MOT - can I drive it to be repaired somewhere else?

Jonesy_McJones

espresso wrote: »

Not it's not. Unless the vehicle is deemed unroadworthy, you still have a valid MOT until expiry date. An MOT is only an annual safety spot check i.e. the vehicle could be illegal one week after the MOT.

Really? The reason I question that is that I originally had the MOT booked in for last Friday - in previous years, I have always had the MOT done before the expiry of the existing one. Someone at work mentioned to me that if it failed, then that would 'overwrite' the existing MOT. I called the test centre to clarify and they said the same thing; if it failed then it wouldn't matter if the previous one had expired or not, it would be deemed as having no MOT.

This is why I'm so confused!!

lisyloo

I've done some research and I believe they are wrong.

MOT certificates cannot be invalidated.
However you should not drive an unroadworthy car.
Having an MOT and being roadworthy/unroadworthy are not the same thing.

For example you can have an MOT and bald tyres and should not drive your car.

On the other hand you could have a problem with a rear seat belt, fail the new MOT, still have a valid old MOT and your car still be perfectly safe and roadworthy without rear passengers.

espresso

Jonesy_McJones wrote: »

Really? The reason I question that is that I originally had the MOT booked in for last Friday - in previous years, I have always had the MOT done before the expiry of the existing one. Someone at work mentioned to me that if it failed, then that would 'overwrite' the existing MOT. I called the test centre to clarify and they said the same thing; if it failed then it wouldn't matter if the previous one had expired or not, it would be deemed as having no MOT.

This is why I'm so confused!!

On the reverse of an MOT fail certificate it states:

"If you intend to use your vehicle on the road you should have it repaired without delay and have it retested before the existing test validity expires"

anewman

Jonesy_McJones wrote: »

Someone at work mentioned to me that if it failed, then that would 'overwrite' the existing MOT.

This is NOT true.

vaio

Jonesy_McJones wrote: »

Thanks for the quick response!
So if the car fails on rubbish windscreen wipers and missing bulbs for example, and I had an accident on the way to the MOT place in dry conditions in full daylight, I might be ok because those things wouldn't have contributed to / caused the accident? But if it failed on dodgy brakes, I might not? Is that what you mean?
Or could they refuse the claim regardless?

Quentin wrote: »

If the car isn't roadworthy, it makes no difference what journey you are doing! Any claim could be rejected.

Any claim could be rejected but they will only make the rejection stick if the vehicle defect caused or contributed to the claim.

mikey72

Been there.
I always take my car in before the MOT due date.
If it fails the database will not show the fail, it shows the car has a valid MOT, but there is a rider stating that further MOT results are on record for the vehicle. If you look at the history, the fail is recorded after the pass from the previous year, with the reasons for the fail.
So the car always has a valid MOT, be it roadworthy or not.
Would a split cv gaiter be a valid reason for rejecting an insurance claim if an uninsured driver wrote your car off on the way home?

lisyloo

Would a split cv gaiter be a valid reason for rejecting an insurance claim if an uninsured driver wrote your car off on the way home?

Absolutely not !!

oops sorry, that was a rhetorical question wasn't it

Wig

vaio wrote: »

Any claim could be rejected but they will only make the rejection stick if the vehicle defect caused or contributed to the claim.

I agree with this.

Even if it is unroadworthy they would have to show that the defect contributed to the claim.

Jonesy_McJones

Just thought I would update this thread...

Took my car in for its MOT and it passed! Rather happy about that because the three previous years it has failed and been rather expensive to fix. Is it a coincidence that it passed at a place that doesn't do repairs I wonder...

Not bad for a 14 year old car! :j

Thanks again to all those who posted :beer: