Can I drive my car with a failed MOT?

Mildly_Miffed

GrumpyDil said:

Aretnap said:

badmemory said:

It may be a good idea next time you have an MOT if you ask the tester when they put their results onto the online computer.

Why? Yes the results of all tests are recorded. What significance do you think that has?

And they are recorded immediately based on my last dozen on so tests.

In fact I don't think in normal circumstances they can complete a test without uploading the results.

A car being tested is logged into the computer at the start of the test.

The tester has to log the pass or has to log what it's failed on, in order to log the car off the test. The test cannot be completed too quickly, either.

The only other option is that the test is abandoned because the car cannot be safely tested - and the reason for that has to be logged, too.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/introduction - section 4

prowla

It's common practice with older/cheaper cars to do the MOT, see what it fails on, and then decide whether to do the fixes or scrap the car.

If the fail is for tyres, then it's also common practice to drive the car to get new tyres and then go back to get the pass.

Similarly lights (I've had one where I replaced a bulb and another one went on the way to the test).

For dull headlights, a polish is an easy fix (they can go dull again, though).

jimjames

user1977 said:

In any event whether it's legal is academic unless you're stopped by the police and they detect the fault. Even at night, that seems unlikely unless the headlight is out completely.

Considering the number of people driving around with no insurance or no MOT that are not getting stopped it seems unlikely to get pulled over with a valid MOT unless very unlucky or doing something to draw attention to the car.

Aretnap

user1977 said:

In any event whether it's legal is academic unless you're stopped by the police and they detect the fault. Even at night, that seems unlikely unless the headlight is out completely.

From experience of driving around on winter evenings I'd say that even if you did have a headlight out completely, it would probably still be quite a while before you got pulled over...