Can I drive under my old MOT?
Discussion
My car has just failed its MOT but still has 2 weeks of its old one left, and I could do with driving it this weekend. Will it still be covered under insurance (Churchill)? There are no dangerous faults, only major ones - mostly corrosion.
The full list is (deep breath):
Nearside Front Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength chassis rail (5.3.6 (a) (i))
Offside Front Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength chassis rail (5.3.6 (a) (i))
Offside Front Suspension arm ball joint excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Offside Front Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
Nearside Front Macpherson strut top bush or bearing has excessive wear or free play (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Offside Front Macpherson strut top bush or bearing has excessive wear or free play (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Nearside Rear Outer Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength sill (5.3.6 (a) (i))
Offside Rear Outer Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength sill (5.3.6 (a) (i))
The full list is (deep breath):
Nearside Front Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength chassis rail (5.3.6 (a) (i))
Offside Front Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength chassis rail (5.3.6 (a) (i))
Offside Front Suspension arm ball joint excessively worn (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Offside Front Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
Nearside Front Macpherson strut top bush or bearing has excessive wear or free play (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Offside Front Macpherson strut top bush or bearing has excessive wear or free play (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Nearside Rear Outer Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength sill (5.3.6 (a) (i))
Offside Rear Outer Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength sill (5.3.6 (a) (i))
The car is unroadworthy. The old MOT isn't entirely invalid, but given its condition if you drive it and are pulled and those failures are identified at the roadside you can still be done under C&U Regs, rather than driving without a valid MOT. Since you know it's in poor condition I wouldn't be taking it anywhere. Are you scrapping it, or getting it repaired?
The MOT station quoted me £1,600 (of which £1,100 for welding and £500 for the rest) so I think I'll be scrapping it - which is a shame as it's a very useful car (Ford Galaxy, 7-seater when needed, van when needed).
The irony is it's just back from a 1,000-mile trip from the south-east of England to Scotland, where it was faultless from my perspective.
The irony is it's just back from a 1,000-mile trip from the south-east of England to Scotland, where it was faultless from my perspective.
Adrian E said:
The car is unroadworthy. The old MOT isn't entirely invalid, but given its condition if you drive it and are pulled and those failures are identified at the roadside you can still be done under C&U Regs, rather than driving without a valid MOT. Since you know it's in poor condition I wouldn't be taking it anywhere. Are you scrapping it, or getting it repaired?
This pretty much. Although the old MoT isn't invalid at all, it is completely valid. But the real problem is roadworthyness.BertBert said:
Adrian E said:
The car is unroadworthy. The old MOT isn't entirely invalid, but given its condition if you drive it and are pulled and those failures are identified at the roadside you can still be done under C&U Regs, rather than driving without a valid MOT. Since you know it's in poor condition I wouldn't be taking it anywhere. Are you scrapping it, or getting it repaired?
This pretty much. Although the old MoT isn't invalid at all, it is completely valid. But the real problem is roadworthyness.The car has to roadworthy, for both insurance and legal reasons.
In some cases you might be able to argue you didn't know it was unroadworthy, however in this case that ship has long sailed.
You know it is unroadworthy.
The chances of getting stopped are vanishingly small, it certainly won't be on a database for no MOT as it still has a valid MOT.
HOWEVER if you are involved in an accident and it comes out that you were aware of the car's condition, you could be in all kinds of very expensive trouble.
Why do you think last years MOT was not good enough and just missing things that failed this year. There is always a point in time that, a car will go from pass to fail, that time will be a 1 second window if you really want to break it down enough. A car can easily become rusty enough to fail in a year, and may have not even got a advisory the year before.
But anyhow back to the point, that car is dangerous, the suspension could collapse at any time.
But anyhow back to the point, that car is dangerous, the suspension could collapse at any time.
MadCaptainJack said:
Get a second opinion?
I was wondering about this one. Let's say the first garage has picked up on an MOT defect but the second one doesn't. Let's then say I have an accident in the future - could the defect still be held against me, because I know it's present?This isn't entirely theoretical because I'm getting a second opinion next week, in the form of another MOT at a different garage.
Our databases on ANPR come up with failed MOTs. Not sure how much of a delay there is mind you.
I (and most others in traffic on my team) will check the government site to see what it failed on and go from there.
90% I would say get prohibited and the driver reported for various offences.
I (and most others in traffic on my team) will check the government site to see what it failed on and go from there.
90% I would say get prohibited and the driver reported for various offences.
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