Early mot

[Riley26]

If you mot your car at say 3 weeks before last years mot runs out. If the car fails can you still drive it on last years mot that still has 3 weeks left on it or not? Thanks

[SS2.]

< heads off for the popcorn >

[Cold]

Your MOT will still be valid.

However that doesn't mean your car is roadworthy, but it wasn't when you presented it either and you had been happily driving it around.

[anonymous-user]

Please God nooooooooo!!!!!

Let the arguing commence.

[Krikkit]

Cold said:

Your MOT will still be valid.

However that doesn't mean your car is roadworthy, but it wasn't when you presented it either and you had been happily driving it around.

This!

[evoivboy]

oh god, here we go again

[Slow]

Yes, just dont get pulled by vosa.

[cuprabob]

Slow said:

Yes, just dont get pulled by vosa.

VOSA no longer exists, it was replaced by DVSA

[Draxindustries1]

Where's Fred? He'll know...


.

[M4cruiser]

pocketspring said:

Please God nooooooooo!!!!!

Let the arguing commence.

No need to say that!
It's perfectly simple.
Your MoT is valid until its expiry date. Nothing stops that.
But, as stated above, your car may not be roadworthy.
You can fix it before you drive off from the failed MoT, (for example put the spare tyre on if it just failed with a bad tyre) and you are perfectly legal for another 3 weeks.

[Riley26]

But if it fails ok something majorish. One shouldn't carry on using?

[anonymous-user]

I took my car for an early MOT on the 15th of October. It failed on the following, so I have left it with my father to fix and I am currently driving his car.

Repair immediately (major defects)
Offside Front Lower Suspension arm ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Wishbone balljoint grease cover split and perished. (5.3.4 (b) (ii))
Offside Front Lower Suspension arm ball joint excessively worn Wishbone balljoint has excess play. (5.3.4 (a) (i))

However, according to the MOT site it states "MOT valid until 2 November 2022"

Surely I am breaking the law if I drove it because I know it has a major defect?

[Cold]

Joey Deacon said:

I took my car for an early MOT on the 15th of October. It failed on the following, so I have left it with my father to fix and I am currently driving his car.

Repair immediately (major defects)
Offside Front Lower Suspension arm ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Wishbone balljoint grease cover split and perished. (5.3.4 (b) (ii))
Offside Front Lower Suspension arm ball joint excessively worn Wishbone balljoint has excess play. (5.3.4 (a) (i))

However, according to the MOT site it states "MOT valid until 2 November 2022"

Surely I am breaking the law if I drove it because I know it has a major defect?

"Ignorance is no defence". You were still driving an unroadworthy car before you knew about it.
But this is a separate matter from when your MOT expires.

[Riley26]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

No I'm hopeful it may pass. Would probably be corrioson if it failed but just checked it all the sills and solid etc.

[Monkeylegend]

Riley26 said:

But if it fails ok something majorish. One shouldn't carry on using?

The Gvt website tells you of the consequences of continuing to drive a car on public roads that has failed an MOT for something "Dangerous" if you get caught.

It only takes a quick Google to get your answer.

[Riley26]

Thanks I just didn't know whether it made a difference with the old one still being vailid

[anonymous-user]

So I can quite legally drive my car until the old Mot expires as they were major not dangerous failures.

Driving a vehicle that’s failed
You can take your vehicle away if:

your current MOT certificate is still valid
no ‘dangerous’ problems were listed in the MOT
Otherwise, you’ll need to get it repaired before you can drive.

[Sebring440]

Riley26 said:

Thanks I just didn't know whether it made a difference with the old one still being vailid

One should read the numerous threads already posted on PH about this very subject (usually about one per week), and one would realise that there is as much bulldust posted on these threads as has been posted on this one.

[Mave]

Joey Deacon said:

I took my car for an early MOT on the 15th of October. It failed on the following, so I have left it with my father to fix and I am currently driving his car.

Repair immediately (major defects)
Offside Front Lower Suspension arm ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Wishbone balljoint grease cover split and perished. (5.3.4 (b) (ii))
Offside Front Lower Suspension arm ball joint excessively worn Wishbone balljoint has excess play. (5.3.4 (a) (i))

However, according to the MOT site it states "MOT valid until 2 November 2022"

Surely I am breaking the law if I drove it because I know it has a major defect?

Yes.
If you drive your car, uou need to have a valid MoT and your car needs to be roadworthy. Two separate requirements.

Having an expired Mot doesn't necessarily make your car unroadworthy.

Having a valid Mot doesn't necessarily make your car roadworthy.

[kambites]

Mave said:

If you drive your car, uou need to have a valid MoT and your car needs to be roadworthy. Two separate requirements.

Having an expired Mot doesn't necessarily make your car unroadworthy.

Having a valid Mot doesn't necessarily make your car roadworthy.

Very much this.

If a car fails an MoT test, it was probably illegal to drive it even before you took it for the test and if so it will still be illegal to drive it after the test. The test has made no difference to the legality of driving the car as long as the previous test hasn't expired.

Pragmatically it's also worth noting that MoT tests are designed to pick up things that are not yet dangerous but soon will be - cars rarely fail in such a way that they go from "perfectly safe" to "a death trap" overnight. E.g. if a car fails an MoT on a worn suspension bush, the wheel isn't likely to suddenly fall off on the way home but I certainly wouldn't go on a 5000-mile road trip without fixing it.

Edited by kambites on Sunday 23 October 10:09