Genuinely forgot to renew MOT & car involved in accident. Help!

mrbadexample

vikingaero wrote: »

(1) The penalty for no MOT is a £60 fine and NO points as it is a non-endorseable offence.

Test Certificate (M.O.T.)

[URL="file:///C:/Hughes/rta1988e.html#RTA1988%20S047"]Section 47(1) Road Traffic Act 1988[/URL] - level 3 fine ( level 4 passenger vehicle with more than 8 passenger seats) - summary offence
It is an offence for a person to use, cause or permit to be used on a road a motor vehicle (to which this section applies) without a valid test certificate.

A level 3 fine has a maximum of £1000. However, it would be extremely unlikely to be this high. It may well be more than £60, and if it goes to court then costs and victim surcharge (£15) will almost certainly be added.

I believe £60 is the fixed penalty amount. As the OP was not given a fixed penalty, this would be dealt with through a magistrate's court after the OP failed to produce a valid test certificate at the police station, if they decided that further action was warranted.

As there appears to be some doubt over whether the vehicle was MOTd or not, (due May 08, taxed Oct 08 ), the OP should contact their local VOSA test station, who will be able to confirm if the vehicle has a valid test certificate or not. Should it not have one, the police may decide to take prosecution action. It is unlikely the insurance would be affected.

dacouch

This is a quote from the Ombudsman's website

13. roadworthiness

Most motor policies contain an express requirement that the vehicle must be maintained in a roadworthy state. If so, where there is good evidence that the loss or damage was caused (or substantially contributed to) because the vehicle was unroadworthy, we are likely to consider it fair for the insurer to reject the claim.
In other cases, the insurer might reduce the payout on the basis that the vehicle was not in good condition. If so, where there is good evidence that the vehicle would have failed an MOT test, we are likely to consider it fair for the insurer to take this into account in assessing its value.



http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html#13

Please note this is with regards to claiming off of your own policy, if you are claiming directly off a third parties insurance there is obviously no requirement that the vehicle be kept in a roadworth condition as you are not Insured by them

spangles30

Chalkie, the car was booked in for MOT for next week as (already explained in the thread), I mixed it up with my previous car sold last year which was always MOT'ed at that time. A pathetic error, I know, but totally not intentional. I know only too well how dubious it sounds which is why I could kick myself for such stupidity and forgetfulness.

flea72

spangles30 wrote: »

I bought a car in June 2008 and was told it didn't need an MOT as it was 'under the 3 years' so didn't require one.

flea72 wrote: »

I think you are getting a bit confused or making typing errors.

spangles30 wrote: »

Flea, I am not making any typos, but may be expressing myself unclearly. I bought the car June 2009

Flea

vaio

Exactly the same happened to my OH, somebody else’s fault, TP insurance company wrote the car off but didn’t ask for the MOT (or any other documents come to that), she was hurt so I took the producer documents to the police station, fessed up about the MOT and I got the “you will be reported…..” chat from the desk staff and then we heard nothing more.

This was ages ago but I did wonder about the legal point of giving me the “you will be reported….” chat given that I was nothing to do with the car or accident and was just delivering the documents. They also accepted her licence off me, in the very old days when I drove cars that got a couple of producers every week the licence had to be produced in person.

If either (or both) do follow up on the Mot then, as others have said, the police could hand out a small fine with no points and the insurance could reduce a total loss payout by the amount that lack of MOT would have had on the cars value, as long as it was roadworthy this shouldn’t be more than £100. If it gets repaired then there will be no reduction.

dacouch

They often try and offer the "Trade" value for a vehicle without an MOT, this can be argued in most cases obviously depending on the type and age of car

spangles30

I stand corrected Flea. I did make a typo in stating I bought the car in June 2009 - I meant June 2008.

liam8282

SueSueSue wrote: »

Anyone else find it scary that people like Spangles are on the road?

It is people with no insurance that are the worst. (no insurance, results in not being able to legally go and buy tax...)

Could just be an oversight by Spangles as they have mentioned, fair enough.

But there are too many people out there that simply don't bother with insurance because it costs less to buy a banger with no tax or mot and drive that around. If they get caught the fine is usually less than the cost of insurance and if they get the car taken away, so what, they just go buy another for £200.

On a completely different subject, about 4 years ago I had just purchased a new car, literally had it for 2 weeks, it was parked outside my house and bang, a car smashed into it.

My car was smashed up front and back, my girlfriends car was parked behind mine so that was smashed up front, and a neighbours car was also hit that smashed on the side.

The people in this car had simply ran off and left it. The police were called, the car had no insurance, no tax, no mot.

There were mobile phones that were left in the car, that were ringing while the police were there, beer cans (dna), finger prints.... But still nobody was caught or punished for the offence!

I was only third party fire and theft at the time, due to the high cost of insurance (a lesson learned the hard way), so I had to go through the motor insurance bureau myself to reclaim the cost of the damage.

Gone way off the subject, but now I just can't stand people driving without, tax, mot, insurance.

jammin_2

liam8282 wrote: »

(no insurance, results in no tax...)

Does it..?

liam8282

jammin wrote: »

Does it..?

What documents do you require to get tax?

Insurance, MOT, log book or tax renewal form.

Therefore no insurance, no tax.