MOT, Computerisation and the Law

red_eye

Spivved1987 wrote: »

I've just returned from a perplexing conversation at my local Lookers. I always get my car MOT done in advance of the expiry date, so that I can draw breath to get finance ready if necessary, get to important appointments etc. My understanding was always that as long as the car was booked in for any necessary repair work (other than if the garage had decided that the car was actually dangerous) you were ok to drive in the days between the MOT test and the expiry date of the old one.

My car failed its MOT - not dangerously - but the lady told me that 'with everything being computerised' it was now logged at Swansea as an MOT failure and that technically I would be breaking the law if I used it to drive anywhere other than to and from a garage I had booked it into for repair. Knowing my luck with traffic police I would have been the one caught out, so I didn't feel like putting this to the test.

But this raises a couple of issues. Firstly there is now no such thing as a grace period, so I might as well leave the MOT till the last day in the future. Secondly, and more significantly, Lookers and main dealers will generally be able to turn a repair round more quickly than an independent small garage if parts need to be ordered. Even though they are often much cheaper than main dealers, how could I risk putting my car in for an MOT a few days in advance of expiry into a small garage, have a failure logged at Swansea and then find I end up having to go to a main dealer anyway because the little garage can't get the parts till Monday?

Could small garages do a 'pre-MOT' without needing to log a failure, but give an estimate of what the car is likely to fail on in advance of the MOT proper?

it is genrally a good idea to have the car serviced before an mot as it would be looked over in more detail then an mot test (pre mot) plus as spark plugs, oil and filters are changed it will sail though emissions test unless cat or o2 sensor failure

Spivved1987

Just got definitive(?) answer from VOSA:

I am afraid the information you were given regarding your MOT was
incorrect. An MOT is valid until midnight on the date of expiry of the
current certificate - even if the vehicle fails an MOT prior to that date.
Please note however that the vehicle should also be kept in a roadworthy
condition and meet legal requirements at all times in order to be driven on
the public highway.
Once midnight on the date of expiry is reached, you are only legally able
to drive the vehicle directly to/from a pre-booked MOT test.
If the vehicle fails the test you are also able to drive it to a place of
repair and back to an MOT garage for re-test.

Joe_Horner

Thanks for posting that, Spivved

Hopefully (although I doubt it) an explanation from VOSA, who run the scheme, help to stop some of the rumours and mis-information that surrounds fails "canceling" existing MOTs - because they don't!