Car off road waiting for insurance claim but MOT now due

housebrick

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone can help me.

My wife had a prang in the car back in the middle of October and we made an insurance claim against the other party involved. Unfortunately this has been going round the houses for some time and the claim hasn't been resolved yet. In the meantime the car is not safe to drive on the road - one of the headlights does not work, there is a tear in the bonnet and the front bumper is badly damaged.

Anyway the MoT on the car is due next week. Its fairly obviously going to be an MoT failure, but I am not sure what the right course of action is. We can only get the car repaired when the insurance claim has been settled, but that could be several weeks more, by which time the MoT will have expired.

Obviously I want to do what is right legally. Should I take it in for an MoT anyway knowing that it will fail (and if so is it ok to drive it to the MoT garage when it is unsafe ?) or should I wait until the claim is settled, get the repairs done and then take it for an MoT ? I would obviously still have the same safety issue taking it to the garage to get it repaired.

Any advice most welcome !

Cheers,

Dave

Ultrasonic

There is no point whatsoever somehow getting an unroadworthy car to a garage for an MOT test. There is no legal requirement to get a car MOT tested if it is not being driven on the roads. (My Grandma had a car in her garage for many years just gathering dust that never got near an MOT test station!)

If the car is on your driveway declare it SORN so that you are no longer wasting money on road tax (VED).

Edit: if the car is parked on a street there may strictly be an issue when its MOT expires, and definitely once the tax expires. Others know more about this than me...

forgotmyname

As above no point at all taking it for an MOT. Risking points and a fine for driving an unroadworthy vehicle.

Whats the delay with the insurance? Are you comp or 3rd party? If the otherside are disputing it then it could be a long time before you get anywhere.

OK i looked at your previous post. 3rd party. Hit another vehicle because they opened the door.

This could drag on for ages. As already suggested. Get the car repaired yourself BUT you need receipts not a cash in hand job.

You could try calling their insurer and say your MOT is up and you need a car very soon. If they dont sort it out your putting it into the hands of an accident management company.

Aretnap

If it's parked on the road you do strictly speaking need an MOT though you'd be unlucky to get into trouble for not having one if you weren't actually driving it.

If it's off-road it's fine to let the MOT lapse and in any event taking it for a test it's certain to fail would be a pointless exercise - either way you're still left with a car without an MOT.

AdrianC

Aretnap wrote: »

If it's parked on the road you do strictly speaking need an MOT

If it's parked on-road, with that damage, and not moved since October - I'd be VERY surprised if it hadn't gained a Police Aware sticker and been presumed abandoned in the interim...