When you take your car for an MOT within the last month the old one expires, I know that he garage will date the new one to expire 12 months from the expiry of the old one.

 

However if the car fails within that last month of the current certificate, is the car still MOTd for a month or does the failure invalidate that test certificate, even though there is a month to go?

 

I know in the old days, you would still have a valid certificate, but these new digital ones are recorded on the DVLA database. So once that failure is logged are you no longer "legal?"

 

I thought the same applied to new cars too - one of my company vehicles is 3 years old at the end of this month. The driver took it for an MOT yesterday and it failed; the garage did not have the part to fix it (CV boot) and told the driver it would not be legal to drive the car over the weekend. This is despite the car not actually needing an MOT until 30/4???

 

Richard:confused:

I would say that it would be void as the car has been proven not to be road worthy :confused:

check your MOT status on here and go with what they say.... after all, they are the law!

 

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECSID-Internet-Status-Request.jsp

you can still legally drive the car for the remainder of original test certificate :). at least it gives you longer to get the bits sorted out though.

its illegal to drive an unroadworthy car whether you have an MOT or not!

a test certificate gives you 12 months of legal cover, not 11 months. you should know yourself if its dangerous to drive. what if you didnt take it in till the week before its due ? have you then been driving it for the past few months unroadworthy ?, i think not. 12 months is 12 months. whether you drive it or not is down to common sense.

its illegal to drive an unroadworthy car whether you have an MOT or not!

 

That's true.......

 

.......however I'd hardly say that a split CV boot will render a car "unroadworthy." Sure it is an MOT failure as crap can get in and, in time, damage the CV joint.

 

What I want to know is, would the insurance be void and the car illegal to drive just because it has failed an MOT; when it doesn't actually need one for 3 weeks:confused:

 

As an MOT tester yourself Paul, do you think the garage was right in saying the car should not be driven........?

 

Richard:)

I mot d my car one month early if failed and the garage told me

that on the data base it would show up as a fail so the cops could do you

i think its a little harsh & wouldnt be overly bothered about it!! LOL!

the MOT certificate is valid for 12 months, so you still have an MOT.

even without an MOT im pretty sure your insurance is not invalid. IIRC its only about a £60 fine with no points!

from an MOT forum:

 

This has always been a tricky one from a legal point of view. The garage are technically right that up until computerisation of the scheme, no one would be any the wiser (including police, insurance etc).

 

However big brother is now watching so this changes things. That said, to 'be caught out' you would need to have drawn attention from the police or have lodged an insurance claim for things to possibly come back to haunt you. Even saying that, due to data protection and the way the computerised system is currently working, the authorities may still be unable to access anything but the 'current' pass certificate, as a vehicle's registration mark is not enought on its own to interrgoate the MoT database - it will merely inform them of the last pass certificate as far as I'm aware.

 

Remember however that you can still be prosecuted for driving an unroadworthy vehicle regardless of a current MoT certificate. Best to err on the side of caution and only drive the vehicle to pre-arranged repairs/re-test.

 

A very grey area that would need to go through the courts for a legally definitive answer. From experience however, the police would in most cases accept the fact that you had a current MoT and leave it at that.

Your current MOT still stands, I dont think the police would have the information that the car has failed, they can only identify whether its in test. however as already stated it is an offence to drive an unroadworthy car.

 

If a cop stops your car and finds a cut cv boot he more than likely will V rec you giving you 21 days to get it fixed.... the worst scenario is you get checked by VOSA then you will end up with a 10 day delayed prohibition.

 

It does make sense to get the repair done asap though to prevent water and dirt getting into the CV joint and causing damage.

Thanks fellas - I'll not lose any sleep over it.......:rofl:

 

This started because I had an arguement with a VW main dealer over the test.

 

My employee took the car in Friday for an MOT (even though it is not 3 years old until 30/4/08) and it failed on a split CV boot and headlamp aim; the garage could not fix the headlamp aim as the adjuster was broken (so a new lamp is the only fix) and they did not have a CV boot in stock either..........:rant:

 

I told the VW dealer that as they had serviced the car from new they would be the only ones to have ever touched the adjusters; and as the headlamp aim had never been checked (first MOT), the breakage must be a manufacturing fault, so I should not have to pay for a new headlamp!

 

They then said my employee could not drive the car as it had failed the test - great when he lives 50 miles from the office!!:xxx:

 

Richard:)

They then said my employee could not drive the car as it had failed the test - great when he lives 50 miles from the office!!

 

 

As long as youve paid for any work done there is nothing the MOT station can do to stop you driving away in the car. If the tester thinks something is too dangerous for the car to be driven any further he can only advise you..

 

Those defects dont come anywhere near that situation........ another case of main dealers being tossers :D

What if it failed the mot with 6 weeks of the old one left to run- then you repaired the item that it failed on- so the car now has no faults-but havent yet bothered to get it re-tested- the original MOT would surely still stand?

What if it failed the mot with 6 weeks of the old one left to run- then you repaired the item that it failed on- so the car now has no faults-but havent yet bothered to get it re-tested- the original MOT would surely still stand?

 

Yes... but thats whats been said above, and also best not to take a car for test until its less than a month till its current test expires.

 

 

If you take it for test just under a month early then your new test expiry will be calculated on the current expiry so you will get up to a 13 month mot certificate.

 

take it for test over 1 month early and you will only get a 12 month ticket.