You can put your car through its MOT up to a month before the previous one runs out right..
So, if it fails that MOT, do you still have a month to get it repaired, or do you have to get it sorted straight away?
This would suggest the later, but just want to check..
"If your vehicle fails the test
You’ll get a ‘notification of failure’ from the test centre if your vehicle fails the test. The failure will be recorded in the secure central MOT database.
Until it passes a retest, you can only drive your vehicle:
to a pre-arranged appointment at a garage to have the repairs done
to a pre-arranged MOT test appointment"..
Ta, Duane.
If it fails an MOT it's not roadworthy even if you already had one.
Drac is correct. It has been tested and deemed unroadworthy. This means that your insurance is invalid too as one of the terms of your insurance is to maintain it's roadworthy'ness.
OK, thanks. Was hoping I could send it through its MOT, see what needed sorting, fix it all in my own time (within the month), and send it through again. Never mind!
Nope.
The only advantage of getting it done early is that you can get an extra month if it passes (next due date will be twelve months from existing). If it fails, then you're buggered. What I don't know is whether you've now lost a month before the next test. I [i]think[/i] you have.
not true.This means that your insurance is invalid too
nickjb - MemberThis means that your insurance is invalid too
not true.
I beg to differ go read the T&Cs of your insurance contract. Why would they insure a car if say the breaks weren't up to scratch?
You have 10 working days to repair a car for test to be able to get a partial retest, which might be free st your test centre. Outside the 10 working days you have to have the full mot test done again and charged at the full rate. SlBut about driving a cat once failed and with insurance is a grey area.
I'm an mot tester and ask my area rep from the ministry this question and his answer was, " no mot tester can cancel an mot after its issued and even if another mot is done it doesn't cancel the previous mot. Or make it invalid.
Phone the mot hotline to confirm this.
They may reduce a payout because a car without an MOT is worth less than one with. They may also reject a claim if say faulty breaks (sic) are a contributary factor but simply not having an MOT does not void your insurance.I beg to differ go read the T&Cs of your insurance contract. Why would they insure a car if say the breaks weren't up to scratch?
Your original MOT remains valid, the new fail doesn't replace or invalidate it. But, your car is probably still be unroadworthy and therefore illegal to drive regardless of the fact it has a valid MOT.
These are 2 different things- in fact, even if you don't get a new test done, if it wouldn't pass then it's most likely not roadworthy.
You never get issued with an 'MOT fail', you get a notification of refusal to issue a new one.
So if you have a month left on your old cert, you get it tested and it fails, the old one is NOT invalidated. However the car is not roadworthy, but it almost certainly wasn't roadworthy 5 mins before the test anyway so nothing has changed.
If you then fix the failure points the old cert still stands until the original expiry.
Get it done early. A lot of failures that although technically mean the car isn't roadworthy, can be repaired after driving home.
I'm talking things like airbag lights, chipped windscreens, worn pedal rubbers. Even stuff like worn brake pads/discs...they can be worn to the minimum allowable amount but as long as there is friction material left, its no more dangerous than when you drove to the test centre an hour earlier. Go home via a motor factors, park it up on the drive and don't drive it until you've fixed it...leaving it til the MOT is about to expire means you may have no choice but to book it into a garage and pay someone to do it. The MOT centre will let you know about it if they consider it dangerous to drive.
P.S Take it to a place that only does MOTs (and perhaps the odd bulb change). DO NOT take it to a general garage...for obvious reasons. The JustMOT type places are also generally more relaxed about free retests as all cars are taken away to be repaired, so they are not losing out on extra labour which they would then try to recoup on the retest.
spooky_b329 - Memberleaving it til the MOT is about to expire means you may have no choice but to book it into a garage and pay someone to do it.
No it doesn't- you may drive a "failed" car to a place of repair, which can be your driveway.
Also
spooky_b329 - MemberP.S Take it to a place that only does MOTs (and perhaps the odd bulb change). DO NOT take it to a general garage...for obvious reasons.
It's not a bad policy but I take mine to a trustworthy garage, of which there are many. Sure, there are crooked garages, which is why I drive past 2 MOT test stations to get to one that's not run by a crook 😉
From asking I am with chrisdiesel above. I intend to MOT the landrover over the summer when I have the school hols to fix anything rather than wait until mid December when it is due. It's always cold and nasty welding just before Xmas so I am going to bin 5 months MOT just to bring it to a pint where I can fix it at my leisure. Frequent questioning all brings it back to the fact that failing one doesn't cancel a previous one.
My mate who's a mechanics does a pre mot check before he takes it down for the actual test. Obviously he hasn't got the rollers for brake testing etc but is usually spot on with anything he comes up with. You know anyone like that?
A car can be unroadworthy 5 mins after a new MOT is issued !
Frequent questioning all brings it back to the fact that failing one doesn't cancel a previous one.
Nope but once it's deemed not roadworthy you have to fix it.
a car does not have to be roadworthy to pass an mot.. shock horror..
EG you do not need a speedo or lights to pass an MOT but drive without a speedo and thats illegal. drive a vehicle with none working lights and thats illegal even in broad day light..
[i]No it doesn't- you may drive a "failed" car to a place of repair, which can be your driveway.[/i]
Correct of course, but not ideal, and once you've repaired it, you wouldn't be able to drive it to work etc until you've had a retest, whereas by doing it early, once you've repaired it you can carry on driving in a roadworthy car until the MOT expires.
I thought you can only drive it to a pre-booked appointment at a garage, so your home garage wouldn't count?
Anyway, the reasoning behind this thread is that there is a few things which I know I need to do to get the car through the MOT (new tyres, front hub, and headlamp connections).
However, I'm worried that I will pay to get all these done, and then find out that something fundamental and expensive (emissions for example) is faulty to the extent where it's not worth repairing - so I would rather know that the rest of the car is Ok before I fix the stuff I'm aware of.
I always book my car in for an MOT during the last month of the current MOT (to make sure I can get anything fixed) and have never worried about driving it on the road if it's failed.
Unlike one of my buddys who always seems to wait until the last possible moment, and drives an Alfa... - so it fails every time 🙄
my MOT expires in September. I get the car serviced towards the end of August - if there's anything that'll fail the test, it gets fixed beforehand.
OK there's a couple of weeks in which time a big rock or another vehicle could smash one of the headlights, but...
I once had a car that I left to the last minute, tested on the day the old certificate ran out. MOT place wouldn't let me drive it away afterwards, said it was dangerous, had to pay their repair rates (which, granted, weren't that bad) or find someone with a trailer. Won't do that again
I'd rather not have to pay a garage to service the car as I can get my mate to do it for cheaps (but he doesn't have the time to do the actual jobs that need doing on it)..
Guess I could take it to the garage to get the jobs done and ask them to have a look over the car before doing any work and let me know if there's anything that jumps out at them.. Wouldn't help with emissions etc (I keep mentioning emissions as it failed horrendously on emissions a couple years) :/