day before it was due , fortunately it passed

[Dissonance]

My garage rang me this morning to remind me that my MOT is due on the 21st Jan... that was nice of them

[jackthom]

Originally Posted by Sigurd

I don't know if there are circumstances in which an MOT testing centre would decide that a car was so unsafe that it would have to be taken off the road right there and then.

If you were to be advised by the test centre that the car is in a dangerous condition and an accident ensues, your insurance company would be well within their rights in refusing to pay out and the police would also be very interested I'd imagine.

[paulyoung666]

personally i cant see why there isnt a reminder sent out to the registered keeper the same way as you are reminded about tax , especially now as all mot stations are computerised , it is a legal requirement same as tax , so why no reminder

[RoundRobin]

Originally Posted by Dissonance

My garage rang me this morning to remind me that my MOT is due on the 21st Jan... that was nice of them

Very, MOT's are a nice little earner for them.

[cheeks]

Originally Posted by Dissonance

My garage rang me this morning to remind me that my MOT is due on the 21st Jan... that was nice of them

They're after your money....

[cheeks]

Originally Posted by RoundRobin

Very, MOT's are a nice little earner for them.

beat me to it....

[TheScientist]

ER..................... Can you drive a car that hasn't passed it's MOT?.................... NO!

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by TheScientist

ER..................... Can you drive a car that hasn't passed it's MOT?.................... NO!

quite correct , if it still has one that has not expired though ............

[Laurajane]

I always used to take my car in for it's MOT a few weeks early so I had chance to have any work done if needed. And I always drove my car during those few weeks because it still had a valid MOT test certificate.

Maybe I shouldn't have but I assumed that because I still had a few weeks left on my original certificate then say if I was pulled over by the police I could show them the MOT certificate that still had a few weeks left on it.

I mean if I hadn't done my MOT a few weeks early I would still be driving around on the other MOT certificate anyway.

I don't know where you stand legally though so not much help.

[Sigurd]

Originally Posted by jackthom

If you were to be advised by the test centre that the car is in a dangerous condition and an accident ensues, your insurance company would be well within their rights in refusing to pay out and the police would also be very interested I'd imagine.

However, bear in mind that not all causes of MOT failure necessarily mean that your car is in a dangerous condition.

For example, some years ago I had a diesel VW Golf that failed on two counts, namely some corrosion and also exhaust emissions. As far as I could gather, the corrosion hadn't actually reached dangerous levels though it would no doubt have done so during the following year, and the exhaust emissions, though causing pollution, weren't actually dangerous in the sense of being likely to cause an accident.

I'd taken the car in for testing about three weeks before the expiry of the MOT, and I was advised by the test centre that there was no reason why I shouldn't drive the car, since it still had a valid MOT certificate and was therefore quite legal. There would therefore have been no reason whatsoever for the police to be interested.

As it happened, I sorted out the problems with the car within two or three days, had it successfully retested and then part-exchanged it for another vehicle.

[CANDYANGEL]

My dad always takes his in, well before time and when it's failed has driven it home and carried on driving until the repairs have been done and passed The MOT.

[RoundRobin]

Originally Posted by CANDYANGEL

My dad always takes his in, well before time and when it's failed has driven it home and carried on driving until the repairs have been done and passed The MOT.

Quite a few people do that but the fact that it has just failed an MOT is a testament to the car being unroadworthy, regardless as to whether it's MOT certificate still has some time left on it.

[Dissonance]

It depends on what it's failed for; my old car failed on a couple of things (can't recall what anymore) but the garage said that it was still OK to drive. It is illegal though to continue driving a vehicle that has no current MOT certificate except to get it to a garage for repair or a retest.

(incidentally, my current car which the garage phoned up this morning on is a Motability car, so the garage won't get my money for doing the test )

[Rebel MC]

It's worth remembering that an MOT is only a test of roadworthiness at that particular point in time, it doesn't prevent you from being stopped by the police (or being investigated by them following an accident) because they consider a car to be unroadworthy at any time afterwards and, if it's not roadworthy, you may have invalidated your insurance, valid MOT certificate or not.

The question of taking, and failing, an early MOT has become slightly blurred since insurance and MOTs became computerised; I don't know how much they talk to each other, but in theory you would still have a valid MOT certificate for Police purposes, but that might not work if you've had an accident and your insurance company can tap a few buttons and see when your car was last tested and find out the result.

There used to be a law in place that said you could legally drive a car without a valid test certificate to a pre-booked MOT and, if it failed, then drive it to a place of repair, without compromising your insurance; but, knowing insurance companies, I bet there's now a loophole they can exploit to prevent them from paying out................

[aquazi]

just to reiterate what has been said....

Your MOT lasts 12 months. You can take an MOT test UPTO 4 weeks before the old one expires and they will forward date it to its correct anniversary date.

So as long as your old MOT covers you (or the car is still under 3 years old for new cars) then if you fail and MOT you CAN legally drive it around, until the old one expires.

Although an important point to add depending on what it failed on though it might not be legal to do so.. such as tires/breaks etc. So you could be covered legally with a valid MOT, but your tires may have illegal tread.

[Steve Pearce]

Originally Posted by TheScientist

ER..................... Can you drive a car that hasn't passed it's MOT?.................... NO!

It's quite legal to drive it to and from prebooked MOT, even if the current MOT certificate has expired.

[Finglonga]

An MOT states on it that it isn't evidence that the vehicle is in a satisfactory condition. It only means it has met the minimum legal requirements on the day of the test.

As stated I always take my vehicles in in advance and the cert' is post dated then.