Selling a car with no MOT

[Jasandjules]

I have in my head that this is a problem these days - some law or other says it must have a valid MOT to be a "car" otherwise it must be sold as spares or repairs.

Is my grey matter confused or correct?!?

[MissChief]

I believe (and am absolutely sure I will be corrected otherwise) you can sell a car sans MOT without issue. The problem is it can only be driven on the road to a prebooked appointment for an MOT. The buyer would legally have to trailer it home unless he has said MOT booked.

[TooMany2cvs]

Jasandjules said:

I have in my head that this is a problem these days - some law or other says it must have a valid MOT to be a "car" otherwise it must be sold as spares or repairs.

Is my grey matter confused or correct?!?

Confused. There's no problem at all with a private individual selling a car in any state whatsoever, just so long as it's not misrepresented.

[Jasandjules]

TooMany2cvs said:

Confused. There's no problem at all with a private individual selling a car in any state whatsoever, just so long as it's not misrepresented.

Must be me then. I was sure there was some legislation or other that said if there was no valid MOT it had to be spares or repairs. Glad to be wrong on this one.

[marshalla]

Jasandjules said:

Must be me then. I was sure there was some legislation or other that said if there was no valid MOT it had to be spares or repairs. Glad to be wrong on this one.

No legislation to say that, however the law of common sense suggests that if you're buying a car without a valid MOT you should treat it as either a big box of spares, or a very expensive repair about to happen and offer a LOT less than one with a ticket is worth.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Jasandjules said:

Must be me then. I was sure there was some legislation or other that said if there was no valid MOT it had to be spares or repairs. Glad to be wrong on this one.

It's OK as a private seller, so long as the car is fairly described.

It would be a problem for a trade seller because of the SOGA implied warranties. In other words, the warranties of "satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose" can never be satisfied if the car has no MOT. Hence they sell a pile of bits for spares and repairs rather than sell a "car".

[Welshbeef]

marshalla said:

No legislation to say that, however the law of common sense suggests that if you're buying a car without a valid MOT you should treat it as either a big box of spares, or a very expensive repair about to happen and offer a LOT less than one with a ticket is worth.

It really isn't a lot of work to get a car road legal - to sell one without your pissing money down the drain. Each go their own.

[SV8Predator]

Welshbeef said:

It really isn't a lot of work to get a car road legal - to sell one without your pissing money down the drain. Each go their own.

I've read that three times now, and I still haven't got a clue what you're talking about.

[MissChief]

SV8Predator said:

Welshbeef said:

It really isn't a lot of work to get a car road legal - to sell one without your pissing money down the drain. Each go their own.

I've read that three times now, and I still haven't got a clue what you're talking about.

I think he means that selling a car without MOT will mean getting an awful lot less money for it than selling one with a fresh MOT. If you're pretty sure it will pass without minimal effort and outlay, get it done? Buyers will like that it has MOT.

[rb5er]

Welshbeef said:

It really isn't a lot of work to get a car road legal

Is this a serious statement?

Quite a generalization there. It could be very little or it could be thousands and thousands of pounds worth of work.

Totally depends on the car.

[Welshbeef]

rb5er said:

Is this a serious statement?

Quite a generalization there. It could be very little or it could be thousands and thousands of pounds worth of work.

Totally depends on the car.

Well unless the car has been off road for a long period of time ie beyond theist recent MOT then your car should be able to pass its MOT every day of the year.

The MOT test is a very basic test of road worthiness - really people who worry if their car will or will not pass an MOT but still use it day in day out on the public roads.

[Jasandjules]

No the car has not been off the road it is still being used but is on ebay with the MOT expiring I think tomorrow or so and the auction ending in three days.... I can't see anyone being silly enough to bid on a car with no MOT which is priced slightly over the other cars with full MOTs on them.

I (and I assume many others) always assume there is going to be some massive problem with the car that the seller doesn't want to fix... And for some reason "will fly through MOT" in an advert does not inspire me to purchase either....

[budfox]

Jasandjules said:

No the car has not been off the road it is still being used but is on ebay with the MOT expiring I think tomorrow or so and the auction ending in three days.... I can't see anyone being silly enough to bid on a car with no MOT which is priced slightly over the other cars with full MOTs on them.

I (and I assume many others) always assume there is going to be some massive problem with the car that the seller doesn't want to fix... And for some reason "will fly through MOT" in an advert does not inspire me to purchase either....

Well you take your chances and bid accordingly I guess. Of course you might be outbid by someone who's been able to inspect it, but equally if it doesn't go for much money, you could assume that someone has indeed done that and given it a wide berth.

[Welshbeef]

budfox said:

Well you take your chances and bid accordingly I guess. Of course you might be outbid by someone who's been able to inspect it, but equally if it doesn't go for much money, you could assume that someone has indeed done that and given it a wide berth.

Surely the seller knows his own car well enough - plus there are countless no pass no fee MOT stations so put it through and if you choose not to fix it you can show the fail items needing attention to make it pass.

[Jasandjules]

budfox said:

Well you take your chances and bid accordingly I guess. Of course you might be outbid by someone who's been able to inspect it, but equally if it doesn't go for much money, you could assume that someone has indeed done that and given it a wide berth.

Well, the starting price is about the same as other cars (actually slightly higher than another similar car). Goodness only knows how some people sell cars, but I am quite frequently seeing slightly higher priced cars being sold whilst other prices come down.

[Mr GrimNasty]

Jasandjules said:

I have in my head that this is a problem these days - some law or other says it must have a valid MOT to be a "car" otherwise it must be sold as spares or repairs.

Is my grey matter confused or correct?!?

As long as you sell it explicitly as not roadworthy i.e. not for road use, for spares or repairs etc., you are fine.

[Jasandjules]

Mr GrimNasty said:

As long as you sell it explicitly as not roadworthy i.e. not for road use, for spares or repairs etc., you are fine.

No this one is advertised as a normal car and it is only because I thought he had a typo on the dates that I even asked about the MOT - to discover it expires before the end of the auction. It is not stated it will not be roadworthy or spares or repairs nor any mention of it not having an MOT upon sale.

[Welshbeef]

Jasandjules said:

No this one is advertised as a normal car and it is only because I thought he had a typo on the dates that I even asked about the MOT - to discover it expires before the end of the auction. It is not stated it will not be roadworthy or spares or repairs nor any mention of it not having an MOT upon sale.

What car is it and is it so keenly priced to counter the lack of MOT?
Why will he not put an MOT on the vehicle? Is its value so low the MOT fee represents a notable amount if the value of the car OR he knows it has issues which would require ££ to fix to make it road worthy OR can he simply not be bothered to get it done?


Plenty more fish in the sea


If you want that specific car any bid you make give it a cavet of seller will put a fresh 12 months MOT on it

[TooMany2cvs]

Jasandjules said:

No this one is advertised as a normal car and it is only because I thought he had a typo on the dates that I even asked about the MOT - to discover it expires before the end of the auction. It is not stated it will not be roadworthy or spares or repairs nor any mention of it not having an MOT upon sale.

Doesn't matter. There's no "magic words" that somehow make it legal when it would otherwise be illegal.

So long as it's not misrepresented, and nobody drives it un-tested (other than to a pre-booked, yadda yadda), no laws have been broken. Whether it's roadworthy or not is, of course, a totally separate kettle of fish to whether it's tested. And it'd STILL be legal to sell an unroadworthy car, so long as you don't misrepresent it.

It's that simple.

[MG CHRIS]

Welshbeef said:

budfox said:

Well you take your chances and bid accordingly I guess. Of course you might be outbid by someone who's been able to inspect it, but equally if it doesn't go for much money, you could assume that someone has indeed done that and given it a wide berth.

Surely the seller knows his own car well enough - plus there are countless no pass no fee MOT stations so put it through and if you choose not to fix it you can show the fail items needing attention to make it pass.

Welshbeef step away from the computer your still pissed from last night. No pass no fee mot stations wtf are you on, you get charged the same if it passes or not maximum charge of £56 normally is less than that.