AdamR
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 08:47 AM |
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whats the penalty for being caught without an MOT?
Due to a few wires getting crossed in my brain, my tin top is a few days out of MOT. As soon as I realised I got booked in the same day, but
predictably the car failed. 
The fail was expected and I know what work I have to do. The problem is that I need to get the car to my workshop which is conveniently located about
150 miles away. D'oh.
So I'm contemplating an illegal drive under the cover of darkness at the weekend. To help evaluate the risk, I want to know what'll happen
if I get pulled.
I know that driving a car without MOT invalidates your insurance, and that driving without insurance can get you 6 points on your licence - but that
would seem excessive for being a few days out of MOT.
Any personal experiences out there?
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RazMan
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 08:59 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by AdamR
I know that driving a car without MOT invalidates your insurance, and that driving without insurance can get you 6 points on your licence - but that
would seem excessive for being a few days out of MOT.
I think you have just partly answered your own question. If you had an accident you will find yourself with no insurance, with possibly a conviction
and having to pay damages for possible injuries caused 
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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carlgeldard
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 09:02 AM |
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You can drive to and from a test centre without an MOT if its booked in and I am sure you can do the same to get work done on the car.
Carl
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Danozeman
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 09:08 AM |
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I wouldnt worry about it. Drive sensibly and hope no one hits u.
Dan
Built the purple peril!! Let the modifications begin!!
http://www.eastangliankitcars.co.uk
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rpsmith
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 09:13 AM |
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I once wrote my car off (not my fault) and had no MOT (my fault), the insurance company basically made me pay another £100 on top of my excess due to
having an expired MOT and still paid out in full.
As said before, just drive sensibly
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MikeR
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 09:14 AM |
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can you not book an MOT somewhere close to your workshop? make sure you give the registration details.
If you're worrried about the distance (and its taking the p*ss) book about 10 mots along the route.
bear in mind that depending on the fail, its technically not roadworthy so the poilce might be rather unhappy with this. Can you not just pay a local
garage to fix it? Surely thats got to be worth the hassle / time / cost of driving 150 miles, fixing the car and driving back.
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AdamR
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 09:29 AM |
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Thanks for the feedback guys.
Obviously I'm assuming that I wont have an accident en route. If that happened then I'd be in trouble, I know that. Hopefully my luck
isn't THAT bad.
Mike, I like the idea of booking a string of MOTs along the route.  You're right to question the economics of this plan, but my car is quite
rare these days and I dread to think how much a garage would charge to locate the parts and do the work. Also the locost is back at my workshop so
I'll get to spend a much-needed day of head scratching on that. 
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AdamR
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 09:48 AM |
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According to this site I'm allowed to drive an MOT-failed car to
a garage for repair work. I can't find anything on the web that says it can't be my own garage, or that the garage I choose has to be
within a certain distance.
Also, it says that the penalty for being caught without an MOT is a discretionary fine (up to £1000 ) - no points involved.
Think I'll risk it.
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02GF74
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 10:37 AM |
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interesting that an MOT is treated so seriously - in reality it means nowt - all it shows is that at the time of the test, tester foudn the itmes
he/she tested were yup to scratch.
Whos is to say that a) he/she was competent, b) tested the stuff that he/she said they did and c) stuff did not break the moment you left the
garage?
Can you get a mate to drive it, and if someting goes wrong, say it was stolen and most of all, deny everything!
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 10:44 AM |
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What was the nature of the failure? If it was something relatively minor (e.g. outside the emission limits) then maybe driving it home is excusable
(though still technically illegal). However, if it failed due to something important such as slack steering, bad/leaky brakes or damaged tyres then
there's no way it should be driven anywhere other than a nearby garage (if at all). Certainly not 150 miles...
Mr Wet Blanket
(aka David)
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scoop
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 10:48 AM |
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The Police nor the CPS bother to prosecute you unless its more than 28 days out of date but dont tell anyone
Steve.
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matt_claydon
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 10:57 AM |
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I had an accident a few years back, got given a producer and then found when I got home that the MOT was a few days out of date. Took the other docs
to the police, explained that I'd overlooked the MOT as I thought it ran out with the tax in a few weeks time (truth), and never heard anything
more.
Whether not having an MOT invalidates your insurance is contentious. Not an expert by any means but I don't think they can wriggle out of their
third party cover obligation. Also I don't think I've ever read that explicitly in a policy document, although I may be wrong - I think
they do say something about the vehicle being roadworthy though.
Matt.
[Edited on 9/8/06 by matt_claydon]
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Avoneer
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 11:01 AM |
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Yep- fine only for MOT and I've never seen one for more than £200 in my 8 years working at Court.
Pat...
No trees were killed in the sending of this message.
However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
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AdamR
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 11:03 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
What was the nature of the failure? If it was something relatively minor (e.g. outside the emission limits) then maybe driving it home is excusable
(though still technically illegal). However, if it failed due to something important such as slack steering, bad/leaky brakes or damaged tyres then
there's no way it should be driven anywhere other than a nearby garage (if at all). Certainly not 150 miles...
Mr Wet Blanket
(aka David)
The brakes are pulling to one side a bit. But not so much as I'd call it dangerous. I had planned to do the job now anyway, it's just that
the MOT expired about 2 weeks earlier than I thought.
If I considered it dangerous then I wouldn't consider driving it. I'm just interested in the legalities.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 11:05 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by AdamR
If I considered it dangerous then I wouldn't consider driving it. I'm just interested in the legalities.
Fair enough!
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DaveFJ
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 11:57 AM |
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Just be careful....
<cautionary tale>...
A few years back I had a VW Scirocco, The gearbox went and I spent a whole weekend replacing it. come Sunday night I decided I deserved a break after
all that work so I drove to the CInema in town (about 10 miles back then). I decided to risk it even though the car was out of MOT and was booked in
for the next morning. Sure enough I slid on something nasty on a roundabout and ripped the front corner suspension off! No MOT so the insurance
wouldn't pay out and car was a right-off
<happy ending> I managed to bluff the Insurance company that I had lost the certificate and didn't know where the MOT was carried out-
they knocked £200 off the ettlement figure
Dave
"In Support of Help the Heroes" - Always
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matt_claydon
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 12:13 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by DaveFJ
<happy ending> I managed to bluff the Insurance company that I had lost the certificate and didn't know where the MOT was carried out-
they knocked £200 off the ettlement figure
A tactic that unfortunately wouldn't work any more as MOT records are now kept on a national database.
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DaveFJ
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 12:15 PM |
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sadly true...
Dave
"In Support of Help the Heroes" - Always
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ned
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 12:30 PM |
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is it just tools you need from your workshop adam? are you still in/near guildford? drop me a u2u if i can be of assistance, i'm sure between us
James and I have most tools you'd need if it'd save you travelling...
is it the celica that needs the work doing? is it a gt or gt4?
Ned.
[Edited on 9/8/06 by ned]
beware, I've got yellow skin
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 12:46 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by matt_claydon
A tactic that unfortunately wouldn't work any more as MOT records are now kept on a national database.
...and, if the police were in the mood, they could find out that it had just failed MOT (failures are also recorded in the database) so you would be
knowingly driving without an MOT. This is a bit different than forgetting to get it done.
Also, if you skidded on a greasy road and they found out you'd failed the test on unbalanced brakes they would be REALLY pee'd off with
you! Even if you know it's not too bad in reality.
David
P.S. I'm not really trying to have a go at you - just urging some caution.
[Edited on 9/8/06 by David Jenkins]
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AdamR
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 01:33 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by ned
is it just tools you need from your workshop adam? are you still in/near guildford? drop me a u2u if i can be of assistance, i'm sure between us
James and I have most tools you'd need if it'd save you travelling...
is it the celica that needs the work doing? is it a gt or gt4?
Ned.
Thanks for that Ned. I am still half based in Guildford. I'll probably risk the journey back to the workshop anyway as it'd allow me to do
a bit of work on the locost and the parts I need are there too. If I change my mind I'll be in touch... Either way, I'd love to come over
and see the progress on your car at some point.
Actually I sold the Celica (GT) to part fund a 12-month world trip that I've not long returned from. 
These days I'm driving something a little less, er, hairdresser. There's a pic in my archive, but you have to promise not to laugh...
[Edited on 9/8/06 by AdamR]
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AdamR
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 01:34 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
P.S. I'm not really trying to have a go at you - just urging some caution.
[Edited on 9/8/06 by David Jenkins]
Consider caution to have been urged
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iank
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 03:38 PM |
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My understanding is that both the pre-booked MOT station and any pre-booked garage for repairs are supposed to be a 'reasonable' distance.
150 miles isn't, I suspect, counted as reasonable unless you live in the middle of the highlands of Scotland.
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andybod
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 04:06 PM |
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i seem to remember being told that mot should be at nearest mot place or within about 5 miles from home how true i cant be sure but a 150 mile drive
wouldn,t be considered reasonable so would be carefull
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JoelP
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| posted on 9/8/06 at 04:36 PM |
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i got a producer once for a car i was test driving, enthusiastically I was unable to produce the mot cos they guy had sold it by the time i
produced, fortunately everything else was there. I got a letter from plod saying that they dont like to prosecute for minor breachs of the law to
avoid alienating the public, and asking me to abide by the law in future.
If you ensure that the obvious fails are sorted (ie bulbs etc) and the prosecutable ones (tyres), id just drive as if nothing was the matter. I did
10k with no mot once
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