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m.o.t.

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sambro | 20:50 Sun 27th Jul 2008 | Law
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my son in law is going to cornwall next saturday.hes taking his car for a mot on friday.if it fails, is he allowed to drive it on saturday? has he got 14 days grace? many thanks
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No, sounds like an urban myth. Once its failed the only place it can go is back home or to a pre-booked garage for repairs.
If he still has some time left to run on it, does he have to take it for an MOT on Friday?

I happen to know from reading his answers in the past that buildersmate knows a lot, so I an not saying he is wrong, but I do wonder if he is. If you have no time left at all then yeas, he is right, you should not drive it on the road unless is is prebooked for repairs or another MOT. That said, I always do mine in advance, and unless I am told not to drive it cos it is too dangerous, I have continued to use it until I got whatever needed doing sorted.

Mind you, the last time I actually did that was before it all became computerised, so I don't really know. Like I said, the simple answer is don't have the MOT done unless he really has to.
(2-part post):

You've not stated when the old MoT runs out.

To stay within the law, a car must be both 'roadworthy' and have a current MoT certificate (assuming, of course, that it's old enough to require one).

If a car fails an MoT test but there's still unexpired time left on the old MoT certificate, it's perfectly lawful (as far as the MoT regulations are concerned) to continue driving it until the old certificate expires. However, the fact that the car failed the MoT indicates that it probably no longer complies with the 'roadworthiness' requirements of the Construction & Use Regulations (or related legislation).

So, if there's still time left on the old MoT your son would be extremely unwise to drive it (after failing a new test), both on legal grounds and with regard to his own safety, if it failed because of, say, a problem with the brakes. However, if it only failed on, say, emissions he'd still be contravening the 'construction & use' laws (but not the MoT regulations) by driving it (as well as polluting the environment) but, unless the car's actually belching out loads of black smoke, the chances of him being prosecuted are effectively nil. (As stated above, the old MoT would continue to be valid).

Of course, if the MoT has already expired (or expires on Friday), Buildersmate's answer applies. There is no 'grace period'.

Unless there's something very seriously wrong with a car, any decent garage should be able to get it through an MoT in a day. For example, a month ago I told my local mechanic that I wanted to leave my elderly (L-reg) Mondeo with him on Friday morning and pick it up, complete with a new MoT certificate at Friday teatime. (That's exactly what I always do and he's always got everything sorted in a day). As promised, I picked up my car at 5.00pm, complete with a new MoT certificate. OK, it cost me �240, including the test, but it meant that several problems were all sorted out before the car got to the test centre and my car was only off the road for a single day. Your son might want to consider using a similar 'pre-check, fix and pass' service.

Chris
builersmatey is another in the vein of Ethel the *******, i.e. be quick to rush in and give an answer regardless of the facts. Oh how I hate them sort.

The crux of the matter of course, is when does the current MOT expire and this is not stated.
Mad Butcher.
I take the question at face value, and give an answer on that basis. Chris's (or should that be Chris') answer is clearly a more complete essay on the subject.
If the questioner had said the current MOT has 14 days to run, I would have included that in my answer. It didn't and I construed that the questioner was of the view that 14 days grace applied after a failure. That is what my answer clarified.
Please stop sniping at me and indeed other ABers. It won't help you accrue any stars.
if your sons mot has any time left on it after friday,then he can drive it,but if not then he cant,with the poice having number plate reconition in most of their cars now,if he were to be stopped,he could have it impounded miles from home and even some insurance companies could,if he had a accident,refuse to pay out,because it should not be on the road.
Why all this back-and-forth on a simple question ?

The law is quite specific. Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act, 1988 requires all motor vehicles which were first registered more than three years before the time they were being used on a road to pass a test.

In the case of Devon County Council -v- DB Cars (2002), Crim.LR 71, a vehicle which has "failed" a test (even where a test certificate may yet be in force) is deemed to be an "unroadworthy vehicle" and the user is guilty of an offence.

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