Does no MOT invalidate insurance?

J66998821

Thanks all. 

wongataa

J66998821 said:

Oh dear I’ve checked compare the market website and it pretty much says that we are unlikely to be able to claim from the other drivers insurance. Their insurance would be invalid without an MOT.

That is wrong.

In any case leave it up your insurers to sort out.

Car_54

Typhoon2000 gave the right answer near the top of the thread. The lack of an MOT has no bearing on the OP’s claim: no need for him/her to worry.

J66998821

Thanks for the reassurance 

DullGreyGuy

The answer is... it depends on their policy wordings. 

Most mainstream insurers dont even mention MOT in their policywordings and so the only impact it can have is the devaluation of their own vehicle when considering a total loss.

Some budget providers do have clauses in the Own Damage section saying that no MOT means that section is void however that doesn't impact your claim against them as that's the Liability/Third Party section.

There are some bottle of the barrel providers who say that they can use no MOT to cancel or void the whole policy... https://quote.onecallinsurance.co.uk/existing_customers/website-documents/getDocument.php?doc_name=1652090033ERS.pdf&_ga=2.106959554.1994661735.1679829765-1759926225.1679829765 for example

Others will point out that the Financial Ombudsman does fairly often uphold complaints about claims being rejected for no MOT even if that's what the policy states as long as there wasn't a defect with the vehicle that caused the claim and that an MOT would have spotted however that is rather moot as a third party cannot go to the Ombudsman.

Even if the policy was cancelled the person still had a valid certificate of insurance at the time of the accident which would make that insurer the RTA insurer. Some insurers admit their RTA obligations straight away and deal with the claim, others make you go through the whole process of establishing them as such. At the end of the day as long as you are letting your insurers deal with it and not attempting to claim directly it's just a matter of duration. 

diystarter7

Hi OP

Sorry to hear about that.

I'm safely assuming your car is insured at the very least and possibly your home as well. Just the car insurance is enough if you do not have house insurance

Therefore, forget about the other car/driver, let the police/etc deal with it.

You will be good, trust me.

Take care.

Aretnap

Even in the worst case scenario, where he had no insurance at all, and you had third party only car insurance and no home insurance, you would still be able to claim from the Motor Insurer's Bureau for your losses.

But his lack of an MOT shouldn't prevent you claiming against his insurance, and certainly won't prevent you claiming against your own insurance and then leaving your own insurer to argue the toss with his about who ultimately pays.

DullGreyGuy

Aretnap said:

Even in the worst case scenario, where he had no insurance at all, and you had third party only car insurance and no home insurance, you would still be able to claim from the Motor Insurer's Bureau for your losses.

Some would argue that isnt the worst case though... generally the MIB only covers uninsured losses (untraced and uninsured agreements are slightly different) and so whilst they cover the uninsured if you are insured then you have to claim off your own insurance which counts as fault claims. 

Unlikely to take effect in this scenario but sometimes the worst isnt what you think

jimjames

J66998821 said:

If they are found not to have an MOT does this mean insurance is invalid?  

Consider the case of getting your car repaired and taking back to an MOT station for retest, if that was the case then you would be uninsured. Equally a car under 3 years or over 40 years old  has no MOT and their insurance is not invalid either.

diystarter7

DullGreyGuy said:

The answer is... it depends on their policy wordings. 

Most mainstream insurers dont even mention MOT in their policywordings and so the only impact it can have is the devaluation of their own vehicle when considering a total loss.

Some budget providers do have clauses in the Own Damage section saying that no MOT means that section is void however that doesn't impact your claim against them as that's the Liability/Third Party section.

There are some bottle of the barrel providers who say that they can use no MOT to cancel or void the whole policy... https://quote.onecallinsurance.co.uk/existing_customers/website-documents/getDocument.php?doc_name=1652090033ERS.pdf&_ga=2.106959554.1994661735.1679829765-1759926225.1679829765 for example

Others will point out that the Financial Ombudsman does fairly often uphold complaints about claims being rejected for no MOT even if that's what the policy states as long as there wasn't a defect with the vehicle that caused the claim and that an MOT would have spotted however that is rather moot as a third party cannot go to the Ombudsman.

Even if the policy was cancelled the person still had a valid certificate of insurance at the time of the accident which would make that insurer the RTA insurer. Some insurers admit their RTA obligations straight away and deal with the claim, others make you go through the whole process of establishing them as such. At the end of the day as long as you are letting your insurers deal with it and not attempting to claim directly it's just a matter of duration. 

Hi

Polite heads up

From the AA site

Is car insurance valid without an MOT?

No, not having a valid MOT certificate invalidates your car insurance. So if you drive without an MOT, you're driving without insurance too.The penalties for driving while uninsured include a £300 fine and up to 6 points on your licence.The police also have the power to seize, and in some cases destroy, a vehicle that's being driven uninsured. And if the case goes to court you could get an unlimited fine and also be disqualified from driving.
https://www.theaa.com/mot/advice/driving-without-an-mot#insurance


Thanks