Mechanics, Tax and Insurance questions

dbullet

Hi there,

My gf and I have a car that we do not use and has no insurance and has a SORN. We are looking to use it again Saturday but it will need a visit to the mechanics first as it needs a slow flat fixed, a jump start and charge of the battery and an MOT done.

My worry is getting it to/from the mechanics? The garage is 0.5miles away but I don't know the legalities/technicalities of this situation.

I can see I can't get a new tax disc until the car has insurance and an MOT.
In which case, can the car the driven (whether by us or the mechanic) to the garage at all? Do mechanics get to bypass some rules when moving vehicles or will we be forced to have the car towed until it has an MOT at which point we can apply for a tax disc.

Many thanks

forgotmyname

To and from a prebooked MOT or place of repair if you have insurance.

Get them to collect it i presume that have trade plates and full cover.

goonarmy

As long as you are insured and the MOT is prebooked then you can drive there. It must be a reasonable distance. But i dunno what reasonable is.

Aretnap

As above, you can drive an untaxed, un MOTed vehicle to a pre-booked MOT provided it's insured and provided it has no faults which would make it illegal to drive with or without an MOT (so if the brakes don't work you still either have to get it towed, or fix it where it is).

You can either insure it and drive it yourself (Google "day insurance" if you don't want to fork out for an annual policy yet) or ask the garage to send someone to collect it.

Aretnap

goonarmy wrote: »

As long as you are insured and the MOT is prebooked then you can drive there. It must be a reasonable distance. But i dunno what reasonable is.

It means a distance which is, erm, reasonable. There's no set number of miles. IIRC there's case law to the effect that it has to be a local garage, but that doesn't necessarily mean the nearest one. What's considered local is probably not the same in the Highlands of Scotland as it is in London. "Don't take the pi$$" is probably a good rule of thumb in such matters - if you live in London and want to get it MOTed in Aberdeen you might need to come up itch a very good reason indeed why you chose that MOT station.

But the OP said the garage is half a mile away, which would be local and reasonable anywhere.

Rover_Driver

There is no distance specified in the regulations, only 'for the purpose of submitting it by previous arrangement for, or bringing it away from, an examination'.

s.6,(2),(a),(i), The Motor Vehicles (Tests) Regulations 1981.

Nilrem

Rover_Driver wrote: »

There is no distance specified in the regulations, only 'for the purpose of submitting it by previous arrangement for, or bringing it away from, an examination'.

s.6,(2),(a),(i), The Motor Vehicles (Tests) Regulations 1981.

And case law has suggested the distance can be quite a long one if there is a reasonable explanation for it.

For example if you booked a test for your new car near your home, but picked it up from 200 miles away and drove it to the test, ignoring countless other test stations you'd probably have a very hard time explaining it in court.

If on the other hand your car is a classic, rare, or of unusual construction you are quite entitled to book it into a test at a test location where the examiner is used to dealing with them - for example if you drive a wooden framed car, or a super car/porche etc, you will probably want an examiner who you can trust knows about the quirks of it, and to take care of it (rather than risk doing it at the local "brakes r us" place, where the risk of the car getting damaged on site, or some idiot abusing it is higher).

As Aretnap says it's best not to take the mickey, but it doesn't have to be the nearest by any stretch of the imagination - it's entirely reasonable to take it to your regular station or the one next to your normal mechanic/dealer, even if it means passing several closer ones.

It's one of those bits of motoring legistlation that from what I've seen is quite interesting with various bits of case law defining it under different circumstances (I think you're also allowed to stop off on the way to the test station, for example to get fuel which took another court case to tidy up), and a great example of how a law should be worded to allow for individual circumstances, which lets the courts look at them rather than saying "you can only travel X miles" or "you must do it at your closest one", both of which would be a real problem for some people (either because the nearest one might not have a clue about your model and miss something obvious to a specialist, or there might not be any test station within that distance)

spacey2012

If you have no insurance, the police will pound the vehicle.
If it has no MOT they will stop and issue a fixed penalty of £100.
They do not care if you have a defence, that is for you to take up in a court case if you chose not to pay the penalty.

The days where they do leniency are well and truly over, they are under huge pressure to write as many penalty notices as possible.

NeverEnough

spacey2012 wrote: »

If you have no insurance, the police will pound the vehicle.
If it has no MOT they will stop and issue a fixed penalty of £100.
They do not care if you have a defence, that is for you to take up in a court case if you chose not to pay the penalty.

The days where they do leniency are well and truly over, they are under huge pressure to write as many penalty notices as possible.

That is simply not correct - it is perfectly legal to drive a car without an MOT to a prebooked MOT test, provided it is insured and not unsafe /dangerous to drive. Police will not issue a fixed penalty in this case, as it is provided for by law.

goonarmy

spacey2012 wrote: »

If you have no insurance, the police will pound the vehicle.
If it has no MOT they will stop and issue a fixed penalty of £100.
They do not care if you have a defence, that is for you to take up in a court case if you chose not to pay the penalty.

The days where they do leniency are well and truly over, they are under huge pressure to write as many penalty notices as possible.

No.

Additonal characters to comply with inane posting rules

goonarmy

Aretnap wrote: »

It means a distance which is, erm, reasonable. There's no set number of miles. IIRC there's case law to the effect that it has to be a local garage, but that doesn't necessarily mean the nearest one. What's considered local is probably not the same in the Highlands of Scotland as it is in London. "Don't take the pi$$" is probably a good rule of thumb in such matters - if you live in London and want to get it MOTed in Aberdeen you might need to come up itch a very good reason indeed why you chose that MOT station.

But the OP said the garage is half a mile away, which would be local and reasonable anywhere.

Werent really a question;)