A colleague at work has asked me to drive his car back from MoT station, on my third party insurance.

He said the car wasn't taxed, but I am allowed to drive the car to and from a pre-booked MOT untaxed.

He's a tight wad. He said he couldn't get insurance for any less than 3 months on it. Its worth approx £200, and he's well into his sixties.

Does that sound right?

He has 2 other cars, but their insurance didn't/couldn't be extended to cover this one.

Without a valid MOT you can drive only to the MOT station.

If you're not taxed, I don't see how where you are driving to or whether you have an MOT or not is relevant – question is whether lack of tax affects insurance (I would presume it does) – I THINK your insurance ONLY covers you if he has insurance for the car.

Yes you can drive it without tax to a pre-booked MOT as long as you have adequate insurance cover

He said his insurance company (M&S) advised him to get someone else to drive.

Sounds less fishy now… I'll check with my insurance before I drive.

Why don't you drive your or his car that is taxed and let him take the risk of getting stopped without tax in his banger? I may be wrong but your insurance will not cover you for driving without Tax – Mot – or anything else that means they will not have to fork out money.
Ask youself this if you get stopped and fined for driving with no Tax would he pay your fine?

Yes you can drive to and from the mot station for a pre-booked mot.
But, your only covered on your own insurance to drive another car third party if that car is insured by someone else and you have their permission to drive it, hence you wouldn't be insured…

My understanding is that a car has to be insured to be on the road. I don't think that your third party cover is enough for this even though it would cover you.

My understanding is that a car has to be insured to be on the road. I don't think that your third party cover is enough for this even though it would cover you.

Yep I've heard this too, because otherwise as soon as you park up and walk away from the car, it is uninsured and if it were to roll down a hill and hit someone, there is no insurance to claim on.

Tell him to try http://www.insuredaily.co.uk, he can insure it for one day, on the day, they email you a cover note.

It cannot be used to Tax the vehicle at the post office, but I assume it will only get taxed when he sells it using the new owners insurance, assuming thats his intention.

I used the above website to insure a van I test drove, cost me under £20. I had a look for my Mondeo when I sold it last week in case someone wanted to test drive it and their insurance didn't cover them, came in at £15 for 24hrs. Insure Daily doesn't seem to come up on the comparison sites for short term car insurance, and its cheaper than the others I found.

Yep I've heard this too, because otherwise as soon as you park up and walk away from the car, it is uninsured and if it were to roll down a hill and hit someone, there is no insurance to claim on.

How about if you parked it on your drive then eh? As long as the car is on private property then it doesn't need insurance.
As i said above, the car needs to be insured by someone else AND you have permission to drive it, before your covered under your own 'fully comp' insurance to be able to drive the car covered for third party insurance only.

the car needs to be insured by someone else AND you have permission to drive it, before your covered under your own 'fully comp' insurance to be able to drive the car covered for third party insurance only

what he said!

the info you prob want to know is in here:-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/index.htm

as for the original Q – you need mot and insurance to get tax, so I assume the bit of law that lets you drive without an MOT to an MOT test also lets you drive to that MOT without tax.

You can get insurance without MOT or tax.

As long as the car is on private property then it doesn't need insurance.

No, but it needs a tax certificate or a SORN.

You can get insurance without MOT or tax.

Yup, but not a "standard" policy – those require the car to be roadworthy and a valid MOT is part of the proof of this. Personally I'd not touch someone elses non-MOT'd car unless I knew them and it well. You never know if they're just saying they have insurance, you never know if it actually IS a pre-booked MOT or just turning up, and you dont know what state the car is in.

Personally I'd not touch someone elses non-MOT'd car unless I knew them and it well.

quite. i'm quite wary of driving other people's cars full stop. just not worth the hassle if something goes wrong.

I notice you describe them as a coleague and not a mate! Tell them to break the law themselves rather than ask you to. As above not insured as he has no insurance and your insurance(if it did apply) would presumably use the facts it had no tax and no MOT as a way of declining cover were you to crash.

Finally is it actually safe to drive?

Offer to be towed in it by one of his other cars so as not to offend?

The towed car still needs insurance if it isn't on a trailer, as it is "in use" on the road, even if it is technically a trailer. I know of someone who was being towed on a fairly long rope (too long really), a woman darted out of a side road across the rope and the towed car obviously ran into her, his insurance had to pay up 50:50 on the claim she submitted.

Have I missed something here? Why does he want you to drive his car?

Not sure about England but here in NI 'officially' you are not allowed to drive the vehicle to and from the MOT test centre without tax. In fact one of our MLAs was prosecuted for doing it.

i thought the actual vehicle had to be insured before you drive it on your 3rd party insurance.

Not sure about England but here in NI 'officially' you are not allowed to drive the vehicle to and from the MOT test centre without tax. In fact one of our MLAs was prosecuted for doing it.

That's not correct sv – how do you get the tax if you don't have a MOT cert?

BTW what's a MLA? Multi Letter Acronym? 😀

Uplink – again 'officially' if the MOT has ran out you have to have the vehicle transported to the test centre. I kid you not! I have never actually heard of anybody having a vehicle trucked to a test centre but there was a radio phone in show recently highlighting the issue. The Gov dept confirmed the official line.

MLA – Members of the Legislative Assembly, NI devolved gov.

MLA – Members of the Legislative Assembly, NI devolved gov.

Ahh cheers

The Gov dept confirmed the official line.

This seems to contradict that

Sorry yes you can drive it untaxed I was thinking about 'un MOTd'. Our poor roads MLA at the time Mr Wilson said:
Mr Wilson also believes current legislation on driving vehicles before they have been put through an MoT test should be reviewed. “I’m very annoyed with the stupidity of the rules. You can drive a vehicle if it has failed the MoT but you can’t drive it to the garage before it goes through the test.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/roads-minister-sammy-wilson-caught-without-tax-or-mot-14008179.html#ixzz0Tih3D4WY

I'm in England btw.

so we are saying.

The car, that is now MoT'd, (as driving back from MoT station), needs to be taxed by him AND insured by him, for me to be able to drive it on MY insurance (since I'm not a name driver on his policy).

He reckoned he ha a SORN, which covered the tax bit. Which sounded like bull to me.

Is that it guys?

I presume you know what SORN stands for?

Anyway, SORN or not, you can drive it to or from a pre-arranged MOT without tax.

EDIT Like everyone has said (I'll read the whole thread next time)