I have a relative who is driving her car ( not an MX5 ) knowing that it has not got an up to date MOT. If she were to have an accident would her insurance and road tax be valid? I know that these are still valid but not her MOT. She is a pensioner and relies on her son to have it MOT’d but he is a bit of a useless P… and it is now one month out of time. Unfortunately she will not listen to me.
No real answer here but the insurer could say if the car did not have an MOT it is not roadworthy.
The policy may well demand the car has a current MOT to be covered but you would have to check the insurance documents.
Sometimes you can advise but your advice is neither asked for or welcome.
In that instance advise once and then walk away.
I think the road tax is still valid but it cannot be renewed without a current MOT.
Invalid insurance. Without a current MOT, your car insurance would become invalid. Not having a valid MOT certificate is illegal under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and you run the risk of facing a £1,000 fine and a charge of six to eight penalty points on your licence by driving without one.13 Mar 2016
Is car insurance valid without MOT? - ThinkMoney
Might be worth pointing out that her insurance is also invalid. If she had an accident she could be sued for everything she has got. If she happens to drive past a police vehicle with ANPR she will no doubt have the errors of her ways explained.
Agree with the advice given by the others on here. In addition to the police car ANPR cameras there are fixed ones too so no doubt they have already ‘pinged’ some of these. Anyone can report someone using a car without an MOT anonymously. Just google ‘no MOT reporting’ and you can see the procedure on the Gov website. If they are involved in an accident caused by faults that would have been picked up by the annual MOT the consequences could be much more serious than just a fine and points. Maybe worth while printing off this thread and let them read it to see what is at stake if a verbal reminder hasn’t worked.
quote:- Sometimes you can advise but your advice is neither asked for or welcome.
In that instance advise once and then walk away. end quote.
Sadly we have become a nation of walk away’ers. Cross over to the other side of the road etc etc.
As I see it the OP has two options.
Report the car.
Or, take the keys and drive it to the garage and book it in for MOT. Leave it and get a mate to drive you home.
Cars that have an owner who is prepared to ignore the test will be badly maintained, so the above action could save a life, possibly hers,
or someones grandchild.
Paul G
inform the son.
Not an easy one. Not knowing the full cicumstances it is difficult to offer advice. As your relative is a pensioner there is a risk of cognitive impairment that perhaps you have not noticed. Perhaps as mentioned you could just take the car to have an MOT. It may not pass and be unroadworthy and your actions would be justified in that respect.You are not liable for the actions of your relative but should anything happen you may blame yourself.
My daughter (at the time 18, 2-3months after passing her test) was driving along with our dog in the car, a Nissan Micra.
Guy coming the other way in a mid nineties 5 series BMW swerved across the road, clipped my daughter car hit the wing mirror which flipped round and smashed the drivers window covering her and the dog in glass, he swore at her and drove off.
My daughter being quite arsey didn’t dissolve in tears but did a 3 point turn and took off after him, in the middle of the turn a police car turned up, she explained about the “hit and run” on of the coppers stayed with her, the other took off after the Beemer and pulled him about 3 miles down the road.
Turns out he had no MOT, his insurance was therefore invalid and no tax.
They impounded and crushed the car and he ended up coughing up £1200 to my daughter for repairs/grief and was fined £400.
Apparently he’d put it in for an MOT which had failed because of worn steering joints and wheel bearings but thought it was ok to carry on driving it, if my daughter had been driving a wider car or been a bit further over he would have hit her possibly causing serious injury. At that point I would have done the arrogant old pr!@k a serious injury.
Personally I think you have a duty to get this sorted, either get it MOT or report it.
Sorry if this comes over as a bit harsh but having been scared shitless by this guys lack of concern thats how I feel.
Offer to sort the MOT out for them, you are clearly already concerned which is a good thing. You might put the son’s back up a little but he should be more attentive! There is a possibility they would lose the car altogether if stopped, maybe the ‘threat’ of loss of independence might bring the seriousness of it home.
You have done the right thing and informed her. Tell the useless son the same and then leave it at that.
What they do with your information is their business from then on.
I’d not get involved deeper. None of us can fix the world.
I pre motd a car for my neighbours mum about a year ago. I didn’t see her again for six months or so. When I did I asked her if her car passed the MOT . she looked at me with a sinking expression and then admitted she had completely forgotten to take it in.
As she mainly uses country roads the chances of her getting stopped or caught on an ANPR camera were virtually nil. So I would report the woman the poster is talking about. She might run into me!
I’m not sure how effective reporting a car via the .gov website actually is. There is a car parked just after a left hand, right angled bend in our village, just after a junction. It’s been there for over a year (!) and has at least two completely flat tyres. Its MOT ran out in Feb 2018 and it’s been un-taxed since the beginning of Feb this year. I’ve reported it twice (it’s not parked in the best of places) and no action at all seems to have been taken. Ironically, there is an ANPR camera on a lamp post on the junction, but unfortunately facing the other way!
Most certainly, there’s not a single insurance policy out there that provides cover without an MOT.
If she has an accident, she will be royally f*#k&d…
Having an accident without an MOT will be the same as having an accident without any MOT, Tax or Insurance.
She can incur some series penalty points and hefty fines for being so ignorant.
If she crashes into someone, that person will require her insurance details and she will have to pay for all damages of the other car and people.
Tell the local council.
Not sure about that - I think the insurance company will have to pay for any damages to the third party plus for any injuries they sustain. Damage to the vehicle without the MOT might not be covered though, as the vehicle could be deemed to not have been kept in a roadworthy condition.
Good point by Phil which I’m sure is correct.
Pollyanna - it would be good to get your view now following some good advice.
Cars can be as much a deadly weapon as a gun.
Both admittedly safe in the right hands.
However a car without an MOT can be as dangerous as a gun with a faulty safety catch.
I think people are getting a bit over dramatic about this. Any car that fails its MOT has obviously been driving around in an unroadworthy state with an MOT. So unless you are going to MOT vehicles on a weekly basis there will be vehicles driving around in an unsafe state. The fact that a vehicle has passed its due date is largely an administrative issue and passing its due date does not mean it is automatically unsafe. There have been discussions about increasing the MOT interval to every 2 years and most vehicles over 40 years old are MOT exempt. I have two motorcycles that are exempt.
Ian