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[John-R]

Sorry to go on about MOTs. If your car fails but you still have time on your existing MOT can you still drive as usual or does the failure invalidate your existing MOT ?

Nothing serious on the failure btw

[Elite Pete]

Your fine until your old MOT runs out

[John-R]

Thanks (phew!)

[Entwood]

Some strong debate on this... and it has never been settled ....AFAIK

MOT certificate may well be "in date", although with the new computer system that may not be true any more ..... ANPR may well list it as an MOT failed car... I don't know

You are driving a car with "known faults".. and if they affect the "road-worthiness" then you are illegally driving the vehicle .. ie .. driving an unroadworthy vehicle.

Your insurance demands the car is "roadworthy" .. so they may well declare you uninsured.

The MOT certificate has no relevance to the fitness of the vehicle to be on the road, from that point of view it finishes as you leave the testing station .... it would however "record" the failings and make a defence of "I didn't know" much harder to use.

Personally .. not worth the risk IMHO.

Just my views .. nowt else ..

[b4ndit]

this really is a grey area people ask me all the time and my answer is if your car has failed an mot test then it is no longer roadworthy and the results are entered on the system so the police can access that data and would be able to see that the vehicle has failed which would invalidate any exsisting mot certificate and if you were involved in an accident then your insurance company  could invalidate your insurance i suppose it really needs to be set in stone by the government/vosa just my take on it 

[hotel21]

Been covered many a time.

As things currently stand a test certificate is valid until its expiry date.

A vehicle subject to test is road legal after test for as long as it complies with test standards. For that, the reg plate lamp could fail 30 seconds after test as it bumps over the garage doorway thus rendering it as not capable of passing a subsequent test. That in itself does not invalidate the existing test cert but does render it us 'unroadworthy' in the eyes of legality. Whether such a failing is pressed to the full extent of law if detected is subject to interpretation at the time of detection.

If a vehicle is presented for test prior to expiry of an existing test cert then, if it passes, it will get a new 12 month certificate unless it is issued within the last month prior to expiry in which case it will get a 13 month ticket.

Happy so far?

If it fails such a test then it is rendered unroadworthy at time of test. It does not automatically invalidate the existing mot but does confirm that it is currently not road legal. If, after going over the same bump at the garage exit that knacked your reg plate lamp, you change the lamp then your car returns to road legal and subject to the original mot expiry date.

Happy days......

If the vehicle is severely unfit for the road then the test station will issue a certificate to say just that and is in effect, a prohibition notice. To use the vehicle legally on the public road thereafter it must pass a full mot and thus the expiry date is 12 months from date of test. The 13 month test option will not apply.

Hope that clarifies a bit.

(on the mobile so not easiest to proof read though!!).

[John-R]

Thanks for the comprehensive replies. if you typed all that on the mobile you may now have RSI in your thumbs .

Some interesting points and certainly some grey areas open to interpretation.

So now I have a new MOT (phew) previous expired 5/4/2012. Issued new today 5/4/2012 but expires 20/4/2013 so I've got a 54 week MOT ?? How'd that happen?

I wonder if that would be enforceable in law if I drove on 6/4/2013 without retesting. Don't think I'll push it too far.