Car insurance claim - MOT expired

scoobymootoo

Hi

Hoping for some advice. My husband had a car accident last week. He swerved to avoid debris in the road from another vehicle and bounced off the central reservation causing a fair bit of damage.

On contacting the car insurance, he was told that his MOT had expired and therefore he may not be covered. The bizarre thing is that the car is still under 3 years old so should not require an MOT. My husband purchased it last summer from an independent dealer. It now transpires that 6 months before the purchase it was MOT’d by the previous owner. We have no idea why and he was not told that it had an MOT on purchase. Apparently because it’s been MOT’d already, an MOT is now required despite the car being under 3 years?!

Can anybody give any advice?! This could be very expensive! Thank you

wongataa

The lack of an MOT does not invalidate insurance. If the vehicle is unroadworthy (this can happen whatever the MOT status) and the issue that made it unroadworthy contributed to the incident then that can invalidate the insurance.

marlot

scoobymootoo wrote: »

...It now transpires that 6 months before the purchase it was MOT’d by the previous owner....

I believe that taxis need their first MOT at 12 months.

See this table. https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/mot-test-fees

scoobymootoo

Interesting. That might fit although it was not sold as previously being a taxi. I guess they don't necessarily need to. Thank you

dacouch

Which Insurer is it?

I'm guessing Admiral or Hastings

sal_III

scoobymootoo wrote: »

On contacting the car insurance, he was told that his MOT had expired and therefore he may not be covered.

The key word here is "may". As wongataa already mentioned lack of MOT doesn't automatically invalidate the insurance. But they may refuse payout in certain circumstances.

Jumblebumble

scoobymootoo wrote: »

Hi

Hoping for some advice. My husband had a car accident last week. He swerved to avoid debris in the road from another vehicle and bounced off the central reservation causing a fair bit of damage.

On contacting the car insurance, he was told that his MOT had expired and therefore he may not be covered. The bizarre thing is that the car is still under 3 years old so should not require an MOT. My husband purchased it last summer from an independent dealer. It now transpires that 6 months before the purchase it was MOT’d by the previous owner. We have no idea why and he was not told that it had an MOT on purchase. Apparently because it’s been MOT’d already, an MOT is now required despite the car being under 3 years?!

Can anybody give any advice?! This could be very expensive! Thank you

Has anyone actually shown you the rule that states that if a car was a taxi and had an MOT at 12 months old and then went into private hands needs MOTing before 3 years is up apart from someone at the insurance company
I ask because this makes no sense and my gut reaction is someone has been making up fairy stories
Just to be sure I would contact the DVSA
If I bought a car that was 13 months old It would not occur to me to check the MOT history
In any case I am pretty confident that no way would the ombudsman allow this to stop a claim so I would not worry overmuch

The Gov website says this and I would send to the insurers and ask for their comments
When to get an MOT
The MOT test checks that your vehicle meets road safety and environmental standards.

You must get an MOT for your vehicle by either:

the third anniversary of its registration
the anniversary of its last MOT, if it’s over 3 years old
Some vehicles need to be tested at one year old - check the MOT fees table to see which.