Accident - MOT expired - advice please!

vaio

sarriep wrote: »

Do you think the insurance company will check for a valid MOT as a matter of course?

Don't know, I suspect it varies from company to company. we had car written off as a TP to Tesco which wasn't MOT'd, they didn't ask about MOT but might have checked on-line

sarriep wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it won't be written off - just some damage to the bumper and bonnet so the lack of MOT shouldn't affect what the insurers pay out should it?......

No, it won't affect anything if they decide to repair

I suppose if it's very close to the repair/write off line the reduction in value might just tip the balance

Quentin

sarriep wrote: »

Do you think the insurance company will check for a valid MOT as a matter of course?

If your insurer is one of the scoundrels who try this MOT trick on, then they will ask you for it - check your policy and see if they "require" a MOT

Mustard_Dave

newfoundglory wrote: »

Really worth the paper its written on, then :rotfl:

Jeez, we're such a joke in the UK.

Why? How else could it be done. Any type of inspection is only a comment on the condition on the day of the test, be it an MOT, gas safety inspection or an audit of a company's accounts.

The point of having an MOT test is that once a year, you have to ensure your vehicle is checked. The test station will fail anything that is not up to scratch and advise you of anything that is not likely to pass next time around.

The point of an MOT not being valid once it leaves the test station is that the tester cannot be accountable if the vehicle suffers accident damage that renders it unroadworthy or you put on a second hand set of alloys with four bald tyres.

An annual inspection by a trained tester as well as your regular fluid level checks etc. is perfectly adequate.

mikey72

newfoundglory wrote: »

Really worth the paper its written on, then :rotfl:

Jeez, we're such a joke in the UK.

What countries have you seen a better systen in, and how do they work?

vaio

I quite like the Isle of Man system, MOT’s get done when cars over three years old first get imported to the island. And that’s it

There was a rumour that another test should be done whenever a car changes hands but I don’t think it came to anything.

newfoundglory

Its a difficult one I know... but... If you ignore for one minute the small percentage of garages which either:
(a) make up work which needs doing in order to generate extra revenue, or
(b) pass an MOT on a vehicle even though it should fail (perhaps because they are a dealer and want to sell it on);
(Alone this makes the system useless, because the tests are not really that independent or reliable)

Something which occurred to me was that they do very frequent oil changes on cars in the States, something like every 3 or 4 months. You rock up, pay $20 or $30 (about £13 to £20) and the garage change the oil on your car.

Since an MOT is a visual inspection, it doesn't that that long... what can take time are non-safety tests (like emissions).

Government should use test centres which ONLY do MOTs - this would be a good start.

I'd rather have the oil changed on my car every 4 to 6 months, and when they do it have a quick visual check carried out until the full yearly MOT.

Then again, if your MOT and annual service are 6 months apart then at least your car gets seen every 6 months.

mikey72

newfoundglory wrote: »

Its a difficult one I know... but... If you ignore for one minute the small percentage of garages which either:
(a) make up work which needs doing in order to generate extra revenue, or
(b) pass an MOT on a vehicle even though it should fail (perhaps because they are a dealer and want to sell it on);
(Alone this makes the system useless, because the tests are not really that independent or reliable)

Something which occurred to me was that they do very frequent oil changes on cars in the States, something like every 3 or 4 months. You rock up, pay $20 or $30 (about £13 to £20) and the garage change the oil on your car.

Since an MOT is a visual inspection, it doesn't that that long... what can take time are non-safety tests (like emissions).

Government should use test centres which ONLY do MOTs - this would be a good start.

I'd rather have the oil changed on my car every 4 to 6 months, and when they do it have a quick visual check carried out until the full yearly MOT.

Then again, if your MOT and annual service are 6 months apart then at least your car gets seen every 6 months.

The uk mot works well, even if it's made up work it's not letting a shoddy car back on the road, so a) doesn't really matter to the safety of the car.

The states do oil changes in places like Walmart.
I know my local garage, they do a good mot, and they'll do it well.
A tesco assistant with a spanner won't be anywhere near as re-assuring twice a year.
I like emissions tests, I don't enjoy the haze from diesel and oil burning petrol engines, and the smell of unburnt petrol that you used to get sitting in traffic.
And my car doesn't go to a garage for a service.

sarriep

Thanks so much for all of your help. The car has now been collected by the garage and we are waiting to see what the damage is. We were offered a courtesy car by the insurance but my husband has turned it down - worried that we could be accountable for the cost of this because the MOTs expired. I'm not convinced we could be asked to pay for this retrospectively - does anyone know? We could really do with the CC when I go back to work next week .... all advice welcome!
Sarah

Quentin

Why hasn't your husband read your thread here?

The "consequences" of you having no MOT have been well and truly explained!

dacouch

It is very unlikely the Insurers will request to see an MOT certificate for an accident repair.

For the Insurer to decline the claim they have to PROVE the accident was caused or substantially contributed to by the car being UNROADWORTHY. Not having an MOT does not make the car unroadworthy.

The repairing garage will want to get your car in, repaired and out of their hair as quickly as possible especially at the moment as there are a lot of other damaged cars due to the weather. If the Insurers had bothered to check the MOT (It's rare on an accident that is not written off), they would normally request to see the original of the current MOT cert and would generally send out a motor engineer to check the car to ensure it is roadworthy AND that the unroadworthyness caused or significantly contributed to the accident.

I would take the courtesy car option from the Insurer (It is normally their garage that provide it), the car will normally a small car eg a Corsa etc and the cost would be circa £25 a day.