advice on car with no MOT and no VED tax for 3 days

[Monkeylegend]

Not having valid Vehicle Excise Duty (Car tax disappeared many years ago) is very different legally than not having valid insurance.

I did actually put VED in brackets but removed it because we all know what we are meaning without being pedantic.

The fact is you can drive a car with valid insurance but no mot or tax to a pre booked mot.

It is surprising how many people don't know this and also what their insurance covers them for.

It is often raised on PH and it has been dubbed the "Not this shit again" thread. There are a couple of threads of this nature running at the moment.

 

[markjay]

From what I read online, different motor insurance policies have different restrictions, some will allow you to drive a car with expired MOT (but the car must still be roadworthy), some simply won't. It's a bit of a minefield, really.

 

[Monkeylegend]

I agree, a valid mot does not mean a car is roadworthy for the duration of the mot, neither does the absence of one mean a car is unroadworthy.

Our C Max was off road from the start of the covid lockdown in 2020 until late August this year, so was SORN with no insurance, and the MOT expired in July 2021 as a result of the covid extension.

You need neither of those to insure, so insured it at the beginning of August this year, booked the mot and drove it to the garage the day before. Luckily it passed, so drove it home, and taxed it from the start of September so my DiL could use it for the month she was without a car, using her insurance.

We took it off the road again on the 30th September, so it is now back in the garage on SORN with no insurance but an MOT until next September, surplus to requirements, when we will probably rinse and repeat.

I think the DVLA are getting fed up with us

 

[BTB 500]

I did sign up for this a few years ago and didn't receive the reminders

That's odd ... works fine for all 3 of our vehicles

But as you say, many other options!

 

[nyssa7]

I think your issue might be that if you SORN, you cannot then retax the car for 7 days?

 

[markjay]

Back on track...

The OP is asking about (a) a car with expired VED and expired MOT, not about a car on SORN, and (b) if the car can legally be driven to the garage before the MOT test, I.e. he is not asking about simply driving to a pre-booked MOT test. And, I should also add that (c) the OP is apparently not bothered / not concerned about any insurance implications.

 

[markjay]

And so, it seems that the answer to the OP's question is:

- the car can be legally driven untaxed and with no MOT to a pre-booked MOT test

- the car cannot be legally driven untaxed and with no MOT to the garage for repairs prior to it being driven to a pre-booked MOT test.

(A car needs MOT, VED, and insurance, so the above coveres two out of three, but the OP is not asking about insurance)

And, of course, the car must be 'roadworthy' at all times in order to be legally driven on public roads.

 

[DSM10000]

And so, it seems that the answer to the OP's question is:

- the car can be legally driven untaxed and with no MOT to a pre-booked MOT test

- the car cannot be legally driven untaxed and with no MOT to the garage for repairs prior to it being driven to a pre-booked MOT test.

(A car needs MOT, VED, and insurance, so the above coveres two out of three, but the OP is not asking about insurance)

And, of course, the car must be 'roadworthy' at all times in order to be legally driven on public roads.

In essence the OP wants it fast, cheap and accurate when only 2 out of the 3 are possible

 

[Monkeylegend]

And so, it seems that the answer to the OP's question is:

- the car cannot be legally driven untaxed and with no MOT to the garage for repairs prior to it being driven to a pre-booked MOT test.

That is reading like you are taking it to one garage for repair first, then driving to another garage for the pre booked MOT.

Would be interested to see where it says that if you have a pre booked MOT and repairs at the same garage, and the garage looks at the car before it performs the MOT, you are breaking the law.

 

[markjay]

That is reading like you are taking it to one garage for repair first, then driving to another garage for the pre booked MOT.

Would be interested to see where it says that if you have a pre booked MOT and repairs at the same garage, and the garage looks at the car before it performs the MOT, you are breaking the law.

I would think that having the same garage do both the repairs and MOT is fine. However, the OP is clearly saying that the garage that will be doing the repairs and the MOT testing station are in two different locations.

 

[Monkeylegend]

Having read the OP again, reading between the lines, it looks like that could be the situation so driving to the first garage would not be covered, but driving to the MOT would be ok.

 

[tylerdurden]

Why?

Organise the MOT before it expires and get any work done accordingly.

Also organise yourself so the VED expires whilst there is still time left on the MOT.

agree, its what I normally do. Dead easy.

Except when 2w before the MOT an accident happens and it's in a bodyshop for 3w. With MOT and tax expiring while in the bodyshop.

Sorting things out when the car is untaxed and unMOT'd is a ball ache. Otherwise easy peasy as you say

 

[AntMB]

I've done it loads of times. So long as the car has insurance (or motorbike), then it can be driven for an MOT, then you can tax it.

 

[E55BOF]

In the real world, provided the car is visually roadworthy, and insured, and you have a pre-booked MoT appointment, just do it. You will be extremely unlucky to be stopped by a police patrol, and even if you are, provided it's insured only an absolute Robocop would do other than let you go on your way once you have explained the situation. If either the car looks like a shed, or you look like a scrote and give the copper a mouthful of abuse into the bargain, it might well be different, but otherwise, just go for it. The police have higher priorities than worrying about a very minor misdemeanor like that.

Don't smell of alcohol, wear your seatbelt, and don't use your phone while driving, just in case there's a purge on...

 

[nyssa7]

The fun comes when you break down!

Took my motorhome for an MOT in 2021, was on SORN because who could go anywhere, and MOT had expired a week or two earlier. Booked an MOT, drove it there legally. Passed the MOT and went to drive it home again. Not easy getting an American RV MOTd so place was w0 or 40 miles away, nearest I could find that could do it

broke down about half way home, hydraulic leak caused the “hand brake”, actually a hydraulic lock on the propshaft, to seize on. Not a problem, my insurance includes breakdown cover

cue long argument as they wouldn’t come out as it wasn’t taxed and I insisted that it didn’t need to be for this journey. The call centre wanted me to tax it online before they came out, but didn’t have the V5 with me. Suggested I phoned the DVLA to tax it over the phone, but it was a Saturday and DVLA not answering the phone

must have lost 2 hours before they grudgingly agreed to send out the recovery truck

 

[markjay]

The fun comes when you break down!

Took my motorhome for an MOT in 2021, was on SORN because who could go anywhere, and MOT had expired a week or two earlier. Booked an MOT, drove it there legally. Passed the MOT and went to drive it home again. Not easy getting an American RV MOTd so place was w0 or 40 miles away, nearest I could find that could do it

broke down about half way home, hydraulic leak caused the “hand brake”, actually a hydraulic lock on the propshaft, to seize on. Not a problem, my insurance includes breakdown cover

cue long argument as they wouldn’t come out as it wasn’t taxed and I insisted that it didn’t need to be for this journey. The call centre wanted me to tax it online before they came out, but didn’t have the V5 with me. Suggested I phoned the DVLA to tax it over the phone, but it was a Saturday and DVLA not answering the phone

must have lost 2 hours before they grudgingly agreed to send out the recovery truck

I wonder what would have happened if you were involved in an accident and needed to make a claim on your policy - would your insurer have also claimed that your policy is void because the car is untaxed? Or what they were saying was that the car was insured on the basis that it was SORNed and so roadside assistance and recovery weren't included in your cover?

 

[nyssa7]

The law says you can legally drive to and from a pre-booked MOT station, the only exception being if you fail with major fails considered too dangerous for the testing station to allow you to take the vehicle away. This the car is insured so long as you have insurance in place

as with another poster, sometimes you have no choice but for the MOT to run out, especially if you don’t use a vehicle for years, so I too have driven to pre-booked MOTs without Tax or MOT a few times because the law says I can