if your UK car runs out of its MOT whilst abroad how do you get it back?

[rosamundjohn]

Car is in Spain and has no MOT.Insurance yes. Can anyone advise?

[heathfield]

You are allowed to drive a car without a current MOT certificate directly to an MOT testing station with whom you have made an appointment for the test. This means you could make an appointment with a test station located in the port of entry, and drive there directly from the ferry. But... Check with your insurer that you would still be insured if you were to do this. Your insurance small print may not provide cover if you are on the road without a current MOT certificate. Not to have cover would make it illegal to be on the road. Note, too, that your tax disc must be current for you to be on the road, though I suspect it will be, since you'll know that police in Europe are aware of the UK system, and would take action if your disc had lapsed. Good luck.

[TWR]

With respect Rosa, if you knew that you were planning to go abroad with your car, do you not think the MOT should have been sorted out sooner thus not causing you problems.

[cleggie]

yes but i cant see them accepting you are only driving it to a mot station in another country.i think it says you are allowed to drive it to a mot station within a reasonable distance.
plus i must say i agree its a bit thick not to get it sorted before going on holiday.you can mot 28 days prior to it expiring

so to me its a no excuse

[jomifl]

You could get a local mot, it might make you legal, in your foreign country of choice. Failing that it sounds like a trailer job.

[Hopkirk]

TWR and Cleggie are perfect - they never make mistakes.

If I were you I would just make an MOT appointment somewhere near the port of entry, and drive it there as soon as you arrive in the UK.

[cathfromsaron]

i didn't think insurance would be valid under these circs!

[Hopkirk]

Of course it is, driving to a pre booked MOT test.

[NOX]

As heathfield said just make an appointment at your MOT station and drive it there- all perfectly legal and the usual terminology with insurance is that a car needs to be ' roadworthy' not MOT'd, so an un MOT'd car can be perfectly legal and an MOT'd one illegal on that basis for all the perfect people amongst us.

[MantaRay]

You should not be commiting an offence if you arrange to drive your car directly from the ferry to the MOT station, but the garage will need to have booked the test for you and the MOT station will have to be reasonably close to the ferry port. Failing that, you could arrange to get your car collected by transporter/trailer and delivered to your drive/garage where you could keep it until taking it for a local MOT.

[EDDIE51]

Look at this thread it is almost identical
http://www.theanswerb...uestion1126219-2.html
No MOT is a fixed penalty only offence with a £60 penalty . No MOT DOES NOT invalidate your insurance even though many on AB still think and say otherwise.
When you get off the ferry phone an MOT centre near your home and if you get stopped just say you are on your way to an MOT test. Otherwise IF you get stopped just accept the £60 fixed penalty, it is not a conviction so there are no points and it does not have to be reported to your insurance.

[EDDIE51]

cathfromsaron you have already been told on the other thread that NO MOT DOES NOT INVALIDATE YOUR INSURANCE !!!
Think about it! if it did it would be impossible to drive a car with no MOT to a test centre to get it tested. You can take out insurance on a car that does not have an MOT .
rosamundjohn just drive home , the ANPR cameras DO NOT have access to the MOT data base. The only way you will get caught for no MOT is if the British police ( European police do not care and have no access to the data base) stop you for another reason and then check your car details on the police computer , they WILL NOT stop you for no MOT as they only check after they have pulled you up for something else.
Take it from me I was stopped for a faulty light last week, the police checked the police computor and then found my MOT had run out the previous week. I got a £60 fixed penalty payable within 28 days. THe police officer actually told me it was just a fixed penalty , no points and not reportable or endorsable.

[Toureman]

All cars that are abroad are allowed to drive in the UK !

Get a local equivelant of the mot where you are now.

[TWR]

No, not perfect by any means, but knowing I was going abroad with the MOT due, any person with a bit of common would get it done first. mind you! we are not perfect are we Cleggie.

[NOX]

Maybe something cropped up TWR? Perhaps some unforseen circumstance, like when my little girl who lives in Germany broke her back, I thought I was going over for a few days, turned into quite a while. You never know, and besides it's hardly a hanging offence if they simply forgot it was due.

[TWR]

You know yourself Nox if any of us travel abroad do our home work regards Paperwork, there could be a lot of complication with the Language to start with, I have never taken my car abroad but If I ever did, I would certainly make sure all my documents where in order, by no means am I knocking Rosa, but to save her self a lot of complications And that was the intention of my reply.

[TWR]

As you would expect, wagolynn, the DVLA waxes lyrical about being able to tax your car abroad, but conveniently ignores the problem of needing an MoT whilst abroad, with a reluctance comparable to someone telling their friend they should use Lifebuoy toilet soap.
Reading a few related websites, it seems that many UK people staying on the EU mainland long term (typically retired motorhome travellers), find it necessary to make a special, expensive mid-term visit back to the UK to get their vehicles MoT'd.
Without actually stating the fact outright, the various DVLA paragraphs on the subject weedle their way around to what, in essence, amounts to an emphatic, "No, you cannot get your vehicle MoT'd in the EU so as to be valid on return to the UK".
There, I've said it for them! Why could not they have done that?

[jomifl]

I know expats in France who have UK registered cars, have them MOT'd (control technique) in France and have French insurance. The French police don't know the rules and don't care. If it is a foreign car they aren't interested especially if you appear not to speak French.

[rosamundjohn]

Thank you all. I suspected the worse. This was really to find out whether my little used UK reg car could come home without probs. putting the car on ferry for an mot in Plymouth every year DOES NOT SOUND VERY SENSIBLE Spanish one?

[EDDIE51]

If you are resident in Spain you can register your car in Spain and get Spanish road tax and insurance. You can then bring it backto the UK and drive over here for 6 months at a time. If you then decide to come back to the UK permanently you can reregister it in the UK. Remember registering it in Spain will mean you are issued with Spanish numberplates and documents. a car can not be registered in 2 countries at once so it is either Spain or UK.

[EvianBaby]

Either I'm going blind or it doesn't say anywhere in the OP's post that they went on holiday.

You know why you shouldn't assume don't you....