I am a complete muppet

[buzyg]

Yup your a Muppet.

I think there is an ANPR camera on the Tamar bridge crossing. So down here they could be on to you. But as those things are all over the place, maybe they don't yet have that one on the automatic list. I guess, as it invalidates your insurance, the government don't feel they need to invest money to chase you.

[pvr]

MOT status doesn’t actually invalidate insurance. A lot of cars are sorned and only brought back on the road when going to the MOT station.

The car has to be roadworthy, that is not the same as having an MOT

[MikeyH]

I wonder how many cars are on the road without mots and the owners don’t realise

[Scubaregs]

MOT status doesn’t actually invalidate insurance. A lot of cars are sorned and only brought back on the road when going to the MOT station.

The car has to be roadworthy, that is not the same as having an MOT

Depends on the insurer, but most will invalidate without MOT.

"Is my car insurance still valid if my MOT expires?
The short answer is that it depends on your policy. Most insurance providers include having a valid MOT certificate as a condition of your car insurance policy. So, in most cases your insurance will be invalidated if you drive without an MOT – and that means you’ll be breaking the law twice: firstly, by driving without a valid MOT and secondly, for driving without valid insurance. "

[MikeyH]

A few years I had my Ford Transit moted at Halfords Newton Abbot, awful experience, felt I’d been ripped off big time. Upside, they always send me a reminder, even when I look on their site. Reminds me not to go there

[pvr]

That would imply that if a car fails you cannot move it. So if you have a car failing an MOT at a council run MOT station it has to be towed from there as they can’t repair it from there.

I checked this one out as my Golf never has an MOT whilst stored and gets on the road to go to the MOT station before I can tax it.

[Scubaregs]

That would imply that if a car fails you cannot move it. So if you have a car failing an MOT at a council run MOT station it has to be towed from there as they can’t repair it from there.

I checked this one out as my Golf never has an MOT whilst stored and gets on the road to go to the MOT station before I can tax it.

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.

[Pondrew]

I would expect insurance companies to invalidate insurance with an expired MOT, as the car is not 'road legal'.
In the case of a third party claim, they may honour that, though (although they try to wriggle out of most things if they can, so who knows?)

[DevonPaul]

MOT status doesn’t actually invalidate insurance. A lot of cars are sorned and only brought back on the road when going to the MOT station.

The car has to be roadworthy, that is not the same as having an MOT

Depends on the insurer, but most will invalidate without MOT.

We have 3 cars with different insurers, all it says is "roadworthy". Probably because having a valid MOT does not in any way mean it is roadworthy, just that it wasn't a complete deathtrap at the time of the test.

Besides, an unmodified 1983 Toyota doesn't need an MOT

[pvr]

Similar to the insurance is invalid when the car is SORNed, or when you have winter tyres and so on. Every day you see the scaremongering headlines that drivers will be fined for idling engines, wearing the wrong sunglasses and so on.

[Nanu]

That would imply that if a car fails you cannot move it. So if you have a car failing an MOT at a council run MOT station it has to be towed from there as they can’t repair it from there.

I checked this one out as my Golf never has an MOT whilst stored and gets on the road to go to the MOT station before I can tax it.

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.

I think you can legally drive a car without a valid MOT if your going to a prearranged test / re test, or to a pre arranged repair to fix the reasons why it failed if the reasons were not classed a dangerous, such as defective tyres.

[Scubaregs]

Nanu, yes, think you can.

Searching the web the info I found was MOST insurers will invalidate your insurance if you are driving around without an MOT.

[Pondrew]

You can legally drive to a pre-booked MOT test in a car without an MOT. You can legally drive to wherever to have the car repaired if it fails. You can then legally drive to have it MOTed again once repaired to a pre-booked appointment.

This is done to prevent garages 'holding your car hostage' if your car fails. Also many MOT centres don't have repair facilities.

Insurance will cover you in the above scenarios, but not for any other. It should cover you for fire and theft irrespective though.

[TitanTim]

A few years back I had 2 cars (separate insurance policies) insured with the same company. I only found out the one car wasn't insured when I went to tax it and said it had no insurance. Contacted the insurance company who admitted they had insured the one car twice so I'd been running around in other car for a few months uninsured

Tim.