MOT & Car Disposal

brush-head©

This is slightly complicated.
A friend of mine who suffers from clinical depression (currently on medication) is having various problems which I'm try to help with. Depression basically saps the normal will to deal with things & in his case this has developed into financial problems.
One of these problems is that he has a 10 year old car, perfectly OK. The MOT is due at the end of Jan2012. He doesn't use it a lot in fact he's not driven it for about 2-3 months.
It's parked on the road & taxed & insured (although he had a valid tax disc he had a visit from the police because it wasn't displayed & that is an offence - he was lucky he only got a warning).
If he doesn't do anything about renewing the MOT then of course he gets a load of other issues therefore I want to persuade him to get rid of the car. That then means he gets VED & insurance refund/saving & one less thing to deal with.
What is the fastest & best way of disposing of the car? Am I likely to get any joy going to a dealer in 2nd hand vehicles or for speed go to webuyanycar.com (which will give a minimal amount)?
Any advice gratefully received.

[Deleted User]

Stick it on eBay with a starting bid of scrap value. Put a good description and lots of good photos. Then whoever wins only needs to come and pick it up. No need to deal with tyre kickers then.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

what does your friend want to do with it its his car after all. disposing of because he has no intererst in this because of his depression and finances may result in resentment towards your for for that.

a MOT is between £35-£55.00 i would visually inspect the car him before it goes to MOT, wipers tyres, bulbs. if the spare is bald remove it if its fine but another is below limit change it and put that wheel in the house for MOT (it will pass without a spare in the boot). if it passes mot that will be a load off his mind, and the issue then would be he has access to a vehicle when he needs it most.

upside if he wants rid its worth more with a 12 month mot than without!.

discuss it with him, see how he feels explore all options and scenarios with him to make sure he has the right option in mind.

it would be better to discuss his condition with his debtors to see if he can make minimal payments for now, perhaps his doctor could refure him to adult social services (or your could contact them too and express concern) to help him with his living and finances.

TrickyWicky

I'm of the same opinion, making someone give up their car might not be such a good idea. Even if they're not using it, it is still there should they need it and whilst its just sat there, it's not costing any petrol to move it around (although yes, tax and insurance will obviously be a pain). You need to talk to your friend and find out what they think about the idea first before even thinking of suggesting they get rid of it.

Tread carefully, people with depression can be unstable and its easy to see people trying to take your things away from you - i've been suffering with it for years so I speak from personal experience.

pendulum

brush-head© wrote: »

... therefore I want to persuade him to get rid of the car.

The fact you have to persuade him suggests that you're expecting some resistance, e.g. he wants to keep his car.

In that case, I think you need to butt out. He might be depressed, but that doesn't mean he cannot make decisions for himself, and he's unlikely to appreciate someone trying to run his life for him.

It's also obvious from your post that you don't know the first thing about selling cars, so it's probably best to stay out of that process TBH. Have a word with him about the MoT expiry and see what he wants to do.

brush-head©

Thanks Pendulum for that last post - but the saga continues!
I did take part of your advice & butted out for a while, but apart from the passage of time, nothing has changed.
I'm amazed he hasn't been prosecuted. The car is still there on the road sans a valid MOT. I suspect this invalidates his insurance (& mine if I try to drive it).
What I plan on doing is going up there for a while & try to get a garage to come & start the car & take it for it's MOT to get him legal again.
Unless anyone has any better ideas...

vaio

don't know about the rest but insurance certainly isn't affected by a lack of MOT

brush-head©

vaio wrote: »

don't know about the rest but insurance certainly isn't affected by a lack of MOT

Thanks for your reply but sorry but that's wrong. My insurance states quite clearly (& I paraphrase for brevity) that you:-
must maintain the car in a roadworthy condition
protect the car from damage or loss
*have a valid Transport Test Certficate (MOT)*
vehicle tax disc unless declared off the road by SORN

(the above are also confirmed by my missus who is a trained CAB adviser & has come across these sorts of situations many times)

& I think it probably goes for all insurers (mine is a major one so I'd guess this is universal or fairly common).

Garages have different insurance to allow them to cope with most eventualities - they'd probably *not* drive the car but put it on a tow truck.

Regards

paddedjohn

brush-head© wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but sorry but that's wrong. My insurance states quite clearly (& I paraphrase for brevity) that you:-
must maintain the car in a roadworthy condition
protect the car from damage or loss
*have a valid Transport Test Certficate (MOT)*
vehicle tax disc unless declared off the road by SORN

(the above are also confirmed by my missus who is a trained CAB adviser & has come across these sorts of situations many times)

& I think it probably goes for all insurers (mine is a major one so I'd guess this is universal or fairly common).

Garages have different insurance to allow them to cope with most eventualities - they'd probably *not* drive the car but put it on a tow truck.

Regards

If you drove your car without an mot certificate the insurance can NOT be invalidated, if you are involved in an accident you are still covered. Your wife should read up on it a bit more to avoid giving out misleading advice.

Lum

Yup, insurers often put that exclusion in. The ombudsman overturns it, unless it can be shown that the accident was definitely caused by a component which would have failed it's MOT.

I take it you can't park the car off road somewhere and SORN it?

vaio

brush-head© wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but sorry but that's wrong. My insurance states quite clearly (& I paraphrase for brevity) that you:-
must maintain the car in a roadworthy condition
protect the car from damage or loss
*have a valid Transport Test Certficate (MOT)*
vehicle tax disc unless declared off the road by SORN

(the above are also confirmed by my missus who is a trained CAB adviser & has come across these sorts of situations many times)

& I think it probably goes for all insurers (mine is a major one so I'd guess this is universal or fairly common).

Garages have different insurance to allow them to cope with most eventualities - they'd probably *not* drive the car but put it on a tow truck.

Regards

As others have said it sounds like your OH needs a bit more training in insurance.

There is a duty to maintain a car in a roadworthy condition and insurers can refuse to pay if you don't AND the unroadworthyness causes or significantly contributes to the accident.

So.....

Bald tyres (with or without valid MOT) and you slide off the road on a wet bend = no payout

Same but you scrape a gatepost whilst parking or suffer a hit and run whilst parked = normal payout.

Note they can only do this on the damage to your car, they will always pay for damage/injury to others no matter what condition your car is in.

The same "did it cause or contribute to the accident" logic would also apply to the tax disc. As there is no way lack of tax could contribute to an accident then it follows there is no way they would get away with refusing a claim.