Car failed MOT - What now?

freelancepuddle

Londoner_1 wrote: »

As a guide i would never get a car with an mot date between 20 dec and 3 jan. The holiday period to fix anything is just too long, if anyone has a mot date over this period i would change it to avoid these dates.

How do you change an MOT date without paying for a whole new one? I do agree though. Why one of the previous owners decided to have their MOT on New Years Day is beyond ridiculous, and landed me with no car for 2 weeks. Tuesday I get my new car, finally. Never touching a Ford again, absolute rust buckets.

trigger_fish

freelancepuddle wrote: »

My car failed its MOT on rust/corrosion just before Christmas (23rd of Dec). The expiry date of the previous certificate is still valid until New Years Day. Unfortunately I can't book it into repairs any time soon due to the Christmas holidays (really bad timing for the MOT for the last owner, I've only owned the car for 6 months and was expecting it to pass as it's so reliable).

Can I drive it anywhere other than garages with the previous certificate until New Years Day? The DVLA website isn't clear. I can't go to work or out anywhere due to this.

A fail test doesn't invalidate the date on the current certificate.

Once the date on the current certificate is up you are entitled to drive the vehicle for repair and it doesn't have to be where the MOT was carried out.

In the same way you can drive to a PRE-Booked MOT without a current valid one and possibly on a sorn.

You still need insurance though.

trigger_fish

freelancepuddle wrote: »

How do you change an MOT date without paying for a whole new one? I do agree though. Why one of the previous owners decided to have their MOT on New Years Day is beyond ridiculous, and landed me with no car for 2 weeks. Tuesday I get my new car, finally. Never touching a Ford again, absolute rust buckets.

One way is to let the MOT lapse for a couple of weeks then get one done.

By the read of this the current certificate until New Years day was valid anyway.

AndyMc.....

trigger_fish wrote: »

A fail test doesn't invalidate the date on the current certificate.

Once the date on the current certificate is up you are entitled to drive the vehicle for repair and it doesn't have to be where the MOT was carried out.

In the same way you can drive to a PRE-Booked MOT without a current valid one and possibly on a sorn.

You still need insurance though.

True, but the car isn’t legal to drive until the reason it failed is rectified.

jbond

AndyMc..... wrote: »

True, but the car isn’t legal to drive until the reason it failed is rectified.

If you got back into the car after a fail, and drove on the roads, you shouldn't get pulled for invalid MOT, because the current one IS still legal, BUT you shouldn't really be driving the vehicle until fixed (but that depends on what it failed on). If you WERE stopped, and a fault WAS discovered, you'd probably get done for it.

Joe_Horner

AndyMc..... wrote: »

True, but the car isn’t legal to drive until the reason it failed is rectified.

Although, whether that's likely to matter or not depends very much on what the fail is.

Failed on towbar electrics? Not going to matter if you're not towing. Rear seat belts (inc mounting points)? Same if you never have rear seat passengers.

As far as I can see, the OP didn't say anywhere what the actual fail items were, and no number of advisories make it unroadworthy.

Some garages will give rust advisories at a very early stage so you know to get the area protected before it becomes a problem.

AndyMc.....

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Although, whether that's likely to matter or not depends very much on what the fail is.

Failed on towbar electrics? Not going to matter if you're not towing. Rear seat belts (inc mounting points)? Same if you never have rear seat passengers.

As far as I can see, the OP didn't say anywhere what the actual fail items were, and no number of advisories make it unroadworthy.

Some garages will give rust advisories at a very early stage so you know to get the area protected before it becomes a problem.

Sorry but you’re wrong there.

It’s like saying you don’t need wipers if it’s not raining.

Joe_Horner

AndyMc..... wrote: »

Sorry but you’re wrong there.

It’s like saying you don’t need wipers if it’s not raining.

In practical terms the chance of facing any consequences is pretty well zero. Besides, for either of the outer belts (but not both), if you're worried you just remove the belt and it's all legal again

Wipers, on the other hand, are also needed for cleaning the screen in dry weather.

AndyMc.....

Joe_Horner wrote: »

In practical terms the chance of facing any consequences is pretty well zero. Besides, for either of the outer belts (but not both), if you're worried you just remove the belt and it's all legal again

Wipers, on the other hand, are also needed for cleaning the screen in dry weather.

Are you talking about pre or post 1887 vehicles?

Joe_Horner

AndyMc..... wrote: »

Are you talking about pre or post 1887 vehicles?

I'm guessing that was a typo for pre 1987 but doesn't matter because the required rear belts are:

For 2 rear seats: A 3 point inertia belt for one seat or a 3 point static, lap or disabled belt for both.

For more than 2 rear seats: a 3 point inertia belt for one seat and a static, lap or disabled belt for any one other seat or a static 3 point belt for one seat and a disabled belt or child restraint for any one other seat or 3 point, lap, disabled or child restraint to each seat.

Given that you'll be hard pressed to find anything reasonably modern that doesn't have 3 point inertias fitted to both outboard seats, that makes one outboard belt optional and can be removed (but must be to standard if fitted).