VOSA/POLICE Decat Penalty's?
Discussion
Hi I won't drag this out.
I am aware decats are illegal (I am not obnoxious) and I am unable to find anything clear enough to answer my question.. I am aware a fine is guaranteed but my question is.
If I am caught with a decat can my car be seized.. taken from me and unable to retrieve? That wasn't meant to rhyme.
I know people are going to say its illegal etc but I just want to know if anyone can give me a clear answer as to the risks I am taking i.e losing my car or am I over thinking this?
Mega
I am aware decats are illegal (I am not obnoxious) and I am unable to find anything clear enough to answer my question.. I am aware a fine is guaranteed but my question is.
If I am caught with a decat can my car be seized.. taken from me and unable to retrieve? That wasn't meant to rhyme.
I know people are going to say its illegal etc but I just want to know if anyone can give me a clear answer as to the risks I am taking i.e losing my car or am I over thinking this?
Mega
) tester you would either have to refit the cat or face losing your car due to no MOT.
In my hometown (Kendal) the local Police went through a phase of doing 'random' road side spot checks, cars were seized for not running cats amongst other things. I've never seen or heard of these spot checks since though, there or anywhere else. I think the chances of being caught without a cat are pretty damn slim.
My opinion is , it is a good idea to run a CAT/Sports Cat on a road car that is meant to have one, removing it isn't crime of the century on a petrol car but those who are running with DPF/EGR/Cat removal on diesels deserve to have their nads chopped off.
However , since there are tens of thousands of cars on the road with no insurance, no tax, no MOT, unregistered, driven by someone with no licence/banned, umpteen more thousands being driven round on tyres with 0.1mm, practically no brakes, missing various lights and all the other OBVIOUS signs of a illegal/neglected cars I would rather the police do something about that lot first and leave someone with an otherwise completely legal an well kept car which has a de-cat/sports CAT alone.
However , since there are tens of thousands of cars on the road with no insurance, no tax, no MOT, unregistered, driven by someone with no licence/banned, umpteen more thousands being driven round on tyres with 0.1mm, practically no brakes, missing various lights and all the other OBVIOUS signs of a illegal/neglected cars I would rather the police do something about that lot first and leave someone with an otherwise completely legal an well kept car which has a de-cat/sports CAT alone.
stevemcs said:
My insurer refused to cover decats for road use, the car must be road legal and be classed as roadworthy and be able to pass an mot - that was a plan, I run a sports cat.
However if you were going to cheat the MOT tester, you might as well cheat the insurer. Though when you have a crash the insurer might not pay out due to car having illegal modsNot that I would do that, my car runs a fully legal sports cat.
The insurance side of it would be what stops me - It's not just an undeclared mod which would likely result in an increase in premium in the event of a crash (if you're lucky).
It would make the car unroadworthy - conditions of i assume all policies are that the car is roadworthy (taxed, MOTd, legal) - It's the same reason i wouldn't run with front tints.
It would make the car unroadworthy - conditions of i assume all policies are that the car is roadworthy (taxed, MOTd, legal) - It's the same reason i wouldn't run with front tints.
sleepera6 said:
Not that I would do that, my car runs a fully legal sports cat.
I'm not anti sports-cats so don't take this as such, but is there actually such a thing as a "fully legal" aftermarket cat? I was under the impression that the legislation specifically states that you must not modify emissions control equipment? Of course that would make every car with a non-OEM cat installed illegal, which is probably more than half of the older cars on the road.
It’s not illegal to have a decat. It is illegal to modify your car in a way that means it no longer passes the emissions tests that apply to that vehicle. Often that’s one and the same, but not always.
I know, I have a decatted vehicle. It passes it’s MOT every year, including on emissions. Admittedly it’s a Euro 1 vehicle but it still passes. And the mod is declared to the insurers too. Having said that, the performance gains are minimal so a standard exhaust is on the long list of stuff to do.
I know, I have a decatted vehicle. It passes it’s MOT every year, including on emissions. Admittedly it’s a Euro 1 vehicle but it still passes. And the mod is declared to the insurers too. Having said that, the performance gains are minimal so a standard exhaust is on the long list of stuff to do.
Edited by oldbanger on Tuesday 20th October 09:37
Not done that since having an old Audi with a failed cat, was pre 1990 so didnt need one so some straight pipe was put in, made a big difference but thats knackered cat vs a working one vs none at all, sounded much better after as well.
Legal wise its a pain but probably unlikely, just couldn't be faffed with finding "Friendly" mot testers, the one at our local place can be a right grumpy
at the best of times, messing round underneath putting it back on for MOT, nah.
Emissions wise, as I type this an airliner is visible overhead which is burning several tons of Jet A1 with no catalytic converter, there are thousands of ships chugging through the oceans burning heavy oil, I got overtaken by a 2000 era beetle on my bike last night that was "rolling coal" as the Americans call it as it was knackered. I prefer things to be clean and eco friendly but the emissions from a few car enthusiasts running a decat must pale into absolute insignificance, all those classics that seem to just dump fuel in and burn some of it and no cat, do motorbikes have cats, garden machinery etc ?
Main issue is it goes hand in hand with a daft remap, like the Martini Liveried Nissan GTR I saw recently, the owner of which arrived and a massive Japanese Coupe covered in stickers advertising vermouth wasnt enough of an entrance so he (assume was male, never seen a lady popping and banging....) was making a right racket.
Funny how the Martini livery is cool, but how many of us actually ever drink sickly seventies lady drinks ? someone must I guess.
Legal wise its a pain but probably unlikely, just couldn't be faffed with finding "Friendly" mot testers, the one at our local place can be a right grumpy
at the best of times, messing round underneath putting it back on for MOT, nah.Emissions wise, as I type this an airliner is visible overhead which is burning several tons of Jet A1 with no catalytic converter, there are thousands of ships chugging through the oceans burning heavy oil, I got overtaken by a 2000 era beetle on my bike last night that was "rolling coal" as the Americans call it as it was knackered. I prefer things to be clean and eco friendly but the emissions from a few car enthusiasts running a decat must pale into absolute insignificance, all those classics that seem to just dump fuel in and burn some of it and no cat, do motorbikes have cats, garden machinery etc ?
Main issue is it goes hand in hand with a daft remap, like the Martini Liveried Nissan GTR I saw recently, the owner of which arrived and a massive Japanese Coupe covered in stickers advertising vermouth wasnt enough of an entrance so he (assume was male, never seen a lady popping and banging....) was making a right racket.
Funny how the Martini livery is cool, but how many of us actually ever drink sickly seventies lady drinks ? someone must I guess.
oldbanger said:
It’s not illegal to have a decat. It is illegal to modify your car in a way that means it no longer passes the emissions tests that apply to that vehicle. Often that’s one and the same, but not always.
I know, I have a decatted vehicle. It passes it’s MOT every year, including on emissions. Admittedly it’s a Euro 1 vehicle but it still passes. And the mod is declared to the insurers too. Having said that, the performance gains are minimal so a standard exhaust is on the long list of stuff to do.
I think that's misleading - it's illegal to modify a vehicle in such a way as would change the results of the emissions tests it was put through when it was type approved. Strictly speaking I think the modification doesn't even have to make the results worse to be illegal, modifying your car to improve emissions would also be against the letter of the law. I know, I have a decatted vehicle. It passes it’s MOT every year, including on emissions. Admittedly it’s a Euro 1 vehicle but it still passes. And the mod is declared to the insurers too. Having said that, the performance gains are minimal so a standard exhaust is on the long list of stuff to do.
It's also illegal to drive a car without an MoT but that's a completely different bit of legislation. There's lots of ways a car can pass an MoT test but still not be "road-worthy", and this is one of them.
Haltamer said:
If you get mean plod, I think they _may_ be able to seize as it also technically counts as an uninsured modification? Trying to think if I've seen any examples on plod facebooks anywhere.
That's probably stretching it a bit, the only time I've seen cars seized under the no insurance powers is when they don't have insurance period, or incorrect cover such as delivering pizzas when they only have SDPGassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff