MOT and car insurance-stuck abroad

Alter_ego

I wouldn't consider the scrap in CZ route. From personal experience (before UK joined EU) you will have major problems with DVLA if you do. ie you should have exported it etc.

cestina

Yes I have just been reading all that up Alter_ego, both from the UK and the CR side. The registration here looks like something of a nightmare too. Arrrrrrgh!  If I weren't so clear that heading into a covid hotbed at my age with already somewhat dodgy health, plus arthritic knees meaning the drive simply cannot be done in one fell swoop without stop-overs, I would set off for the UK next week, the day after my 79th birthday.  But it just seems beyond stupid to leave a relatively safe area to head to a really badly hit part of England....

cestina

Final update - in the end I bit the bullet and contacted SAGA. They could not have been more helpful. Predictably I am not the only person facing this situation and I think they are probably handling it on a one by one basis according to circumstances. They have agreed to cover me until I can get back to the UK for an MOT, and have asked me to obtain either an MOT equivalent from the Czech Republic or, if that is not possible (it isn't) then to have the main basic things required by an MOT checked and certified by a garage so that if there is a claim, I can show the car was roadworthy.  They have not asked to see this certification in advance, nor do they require me to return by a certain date.
All the necessary information about their agreement has been added to my file and was read out to me as it was recorded and I was asked to confirm I had understood and agreed it.   
Great relief! Thanks to all who contributed to this thread.  It helped to clarify my mind!

AdrianC

cestina said:

They ... have asked me to obtain either an MOT equivalent from the Czech Republic or, if that is not possible (it isn't)...

Really? That surprises me.

Until the end of last year, MOTs were "portable" between EU countries - a CZ test would have actually been legally acceptable in the UK for up to a year after the test. That obviously doesn't apply now, thanks to the Faragistas, but since step 1 of registering your car in CZ would be to get a CZ test...

TooManyPoints

If there is an incident and there is the slightest chance that lack of MOT contributed then the insurers can easily repudiate liability

Not for Third Party liabilities, they cannot. As well as that it would be extremely difficult to show that lack of MoT contributed to any incident. The vehicle being unroadworthy might, but that's not the same thing at all.

cestina

Yes, in order to register here I would need a Czech test but as far as I have been informed they won't do it to satisfy the British need for one (I love the word Faragista though given the complications we are now facing over here with regard to bank accounts etc etc I could use stronger language!)
Anyway SAGA are happy with the certification coming from a standard garage - I will probably couple it with a service done at the local Hyundai dealers.

AdrianC

cestina said:

Yes, in order to register here I would need a Czech test but as far as I have been informed they won't do it to satisfy the British need for one

They don't need to know why. They just need to do it. Like they'd do any other test.

chris_n

Surely it would fail on headlamps as the beam cut off goes the wrong way.

AdrianC

chris_n said:

Surely it would fail on headlamps as the beam cut off goes the wrong way.

If it's being used on RHT roads at night, it needs to have beam-benders (or switchable lights) anyway. Stick-on beam benders are perfectly legal for the UK MOT.

cestina

Yes, it has beam benders...