Mot Renewal In Spain

[SeaStar]

The MoT on our UK car runs out in 10 days....unforseen circumstances meant we had to stay longer than planned.....read many forums, opinions, advice....
From "get an ITV and drive back with a pre-booked MOT test in UK on arrival," to "have car transported there and back by specialized service..."

Do you have any further advice on legalities of driving back with tax disk expired? How many days grace period would we have?

Thanks for any further information!

[Prudie]

I don't know the answer but just to clarify for others, are you saying your MOT and tax both run out in 10 days?

[SeaStar]

Yes, that's right, the last MOT was done 30thMay, tax renewed same ( or next day at Post Office!!!!) sensing we are going to have to drive back early...!

[decmangan]

Come back before they expire?

[SeaStar]

Actually, that's 9 days!

[ToraToraTora]

just book an MOT and drive it there as soon as you get in the country.

[Prudie]

Is there anything stopping you coming back to UK in time? I've a feeling days of grace is a myth and there aren't any.

[ToraToraTora]

no it does not, insurance is not invalidated by any other transgression, urban myth. Book the MOT and when you land in Britain, if you are stopped you are on the way to the mot station.

[treetops68]

You are cutting things very fine, SeaStar, because today is the 22nd. (nearly the 23rd.); next Monday is a Bank Holiday and the 30th. is a week tomorrow. That leaves you about two days in which to get back, get your MOT done and your tax disc obtained. And Prudie is correct about leeway, there is none legaly.

[Buenchico]

Your post seems designed to confuse us!

Are you referring to the MoT (which the main part of your post refers to), to the vehicle tax (which suddenly appears towards the end of your post) or to both?

You can renew the tax online if you've got the reference number number from the renewal letter. (Have you got it? Can someone go to your house to find the letter and email/text the number to you?). You can also renew the tax online with the number on your V5C [= 'log book']. (Did you take it with you? Can someone go to your house to find it?):
https://www.gov.uk/tax-disc

Staying with the tax for the moment, there are NO 'grace days' for LATE payment. However if you pay online (BEFORE the tax runs out) there's a 14-day grace period (from the expiry of the old disc) before you need to DISPLAY your new disc. In practice you could probably get away with longer since the police (and others) now largely rely upon a computer database, rather than on the actual display of a physical disc, for checking that a vehicle is taxed. (So much so that tax disks will cease to be used from 1st October anyway).

Further, failure to display a tax disc is a separate (and lesser) offence that failing to pay for one, so it wouldn't be a 'big issue' if you were unlucky enough to get caught. (However getting someone to forward the new disc from your home, to your address in Spain, would still be sensible if time allows).

The MoT rules, however, are far stricter. You can't drive a vehicle without a valid MoT certificate (where one is required by law) on UK roads unless it's being driven directly to an MoT test centre, so the advice to arrange a test close to your port of arrival seems good to me.

Of course the two sets of rules overlap in that you can't tax your car without a valid MoT. However you can tax your car right up until the very last day of the current MoT's validity (and the subsequent expiry of the MoT doesn't then invalidate the tax) so you've still got ten days to sort the tax out.

[Buenchico]

>>>If your MOT expires it usually invalidates your Insurance

WRONG! (At least in part, anyway!)

Insurers aren't allowed to wholly invalidate the statutory '3rd party' cover of their policies because a vehicle doesn't have a valid MoT. (i.e. if you cause damage to another vehicle or injure someone, the insurer MUST still pay out). So you CAN'T be prosecuted for driving without insurance.

However, depending upon the wording of the policy, the insurer MIGHT then be able to take civil action against the driver to recover the money that the law has required them to pay out.

[Arrods]

But Tora3, insurers can invalidate the policy if the vehicle us 'unroadworthy', whether or not there is an MoT - and I think you can also be prosecuted for no insurance if you don't have a driving licence.

[ToraToraTora]

Lack of MOT does not mean you are not insured it means that they will use it as an excuse to not pay out. I have never seen and insurer mention MOT before. What if it was stolen off your drive way when it is out of MOT, I don;t beleive it. Can you find the doc on line and point me at the clause. Which company??

[ToraToraTora]

No arrods, all urban mythery, you can be prosecuted if you do not have insurance. Any other trangression will effect a potential pay out but will not invalidate the insrance. If it did every motoring offence would also be a prosecution for no insurance.

[Arrods]

Tora, This is how I see it. S.148 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 effectively states that an insurance condition such as a vehicle's road worthiness has no effect so far as the validity of insurance cover is concerned I,e. you can't be prosecuted for no insurance. However, the requirement to hold a driving licence is contained in s.151, and was put there specifically so that a no insurance offence could be prosecuted at the same time. OK, in both s.148 and s.151, the insurer must still meet any TP claim but also retains the right to recover from the 'insured'.

[ToraToraTora]

heard of many prosecutions for no licence and no insurance but never heard of prosecution for the latter because of the former if insurance is present.