Manufacturers Warranty - MOT fail courtesy car

vincent709

Hello!

I was hoping someone could give me some advice.

My car failed its MOT with a major. The garage advised me that I could only drive it home and to/from somewhere to get it repaired and re-MOTd.

It's still under warranty and the local dealership has confirmed that the issue is covered, but they dont have the part in and have a forecast date of over 2 weeks away. They also dont have any courtesy cars available for 2 weeks as they are booked up.

My question is this:
As my car isn't driveable due to MOT failure, and the reason for it being undriveable is due to a warranty item that the manufacturer is currently unable to supply, are they obligated to provide me with a vehicle?

Thanks in advance!

AdrianC

No, they aren't. Not unless your warranty specifically states they are.

Does your car still have time remaining before the expiry of the old MOT (or, if it's the first MOT, before the third anniversary of first registration)? If so, and if the car is roadworthy, then it's still legal to drive.

If it's unroadworthy, then it wasn't legal to drive even before you took it in for the test.

What part are we talking about, anyway? The test result hasn't changed anything around the legality of driving the car. A "major" is just what used to be a fail - a "minor" is an advisory, and not a fail. If it was something that was actively dangerous, it would be a "dangerous", not just a "major".

vincent709

Yeah reading up since that's also my understanding, there's still a couple of weeks left on the last MOT.

It's just thrown me that the garage specifically said I couldn't drive it legally.

The coil spring for the suspension has snapped. I'm unsure if this makes the vehicle unsafe to drive.

AdrianC

I'm very surprised it's being covered by warranty, then.

Ask the dealer whether it's driveable. I'd lean towards no, unless they explicitly say it's OK. There's a risk of the end of the spring piercing the tyre, or the loose part coming free and causing other damage.

vincent709

Yeah the MOT garage didnt think it would be but Toyota have said it is covered. It's still just within the 7 year warranty. It's done less than 60,000 miles though so it may be down to that.

daveyjp

Try a few more dealerships to fix it under warranty.

System

vincent709 wrote: »

The coil spring for the suspension has snapped. I'm unsure if this makes the vehicle unsafe to drive.

Major suspension component so yes it does. Did you not hear any knocking or notice the car sitting a little lower in one corner?

vincent709

Nope everything seems normal. I dont drive that car often though.

debtdebt

A two week wait on something as common as a coil spring seems pretty unreasonable.

Personally I wouldn't drive it as I drove my parents car to the MOT centre once with a broken coil spring and when I got there, it popped out and burst a tyre. I was lucky this didn't happen on the road.

You're lucky that they're covering it on warranty though as these are usually deemed a wear and tear item.

oldagetraveller

"Toyota have said it is covered. It's still just within the 7 year warranty"
Toyota? Theirs is 5 years from new in the U.K..

https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/warranty/toyota-warranty

vincent709

Apologies I meant 5