When my mot is up at say Jan 31st, what are the rules if I take it to be MOT'd and it fails on say Feb 1st. Can I drive the car away or not?

Also do I need to get it MOT'd before the car is three years old, or is there any lee-way, as I now you can have the test done upto three weeks prior to it being due.

Cheers

 

i dont think u can drive it home, u can drive it to another gaurage to get fixed. (just what i think dont tell the police on me if they stop u :P)

 

The Crow is wrong, as long as the car is prebooked with garage you can drive it there & back (even if it fails). I'm not aware of any tolerance, if it's due....it's due !

D

 

he sounds more positive than me :P id go w his anwser lol

 

I think if it fails you have 14 days to have it fixed and retested (for free at the same garage). If you have the docs with you if you got pulled i'm sure the nice PC would believe you . Why do you think your car - which is only 3yrs old will fail?

 

the ministry have now withdrawn the 14day "free" re-test obligation although a lot of garages still allow it....................its due to the more rigorous test!!

 

B***ards!

 

As Dunk stated you can drive the car to and from a pre-booked MOT even if it fails, unless the tester states on your failure sheet that it is unsafe to drive (stating his reasons on the paperwork) in which case you should not drive it on the road. (You should not drive the car on the road without an MOT (even between re-tests) at any other time because you will get fined should you be pulled)

Some MOT stations may give you a little leeway on bringing the car back for a free retest, but most of the new computerised ones now stick to VOSA's recommendation of 1 working day. (The usual exception is if the car remains with the garage for repair and they would probably not charge a retest fee)

Andy

 

And you can get it done a calendar month before it's due and then have 13 months of MOT, why wait?

 

BOB.T is right but you have to take your V5 registration document to prove the date of registration. Just done this myself.

 

This is not true. I don't know about changes post computerization but before the free retest was entirely the discussion of the garage to offer it.

The rule was that as soon as the vehicle left the station the vehicle would require a full test again. The garages did a 'free' retest by skipping this and just looking at the bits the vehicle failed on. That’s how they could afford to offer a 'free' retest by not doing it.

About 10 years ago the ministry brought out a list of things that could be retested for free, such as bulbs, wiper blades etc.

David

 

Its not a recommendation, its final, the computers wont let you do a retest outside of 24hrs of a working day.

 

Hopefully it won't fail but I may be travelling a long way so I don't want to be left in the lurch.