CAR stuck in Italy - MOT expired

i guess he doesn't tax it

There are lots of ex pats throughout Europe in a similar position.

It's only when caught do you experiance the consequences, if any

He should be careful, the local police can and do impound UK cars that have outstayed their welcome.

A trip to Spain to fill it with petrol every 6 months doesn't guarantee immunity either.

A friend who is an ex-pat had his DB7 Volante seized for exactly this. When he tried to repatriate it some sort of flag had been placed on it and it ended up being impounded with a huge amount of paperwork required to release it.

It took months if not years to clear it, I think he actually ended up surrendering it in lieu of paying the port fees as it had been left out to rot and was in such poor condition it wasn't economic to have it back.

My current Saab was owned by my father in law from new and registered in the UK but he took it to Poland when he moved there, for some reason he decided to keep it as a "UK" car while it was there but as it sat dormant for most of the time in an underground garage I guess he didn't want to worry about trivial things like Polish laws.

I took ownership of the car and drove it from Warsaw back to the UK - my insurer had no issue with me taking out a policy and I just booked an MOT at a garage in Dover for first thing in the morning. I arrived late the night before, slept in a Tesco car park like a hobo, went to the MOT and then walked down the road to a post office and taxed it before heading home to Leeds. I could have done it all in Leeds I guess but I was slightly paranoid.

The chaps on the border control at Dover asked quite a lot of questions, especially about the spare wheels in the back (I brought it over on the winter tyres) but were happy with my explanation about the MOT and tax situation and my plan to sort it all in the morning.

As others have said just make the effort to book an MOT and show willing and you'll be absolutely fine

Agreed. I've driven for 6 months with no MOT in error, as has my Mrs. All over the place. Your chances of getting into bother are (seemingly)

a) being a toe rag and getting pulled - because that happens.
b) being involved in a crash and having to produce documents
c) being stopped in a specific "operation" - of which I think I can recall seeing one in my lifetime.

My coper mate confirmed to me they don't set their cars to ping every single MOT and TAX offence or they'd never get any work done. Insurance, yes, they do, as that also leads to the other two usually. This is of course not the same country wide as the resident plod on here will probably chime in.

To be frank - our roads are fairly lawless these days what with the almost absence of police cars - certainly here in Somerset.

Trade Plates?

I'd also be double checking the insurance.

UK insurers often have clauses which effectively mean the cover is reduced to the bald legal minimum if you don't have an MoT.
That might mean cover in euroland doesn't exist.

I've always felt there are some French officials who just don't like anything UK. Enough said?

Note to others, for £50 you could have got a fresh MOT before driving out there.

According to the Gvt website it states clearly that it needs to be taxed to bring it back into the UK, if not it has to be trailered.

Also if the tax has run out and the car has not been put on SORN there could be a fine waiting on OP's doorstep.

"Who cares about foreign laws"

The same people who quite happily admit to doing "Quite some 'leptons' across the continent"

The likelihood of getting checked by a foreign police agent is virtually 0, let alone them running an MOT check.
If it is, in France, someone mentioned it's 120 euros, and carry on your way?

Irrelevant anyway as you are driving to a "pre booked MOT" so the exemption clause is there already!!

What's the cost to trailer the car back from Italy to Calais? It will be THOUSANDS. It will not be £100 as some of you may think.


I hate to swear, but fk me honestly, some people have no common sense.

If you genuinely ship your car back from Italy because of an MOT then I have a big clock I can sell you, it's in London..........mental.

More made up nonsense.