Suddenly worried when my MoT ran out......

[Tampon]

I bought my Van with what I remembered to be just shy of a 12 months MoT. Immediately lost the paper copy but didn't worry as there are online records now. Now this is where it get hazey as I bought 4 motorbikes this year with varying states of Test on them and had a few MoTed recently.

So fast forward a year and I keep telling myself get the van MoTed 4 weeks before due date to give myself time to sort any issues. I got a email reminder that the insurance is up for renewal at the end of the month.

Bugger that must mean the MoT either has just ran out or is about to this week.

Speaking to my wife I said we can go to our friends down the road in it tonight ( turned it into a camper and apart from motorbikes is our main vehicle) but I don't want to use it until it is MoTed. Thinking if I get tugged I can say "whopps ran out a couple of days ago, sorry I thought it was end of next week, I have it booked next week for a test" (cue show a mot test booked today for monday). Worst case a fine.

Double check online as to what the exact date is and the bloody thing ran out in MAY!

Nearly 6 months with no MoT, Jesus wept. There is no talking your way out of that one!

I gave her a major service in June and got the cambelt changed 2 weeks ago at 59,000 just to be careful even though I am pretty sure it only has 20k on it.

Any way, moral of the story double check your dates boys.

Taxis booked for tonight.

[Shaw Tarse]

Buy a calander

[parabolica]

My dad did something similar this time last year; was driving around in his L200 with a 5-month expired MOT - luckily no ANPR cameras to worry about in the middle of no where in NE Scotland.

[robinessex]

Don the same. Always had MOT, tax and insurance at the same time. Forgot I only taxed the car for 6 months, thought it was going to be sold. It wasn't. Carried on, got next MOT ok. Then next tax and insurance. But then forgot MOT due in 6 months time!!!!!

[Laurel Green]

This might help though it doesn't appear to have helped with mine.

[lel]

Our works van MOT was 10 weeks out when we noticed, in that time it was drove up and down the A1 countless times, around Newcastle, Sunderland and Manchester without flagging a single ANPR camera

[Tampon]

I have driven the thing through Dover customs, pull by them to check the van coming back into the country in August. Driven it into oxford street countless times to pick my wife up from work.

How the hell it hasn't been flagged up I will never know (bet I get a "letter" this week now).

[blank]

I've done it before.

Thought car had 12 months MOT when I bought it. Decided to check exactly when it was due. Turned out to be about 3 weeks expired!

[sjj84]

Dad did similar a few years back, mot ran out in April, didn't realise until October when trying to tax it.

[TTmonkey]

My garage puts a small sticker on the inside top right windscreen with the mot date due written on it.

Simple and effective, every garage should do it.

[Geekman]

I did the same, never got pulled for it. I suspect the police are much more interested in people driving with no insurance or tax.

[ClassicMercs]

Friend forgot recently as her husband dealt with it - but he had been ill. Two weeks out of date - pinged the ANPR - FPN issued.

Got me thinking though - my bike must be due / overdue. The cars - the specialist always rings me to book them in.

[JimbobVFR]

A few years ago I managed to go a whole year without an MOT I'm ashamed to say.

MOT due in January, VED expires end of December so I usually get an MOT in December however my daughter was in hospital so oi completely forgot, didn't realise til the next December when I tried to get the tax. Doh.

Do the fgixed ANPR cameras actually do anything with MOTs. I know it shows on the ANPR in traffic cars from watching RoadWars/traffic cops etc but what about the fixed stuff?

[Who me ?]

Possibly gives rise to my theory of danger ( and loss of tax revenue from insurance tax) and loss of vehicle excise duty (another tax), in that a major crime in Cameroon's Britain is not paying TAX.

[Riknos]

My friend was driving round in a mis-spaced number plate for a while, he got pulled by the police once. The only reason they pulled him was his MOT ran out months ago, and he hadn't realised! They let him off as he said he'll book it asap...

[northwest monkey]

A few years back I bought an 18 month old BMW from a main dealer. It still had 18 months remaining on the warranty. There was a bit of a cock up with getting the car ready, so as a gesture of goodwill they gave me an extended 1 years warranty, so it meant the warranty now expired when the car was 4 years old - not 3.....

I only realised once I went into the Post Office to tax it & they were asking for an MOT - which I should have had done 10 months before. I always kept thinking "warranty runs out in June when it's 3 years old so I'll get a service and MOT done in May".

To be fair, the "02" number plate should have given me a clue

[vikingaero]

No MOT isn't a majorly serious offence. It can attract a fine of up to £1,000* but in reality it's a standard £60 fixed penalty with no points. Your car may not have a MOT but can be 100% roadworthy.

• For the PH pedants the fine for PCV/HGV can be up to £5k.

[RenesisEvo]

vikingaero said:

Your car may not have a MOT but can be 100% roadworthy.

And a car can have an MoT and be 0% roadworthy. For many, the car is barely roadworthy until it gets dragged to an MoT station, where the bald tyres and dead bulbs are finally brought to their attention. It's quite possible to infer correlation between the kind of person who neglects their car like that and the kind of person who neglects to find out when the MoT is due, although not mutually exclusively. Unsafe vehicles annoy me as much as unsafe driving, it's generally the most dangerous thing we do on a daily basis, with the highest potential of a fatal outcome, so why are so many so utterly cavalier about it? I think not having an MoT should be a more serious offence; either way the consequences of having an accident and having your vehicle found as unroadworthy don't need pointing out.

[robinessex]

Very few cars would go from roadworthy to outright dangerous in 1 yr. So not that serious , is it. Of course, if the government were really serious about safety, the most dangerous nut on the car, the driver, who would be re-tested every 5yrs, wouldn't they?

[Tampon]

It is funny how we just accept the MoT, Americans I know who have come over here and Australians have seem shocked that it has to have a test each year on top of tax and insurance.

As one American said "so you go a a private garage, they test your car, if it is faulty and they get paid to fix it, it is a free retest, but if not you have to pay again. Seems like a license to print money from non technical people sponsored by the government".

When he said it like that it did seem a bit strange.