Accident with out MOT

minomonkey2

Hello all,

I have searched the site for my specific question and wonder if anyone can help?

My partner had an accident on the 24th September. She hit a parked car, then left her details on the windscreen etc. The other insurer ha now contacted and the claim is in progress.

At the time however, her MOT had expired since August. She has recently had it renewed as of October 16th. The claim went in on October 25th.

If a claim is made through the insurance company (Direct Line) would they have a grounds to reject the claim? She is going to get her car repaired through the insurance also, but if there is a risk they won't pay out then maybe she should leave the repairs to her car (as the are just big scatches) and organise for the other car to be repaired to limit the cost?

Any ideas??

spacenase

Hi,

Short answer is yes they would.

At the time of the accident you were driving without an MOT, which is illegal and therefore your insurance cover was invalid. This will also cause problems for the person you hit.

I don't know whether they do this, but they could report you to the police and you will also be prosecuted.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

saintjanet

I have to agree with the above,if you read your policy,you will find this is probably stated in it,sorry.

minomonkey2

Thanks for the prompt responses. I just had a check through the policy and the only thing I could find was reference to the car needing to be road worthy. I guess this could be interpreted as needing MOT.

How would they find out it was not MOT'd? I have not in the past had to send my MOT in for an accident - only a total loss where the car was scrapped?

Astaroth

Insurers are not so clear cut on this... under the terms and conditions of the policy they would be able to reject the claim which means you would not be able to claim for your own losses and you would also have to pay for the damages to the other vehicle.

In reality the levels of checks done are not as great as they should be and even if it does come to light that the vehicle didnt have a valid MOT at the time then as long as it is not considered that the lack of an MOT as being a contributory factor in the incident they would often still continue to deal with the claim. It is worth noting that the lack of an MOT does significantly reduce the value of the vehicle so may cause the vehicle to be a total loss and then a lower payout

mrbadexample

Many years ago I had an accident in a car with no MOT. The insurance company did not ask about it. If you're lucky, it might go unnoticed.

montrose5

Just bear in mind that insurers have access to a single MOT/Insurance database which can be checked in much the same way as the Police can to see if a car is MOT'd and Insured. As above yes roadworthy does mean with a current MOT. If it was an oversight the Insurance company may be understanding but no MOT is an absolute offence(as in no defence is acceptable-other than driving to or from a pre-arranged Mot test or MOT repair)

northern_munky

How will the insurance company know? If they ask her to produce an MOT cert, then she can give the one she has now. They are not going to ask for the old MOT, not many people keep old MOTs anyway, she could say she has thrown it away. I'm sure they won't go to the trouble of trying to trace an old MOT, far too much work.

The previous poster mentions an MOT database, maybe there is one now with the new computerised MOTs, but last year the old paper based system was in still in use, was there a database in use then? I'm not sure there was!

CopperPlate_2

The MOT database went live in April 2005 from memory so it's likely that your car was on the system. I'm surprised the driver wasn't issued a 7 day ticket to product their Driving Licence, Insurance Certificate and MOT after an accident (unless of course the Police weren't called to it). The insurer will have access to the database so it's likely that they will find out that the car wasn't MOT'd at the time. As has been said failure to have an MOT does not necessarily void any insurance you have - it's down to the company concerned whether they will honour it or not.

You could, of course approach the other driver and offer to pay for the full repair of the damage caused to their vehicle - and cancel your own claim. That way it's sorted out between you both, however, it might raise more questions with the other party than it dispels. There is always the chance that they might think you're about to pull a fast one and disappear...

northern_munky

CopperPlate wrote:

The MOT database went live in April 2005 from memory so it's likely that your car was on the system. I'm surprised the driver wasn't issued a 7 day ticket to product their Driving Licence, Insurance Certificate and MOT after an accident (unless of course the Police weren't called to it). The insurer will have access to the database so it's likely that they will find out that the car wasn't MOT'd at the time.

True, but the database only held records of cars which had the new style computerised MOTs and as there were lots of problems with the system many cars didnt get the new style MOT till this year, mine included, I only got mine this August. So it wouldnt have been on the database even though it was MOTd. If i was the OP, i wouldnt be worrying, just see what happens.

CopperPlate_2

Yes, you're quite right. There were teething troubles with the database...