Afternoon, Just a quick question. One of the cars has it's MOT tomorrow - if it passes all will be fine and dandy, but if it fails, I might run into problems. Problem being the tax and MOT run out on Monday. I know in the eyes of the law, you can drive a car with no MOT if you have written proof that you are driving to a pre-booked appointment for an MOT, but I'm not sure about road tax. You can't renew tax without a valid MOT - can you renew the tax literally 3 days before the MOT expires? If you can't, does tax have a similar loophold for driving to an MOT, or would the car need to be loaded onto a trailer for the test? Rep to the first person that provides concrete answers with proof Thanks
Without wanting to sound like a dick, Grow a sack and just drive it there? If a cop pulls you and fines you for not having any tax whilst your on your way to an M.O.T then I'm pretty sure you've met the harshest person on the planet. Loading your car onto a trailer merely to take it to the M.O.T centre would take a lot of time and money (if you don't own a trailer) that you shouldn't need to waste.
With out being quite so harsh, yeah you'll probably be fine. When was the last time you were stopped? What you will have to do is talk to the DVLA and tell them the car isn't getting a tax disk right away or they'll start down the fines and threatening letters route.
Ive got a tax disc 5 days before the MOT ran out in the past, ive always assumed that a valid MOT is valid regardless of the time left on it. Im fairly positive if the car is booked in for an MOT, you can drive it to the test station without tax or an MOT, the only proof i can find is this http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/information/InfoCentre/ItemDetails.aspx?sid=1880 i guess its the same regardless of your location.
Yes you can. Incidentally the exemption for driving to and from an MOT is actually in regards to tax. It is legal to drive a car with no MOT, as long as it has tax and insurance. Even if you crash the insurance company doesn't care if you have an MOT or not. The tricky part is if you actually pass your MOT. You need to take your MOT certificate, and your insurance certificate and WALK to the post office to get your tax disk. If you pass your MOT you must tax your car before you drive it. If you fail you're exempt and can once again drive home without your tax. If you get caught driving without tax after passing your MOT you're getting a nasty little fine, and probably a sanctimonious dressing down. The chances of this actually happening vary greatly dependant on location and length of journey. P.S. I actually buy my tax disk 6 months after my MOT. It makes my life a lot easier, and I can tootle about while I'm still doing remedial work for the MOT. You drive a British car of a certain age and you become well versed in all this stuff. Also having vehicles on SORN.
I believe you can tax a car upto a month before the old one runs out, I allway's tax my car before the old one runs out, And when the old one runs old I put the new one in the holder.
im pretty sure you cant drive the car at all if its not taxed if you need your MOT you need to have it booked in but still need valid tax. same goes for insurance cant drive without it
Heres some more info it is perfectly fine to drive without tax to an MOT center (It HAS to be booked in) under VERA 1994 Sched.2 scroll to point 22
cool but still you can ONLY drive it to and from the garage to be either tested or get repaired and re-tested.
Yes because if the car passes the MOT you have no reason to drive the vehicle without tax, i suppose they could change it so you can drive from the MOT station to a post office to get tax but then that would open up a whole new can of worms.
No-one with anything but a pathological hatred of joe public would fine you from driving from an MOT station to the post office to get your car taxed.
Really is just as well i'm not a copper i probably fall into the pathological hatred of others category...
Are you sure about that? I got pulled over on the motorway a few months back in a car both insured and taxed and received a £60 fine for a six-month expired MOT. [EDIT]Try not to say things like that without knowing if they're right or not! Phew, I was afraid I was going to have to go rioting about my fine. The only exception is when driving to or from a prebooked MOT test. The penalty for an driving without a valid MOT? OPSI and the AA.[/EDIT]
I got a fine for not wearing a seat belt, I moved my car about 20 feet to let someone park and a policeman see me and reported me, So I would hate to think what he would do if he caught someone driving without tax.
Heh, that's deeply unlucky. But £60 is nothing, it's a parking ticket. You didn't get any points or anything. I'm actually pretty sure my car's MOT lapsed this month. I'm still waiting for the garage to send me my reminder though.
Luck had nothing to do with it, my stupid ass got ANPR'd because I was doing 108.6mph in the fast lane. I was probably lucky to escape with just the MOT fine... But yeah, it's still totally illegal.
Pure: You deserved it either way really - 110mph or 6 months without MOT. Rogan: The onus is more likely than not (as usual) on you to ensure your vehicle is up-to-date with all legal requirements. MOT is one of them. If you aren't sure I'd get your last cert out and check asap. How did you think driving without an MOT was fine? That's the whole point of it, the car has to have the inspection every year after 3y/o for the rest of its life.
You have a 5 day grace period between periods of tax to allow delivery of the disc if you've ordered it. So you could get the MOT, phone up / internet tax it, and drive it home with no worries.
It doesn't affect your insurance or tax, which makes it a big green light for me. But I will accept that it's terribly naughty and illegal, even if they won't tow your car, give you points, or invalidate your insurance. Clarification: I am a terrible person. My car, however, is constantly maintained and roadworthy.
Apparently if you write the car off, though it won't affect your third-party liability, the insurers will only compensate you for the value of a non-MOT'd car (which will, unsurprisingly, be considerably reduced) if you have fire & theft/comprehensive insurance. That said, they won't ask to see the certificate unless you have a fairly serious smash, though, so if you're only making a small claim they won't bother asking for it. It's all held on some database (hence how an unmarked car could ANPR me as expired). Cost of MOT fine: £60-1000 Cost of MOT: £54.85 To conclude this rather boring saga - if you are on third party only insurance, never travel on the motorways or through areas which are ever patrolled by the police (and above all never speed or otherwise draw attention to yourself), and have tax and insurance, and feel lucky, punk, you might get away with not MOTing your car (that is, until you have to get it taxed and insured). Hurrah for consumer advice! [EDIT]Wait, you have to get tax and insurance annually. Both require an MOT test, which lasts for 12 months. So you have to have an MOT every 12 months if you want tax and insurance. Which is how often you're supposed to have it anyway. How does it happen that you don't have an MOT, then? (My excuse is - we didn't buy the car firsthand, so the insurance is renewed in the July and the MOT in October yada yada yada...)[/EDIT]
