Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Big_Al]

looking at a certain Elite for sale on here has prompted this question.

If I were to buy a car without MOT & tax which is on a SORN . Provided I had insurance in place  could I ?

1.    Pre book an Mot at a testing  station local to me & drive the car from the purchase place to this mot test station for an mot. Even      though    my local testing station is 100 ish miles from where the car is now?

2. The vehicle is on SORN so has no tax & cant be taxed without an MOT  so will be driven to be tested without any tax.

3. Once MOT 'd   can be taxed straight away on way back from test station ( provided it passes of course

Any thoughts or suggestions on this  . . .   or have I lost the plot thinking this might be legal     TIA       AL 

[Del Boy]

As long as you have insurance and you're driving it to an MOT station it's perfectly legal even when SORN . If it's booked for an MOT, and you're driving it there, then you're covered irrelevant of distance.

[Big_Al]

Just Googled it and bit of grey area it seems.  Test must be pre booked & they must record your Reg. No.

One site also says your insurance could be invalid if your vehicle has no current MOT    . . .   can of WORMS  comes to mind here      

[Big_Al]

As long as you have insurance and you're driving it to an MOT station it's perfectly legal even when SORN . If it's booked for an MOT, and you're driving it there, then you're covered irrelevant of distance.

Thanks Del     . . . .    interesting question though

[ninjapirate]

pretty sure it has to be within reason distance wise, also most insurance wont be valid without a valid mot. you have to argue it with what ever copper pulls you to if they take your car and leave you with a long walk home.

[Del Boy]

It is 100% legal to drive a SORN car to an MOT test centre if you have insurance.

[the alarming man]

Just Googled it and bit of grey area it seems.  Test must be pre booked & they must record your Reg. No.

One site also says your insurance could be invalid if your vehicle has no current MOT    . . .   can of WORMS  comes to mind here      

how far is the car from home??...i guess best way is to get it trailered..??

[Del Boy]

Well I've done it on many occasions, picked up an untaxed car with no MOT, a few times from London and driven them to my MOT centre back here in Ashford. The law states you're covered if you've Pre-Booked the MOT and you have calid insurance cover, nowhere have inread anything about distance. If they say reasonable distance, what's reasonable will differ between different people.

[Del Boy]

Says on this page about how you can drive to an MOT centre with a SORN in place:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/UntaxedVehicle/DG_069727

[marrus69]

last time i did it i phoned police to check the nearest mot centre to me my home address,was given one but i drove passed 3 mot places on the way.thay have mot places to advise me to go to to make it legal.

[Crazycarzowner]

The only thing is though, and you may all disagree with me here - If and I'm saying 'IF' you take the chance and drive a car with no MOT any distance to a test station, (especially one that you don't know or that has been off the road a considerable amount of time), and god forbid something happened on the way, would it be worth the risk of a) accident b) sommat worse c)all the grief after the event???

[dbug]

Says on this page about how you can drive to an MOT centre with a SORN in place:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/UntaxedVehicle/DG_069727

I'm with Del on this -

Driving to an MOT test when a SORN is in place

You can drive your vehicle to and from a pre-arranged test at an MOT test station provided you have adequate insurance cover in place for that vehicle.

[Vamps]

The only thing is though, and you may all disagree with me here - If and I'm saying 'IF' you take the chance and drive a car with no MOT any distance to a test station, (especially one that you don't know or that has been off the road a considerable amount of time), and god forbid something happened on the way, would it be worth the risk of a) accident b) sommat worse c)all the grief after the event???

I tend to agree with you, this car has stood for 3 years, who knows how it will drive......For the extra cost got to be worth getting it delivered, costs tend to be around £1.00 per mile, got to be worth not risking everything for......

[Kevin Wood]

Hmm. MOT and tax or not, you are still responsible for ensuring the car you're driving meets the construction and use regs. If it were a completely unknown car to me I'd be driving it to the nearest MOT station I could find after a quick check over followed by the post office for a tax disk.

If the copper who pulls you over is having a good day, you might get let off with taking it half way across the country for an MOT. It's clearly not a reasonable use of the "to and from MOT" exemption to do so, so if he's having a bad day, expect the book thrown at you.

[Big_Al]

Crikey !!     I did mention open opening up the worm can in an earlier post on this thread

Seems to be fair difference of opinions though.

As for the point of something happening accident wise on the way to any pre booked test on a vehicle without a current MOT. how else are you going to get one done, unless you drive it there  ?    Dont think they will come to you 

Any way . . . think I'll give this one a miss & keep looking for one with a bit of MOT at least . Was not to sure about the colour of that one any way

Thanks for the replies everyone.      regards, Al