Ok just rang my insurer (brentacre) and said I am designing a new exhaust system with possible decat on it and asked wether it's ok or not and he said, yes decat is fine, it is one of the more common modifications we cover, he said the only time you need to worry is mo time! But he said if you take it for a good blast before Hand and leave it running it "should" pass

then I asked about getting pulled and done for it he said that It will come up on the popo systems as a kosher mod so no need to worry!!!

Is it that easy? Decat and declare? Hassle free?

well youll fail an mot, as if the car was made with a cat i thought it had to be on come mot time, (unless was made before sept 93 or something) but arnt the police getting equipment to do roadside emmissions etc also?

It depends on the emissions once the decat pipe is in place, some cars have such low emissions anyway that when the cat is removed and replaced with a decat then the car will still pass the emission test come mot time. So providing it passes the emissions test the mot tester isnt going to care whether the cat is there or if its been replaced by a decat.

And the technology has been around for years for traffic coppers to be able to do a roadside emissions test, just more often or not they cant be bothered. I've ran straight through systems before now and undeclared mods and when pulled over by police inc traffic police they haven't even bothered checking. The only time its really a problem and they will bother checking is if it is too loud and above the legal limit in decibels.

And for reference if the car was registered before apr of 1992 it doesnt legally need a cat, if registered after april of 1992 then it will have a cat on from production line, which is needed for the majority of cars to be able to pass its emissions test.

Edited 16 June, 201016 yr by Monkey-man

Yea so basically it's another grey area! Well if my insurance are happy with it then I don't see why popo should bother me!

if its not mega piss take loud the coppers usually dont bother looking :-)

With all insurance companys the calls are recoreded, so just say check the call!

Mot time would be the issue like

What insurance are you with?? they sound pretty decent giving answers like that :-) i'd probably get bent over asking my insurnace that.

brentacre mate! they are all very sound people will help you out no end!

if the dvla people do a rondom spot check on your car i think its something like a £30 fine but usually you dont see them around much and as for mot it should be fine if it passes the emissions.

my 16v nearly passed the mot with no cat, was just over. i used to just fit it for the mot.

my exhaust was a bit on the loud side and i got pulled for it. the police didnt realise i wasnt running a cat despite looking under the car to see if the exhaust was blowing... tbh they were jobsworths wanting to pull me for anything they could, and even said they'll be pulling me over again in the future to check the car over...

if a car is made after april 1992 and had a cat as standard it must have a cat fitted for the mot, even if it will pass without one. but friendly stations might pass if the emissions are ok.

I'm now running a sports cat cos i cant be arsed with the hassle of a fine etc. even have a straight through middle box waiting to go on to quiet it down a bit... I'm getting old! lol