Car & MOT about to expire before Garage can repair car- What do I do?

npmaster

I might have put myself into a little bit of a mess.

My car tax expires in 5 days. My car failed its MOT today. The garage was unable to fix the car as the part required isn't sold by their approved vendor. I located a garage that will repair the car but they can't get the part in until next week after the tax and MOT expired.

So any ideas on what I can do?

I believe the Tax will lapse due to the expired MOT. And if the tax lapse I am not sure if I will fall foul of an automatic fine.

Will appreciate any advice

AdrianC

You need to SORN it.
https://sorn.service.gov.uk/

But when, exactly, does the MOT expire? If it's the 1st, then your tax will just renew (I'm assuming it's DD)

greatcrested

Pay for the tax.

Find a garage that can fix the car earlier and then re-MOT it.

A_Lert

Agreed with AdrianC, if the existing MOT has not yet expired then I doubt it will cause an issue.

If it has expired, then by the letter of the law you must park the vehicle off the road and SORN it. You may drive a SORNed vehicle to and from a pre-booked MOT test, though you must still have valid insurance.

In practice you are unlikely to be fined immediately for no tax if your car is parked. The DVLA sends a reminder letter first.

If you're driving and get pulled over, it will unfortunately be down to the police officer's discretion.

Another factor is if the MOT test gave any dangerous faults, it's illegal to drive the vehicle at all afterwards. If you get a dangerous fault and want a different garage to fix it, you have to get your car moved by a tow truck.

AdrianC

A_Lert said:

Agreed with AdrianC, if the existing MOT has not yet expired then I doubt it will cause an issue.

If the tax expires at the end of Jan, then the existing MOT needs to be valid past the change-over to the new tax... so into Feb.

Another factor is if the MOT test gave any dangerous faults, it's illegal to drive the vehicle at all afterwards. If you get a dangerous fault and want a different garage to fix it, you have to get your car moved by a tow truck.

Not quite...

It is not in itself illegal to drive a car with a "dangerous" fail, any more than it is to drive one with a normal fail.
It is illegal to drive a car without a current MOT, where one's required, and even a "dangerous" fail does not cancel the unexpired previous test. But that's relatively minor, no points.
It is illegal to drive an unroadworthy car, no matter the status of the MOT - so if it failed because something's unroadworthy, it was illegal to drive it to the centre, and it was almost certainly illegal to drive it the day and the week before... That's not exactly serious, three points.
It is illegal to drive dangerously, whether that's because of the manner of driving or the condition of the vehicle. That's very serious indeed... Mandatory ban.

All a "dangerous" fail does is open your eyes to the parlous state of the vehicle.

It's perfectly possible to see how you could drive to an MOT illegally, fail with a "dangerous", yet drive away without a pass but legally.
Let's say there's two fail points, one relatively trivial (say 13-pin towbar wiring not working), the other "dangerous" (say, a horrifically bad tyre). The tyre gets changed. The other fail can't be addressed yet. There is still time on the old cert...

npmaster

The issue is the MOT & Tax are due the same day on the 1st of February.  I do pay the tax by DD but I could pay upfront. I just never worked out how to switch from DD.

The fault was major defect but not dangerous. I was told it was safe to drive the car to take it home and to drive it to a garage.

If I SORN the car (which I can as I have off-road parking). Can I still take it to the garage to get repaired? Or would that be illegal?

AdrianC

npmaster said:

The fault was major defect but not dangerous. I was told it was safe to drive the car to take it home and to drive it to a garage.

"Major" just means a fail.
"Minor" is a pass but advisory.

What is the fail?

If I SORN the car (which I can as I have off-road parking). Can I still take it to the garage to get repaired? Or would that be illegal?

So long as the MOT's pre-booked, it's just fine.

williamgriffin

AdrianC said:

A_Lert said:

Agreed with AdrianC, if the existing MOT has not yet expired then I doubt it will cause an issue.

If the tax expires at the end of Jan, then the existing MOT needs to be valid past the change-over to the new tax... so into Feb.

Another factor is if the MOT test gave any dangerous faults, it's illegal to drive the vehicle at all afterwards. If you get a dangerous fault and want a different garage to fix it, you have to get your car moved by a tow truck.

Not quite...

It is not in itself illegal to drive a car with a "dangerous" fail, any more than it is to drive one with a normal fail.
It is illegal to drive a car without a current MOT, where one's required, and even a "dangerous" fail does not cancel the unexpired previous test. But that's relatively minor, no points.
It is illegal to drive an unroadworthy car, no matter the status of the MOT - so if it failed because something's unroadworthy, it was illegal to drive it to the centre, and it was almost certainly illegal to drive it the day and the week before... That's not exactly serious, three points.
It is illegal to drive dangerously, whether that's because of the manner of driving or the condition of the vehicle. That's very serious indeed... Mandatory ban.

All a "dangerous" fail does is open your eyes to the parlous state of the vehicle.

It's perfectly possible to see how you could drive to an MOT illegally, fail with a "dangerous", yet drive away without a pass but legally.
Let's say there's two fail points, one relatively trivial (say 13-pin towbar wiring not working), the other "dangerous" (say, a horrifically bad tyre). The tyre gets changed. The other fail can't be addressed yet. There is still time on the old cert...

Dangerous condition used to start with a fixed penalty and three points so it's not that serious. 

npmaster

Passenger Coil spring needs replaces as it is fractured (surprisingly didn't feel any different)

I didn't actually think about getting the garage that is doing the repair to do the MOT but now you mention it. It is a good idea.

Flight3287462

Get online and see if you can get the VED renewed being on the 1st it may work  (VED expires midnight, MOT possibly not until later in the day).  Bonus is going forward your MOT will be a couple of days later which means you won't have this problem again.

facade

npmaster said:

Passenger Coil spring needs replaces as it is fractured (surprisingly didn't feel any different)

People always tell you that damaged springs will immediately cause the car to swerve violently out of control, turn upside down and explode in a fireball. However, the reality is that the last half turn snaps off and the car sinks a couple of cm*. The only ways to tell are if you hear it go, inspect  the springs, or notice a bit more squeaking, as the last half turn has the silencer tube round it. Many broken springs are picked up at MOT, and they have possibly been broken for months.

(*Unless that is if you have one of the cars where the spring escapes the seat and rips the side out of the tyre- Renault Meganes do this.)