Can you get you car MOT'd sooner than required?

Eupho

:wave: Marrrrrnin

I ask because my MOT is due in Augusty time.
But I had an (unrepairable) crack on my windscreen the other day..:rolleyes:

The head gasket has gone on this car twice before.. :mad:.. and I don't want to replace the windscreen if when it gets to August and the MOT.. it fails BIG time.. and is not worth repairing.

I thought if I could get it MOT tested sooner.. I could do it before I replace the screen.. and see what the car result is first.

Can I?
:wave:

dzug1

Yes - you can MOT at any time.

If you do it TOO early though you'll get a new expiry date and not get the benefit of the unexpired part of the old one.

kalaika

I think that if you get it tested more than 30 days before the expiry date, then the date of the test becomes the new renewal date. If the test is within 30 days of the renewal then your original expiry date can be preserved.

Silk

If you take it for an MOT up to a month before it expires you can add the extra days to the MOT so that you can get an MOT for up to 13 months.
Make sure you tell them you want to do this and take your old mot with you

Volcano

I read some good 'bangernomics' advice that said MOT you're car every 6 months, if it fails badly you still have 6 months MOT with which to sell it on.

Obv only any good if you drive old heaps like I do, but it avoids any nasty surprises/sudden scrapping of your car/sudden need to find the cash for a new one.

Eupho

Brilliant!.. thanks for all that everyone :beer:

:wave:

kalaika

Volcano wrote: »

I read some good 'bangernomics' advice that said MOT you're car every 6 months, if it fails badly you still have 6 months MOT with which to sell it on.

Obv only any good if you drive old heaps like I do, but it avoids any nasty surprises/sudden scrapping of your car/sudden need to find the cash for a new one.

Just a point to be aware of - once your car has failed an MOT then you could be committing a separate offence if the car is driven on the roads as your vehicle could be classed as unroadworthy (depending on what it failed on).

Whilst the law states that all cars over three years old must pass an MOT annually to ensure that a certain standard is maintained, you as a driver must also make sure that the car you drive is roadworthy at all times (the MOT only confirms that the car was roadworthy on the date of issue).

So if you did get a retest after six months and it failed, your car would still comply with the law in respect of holding a MOT certificate (I don't think that a failed test automatically invalidates an earlier pass) but you could still be stopped by the police and charged for driving an unroadworthy vehicle.

There may also be the knock on effect that if you had an accident, your insurance company might refuse a payout if they found out your vehicle was not up to scratch and you knew about it (by having the failed MOT).

Volcano

kalaika wrote: »

but you could still be stopped by the police and charged for driving an unroadworthy vehicle.

As you could be at anytime, irrespective of when you last MOT'ed your vehicle. When I say "if it fails badly", hopefully people will understand that relates to an accumulated expense of non-safety related failures such as cat, exhaust, emissions etc.

maninthestreet

MOT records are now computerised - any MOT test failure would be recorded on the MOT database. The police have access to this database - waving a current MOT certificate at them when they stop you because the database shows the car you are driving failed it's latest MOT test will not cut any ice with them.

mikey72

kalaika wrote: »

Just a point to be aware of - once your car has failed an MOT then you could be committing a separate offence if the car is driven on the roads as your vehicle could be classed as unroadworthy (depending on what it failed on).

Whilst the law states that all cars over three years old must pass an MOT annually to ensure that a certain standard is maintained, you as a driver must also make sure that the car you drive is roadworthy at all times (the MOT only confirms that the car was roadworthy on the date of issue).

So if you did get a retest after six months and it failed, your car would still comply with the law in respect of holding a MOT certificate (I don't think that a failed test automatically invalidates an earlier pass) but you could still be stopped by the police and charged for driving an unroadworthy vehicle.

There may also be the knock on effect that if you had an accident, your insurance company might refuse a payout if they found out your vehicle was not up to scratch and you knew about it (by having the failed MOT).

If you check the MOT history online, it'll show the lastest MOT issued is a fail, that's the only one that counts now. If you're buying the car it's a worthwhile check for this reason alone.

Silk

Interesting disussion :cool:
As far as I'm aware unless anythings changed the police computer when running a check on the reg will show the vehicle has a current MOT as the original has not run out.
I think the computer only updates with cars that have passed the MOT and not those that have failed
Regardless of this an MOT is not a certificate that says the car is roadworthy, it is only a certificate that proves that the car met certain requirements on that particular day etc etc.
As everyone knows you can pass the MOT one day and if something like your headlights fused and you were driving at night with no lights it would be illegal. Just because you had an MOT would not defend the case.
Another example would be if you took the car for MOT which had not run out and it failed on a bald tyre and were stopped on the way home. You would only be prosecuted for the bald tyre you could not be prosecuted for driving without an MOT because the original was still in force