I'm aware that you are allowed to drive a car to a pre-booked MOT without Tax or MOT if the driver is insured and has driving license etc. First of all, I was wondering what happens when the car passes.. are you allowed to drive it home (or to the Post Office) to get Tax? Or do you have to tax the car by other means before you can drive it again.

Secondly, if the car fails, I've been made aware that you are allowed to drive the car to a "repair premise" from the MOT station if it fails. Is this true? And if I wanted to do the repairs at home, would I be allowed to drive the car home again? Or are you allowed to drive to AND FROM a pre-booked MOT station without an MOT or Tax anyway?

Finally, the magic question, where is this information published by some form of governing body? VOSA, DVLA, DSA, "The Police", does anyone publish this online so that we can be sure? Essentially my Dad is going to be the legal driver doing the driving, and he wants to be sure every option is legal. More so, he wants to hear it from a reputable source, not just forum posts (no offence! they are good enough for me.. but apparently not him!). My only other option would be to go into my local police station and ask, but chances are I'll get a desk bimbo that won't have a clue.

Hope to hear from you guys soon, thanks for reading!

All the legal stuff seems to be posted on direct.gov

Have a read of this, it appears that you can't drive it home.

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test

If it fails, you'd be driving a car without tax or MOT, would have thought usual rules apply.

As for it passing then driving to get tax, unsure.

Not done any research, just thinking logically.

Is there a post office within walking distance?

Tax online on phone if it passes?

Bit stuck really if it fails though i guess!

I always thought if it failed you could drive straight to place of storage, place of repair, or MOT station.

But it had to be straight there and back, IE not via Macdonalds etc.

Lol honestly officer i am allowed, a forum said.

Oh that's fine then mate be on your way

I'm only going by what test centres have said.

Was just saying in general dickhead

Yeah if it fails you can drive it straight to a place of repair, If it passes you have to tax it before driving it.

I've got an mot tomorrow, if it passes I'll attempt to tax it online but if for some reasons that fails I'll just drive it home like I always have done and tax it on the way

OK, thanks for the replies chaps. That's a bit clearer in my mind. I have the awkward situation of not being able to tax the car once it passes, as the car itself won't have any insurance (the driver, my Dad, has his own insurance). So it'll be stranded at the MOT centre even once it's passed until I can sort something out.. awesome..

In the mean time, can anyone shed some light on the definition of a "pre-booked" MOT? I've booked it in for next week (let's say Tuesday..) but I've arranged to drive the car up there and drop it off this weekend. Technically I'm driving the car to a pre-booked MOT, but it's not on the exact day. It's something I've always arranged with the proprietor, I'll drop the keys through the letter box on the weekend and leave the car in the car park for him to MOT the following week at his leisure. Would this be legal or not?

In the mean time, can anyone shed some light on the definition of a "pre-booked" MOT? I've booked it in for next week (let's say Tuesday..) but I've arranged to drive the car up there and drop it off this weekend. Technically I'm driving the car to a pre-booked MOT, but it's not on the exact day. It's something I've always arranged with the proprietor, I'll drop the keys through the letter box on the weekend and leave the car in the car park for him to MOT the following week at his leisure. Would this be legal or not?

You've pre-arranged the test, so your OK to drive it to the testing garage, the fact that it's not going to be done that day does'nt matter, it's not going to be used untill it's had the mot, It might pay to have the garage boss's phone number with you on the off chance you were stopped, for him to confirm it is booked in for the test

What insurance does your dad have? As if youre relying on him being insured through his own insurance, driving yours 3rd party, he still wouldnt be covered as the car isnt insured.

Unless he has a trade policy obv :)

In the mean time, can anyone shed some light on the definition of a "pre-booked" MOT? I've booked it in for next week (let's say Tuesday..) but I've arranged to drive the car up there and drop it off this weekend. Technically I'm driving the car to a pre-booked MOT, but it's not on the exact day. It's something I've always arranged with the proprietor, I'll drop the keys through the letter box on the weekend and leave the car in the car park for him to MOT the following week at his leisure. Would this be legal or not?

You've pre-arranged the test, so your OK to drive it to the testing garage, the fact that it's not going to be done that day does'nt matter, it's not going to be used untill it's had the mot, It might pay to have the garage boss's phone number with you on the off chance you were stopped, for him to confirm it is booked in for the test

That's what I thought, my Dad doesn't seem convinced about that though.. :( Being an ex-copper he's being really cautious about this, but he of all people doesn't know what the law exactly is regarding this, and doesn't even know how we are supposed to find it out in black and white! Highlights a massive flaw in the system if you ask me..

What insurance does your dad have? As if youre relying on him being insured through his own insurance, driving yours 3rd party, he still wouldnt be covered as the car isnt insured.

Unless he has a trade policy obv :)

My Dad's policy says he has third party cover to drive other vehicles with the owner's permission. It doesn't any kind of clause stating that the vehicle being driven must have it's own comprehensive policy, so as I interpret that, it's all fine and legal.

Although given the current set of circumstances, I might just try and finally get a classic policy on the thing and cut out the "middle man" :p

What insurance does your dad have? As if youre relying on him being insured through his own insurance, driving yours 3rd party, he still wouldnt be covered as the car isnt insured.

Unless he has a trade policy obv :)

My Dad's policy says he has third party cover to drive other vehicles with the owner's permission. It doesn't any kind of clause stating that the vehicle being driven must have it's own comprehensive policy, so as I interpret that, it's all fine and legal.

Although given the current set of circumstances, I might just try and finally get a classic policy on the thing and cut out the "middle man" :p

Spoke to a mate of mine earlier tonight, and like your Dad, I have the statement on my insurance certificate that I can drive any other car not belonging to me on Third party cover, but the law has changed apparently and the vehicle must be listed on a valid policy with the MIB even for your Dad or me to covered

On mine I can drive any other car with the owners permission as long as it already has insurance on it. There was a lad on here a while back that got confused by this and thought it meant he could drive his other car around on his policy, it didn't and he got done by the popo

What insurance does your dad have? As if youre relying on him being insured through his own insurance, driving yours 3rd party, he still wouldnt be covered as the car isnt insured.

Unless he has a trade policy obv :)

My Dad's policy says he has third party cover to drive other vehicles with the owner's permission. It doesn't any kind of clause stating that the vehicle being driven must have it's own comprehensive policy, so as I interpret that, it's all fine and legal.

Although given the current set of circumstances, I might just try and finally get a classic policy on the thing and cut out the "middle man" :p

Spoke to a mate of mine earlier tonight, and like your Dad, I have the statement on my insurance certificate that I can drive any other car not belonging to me on Third party cover, but the law has changed apparently and the vehicle must be listed on a valid policy with the MIB even for your Dad or me to covered

And presumably your policy did not say that the car you are driving has to have it's own policy Nige? This is what bugs me about all this, if the law has changed, how was I supposed to find out about it if I didn't ask people on here? By the sounds of it, people only find about it when they get done for it, that's not supposed to be how the law works. My Dad who I've mentioned is an ex-copper and even he doesn't know exactly what the law is, or how to find out! A totally flawed system, and it makes me angry. I take it you are not even 100% sure on this new law Nige? I can't find any links to this new info, so don't know what to believe. Any normal person is surely just going to go by what is on their insurance certificate?

On mine I can drive any other car with the owners permission as long as it already has insurance on it. There was a lad on here a while back that got confused by this and thought it meant he could drive his other car around on his policy, it didn't and he got done by the popo

So I'm presuming that your policy specifies particularly that the car must also have it's own policy? Which is fair enough, it's there in black and white. But if my Dad's policy does not specify this, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that he is covered to drive the car without it's own policy?

it differs between insurers, and you have to check the T&C, if in doubt - speak to them.

for drive other cars, most insurers expect the car to be insured on its own policy, and not be a hire car.

for many comprehensive insurance policies, they will either state

the car must have a current MOT (in which case you cannot use that policy to drive to an MOT station without a current MOT)

the car must be in road-worthy condition - which does not mean it has to have an MOT, but does mean you are duty bound (and therefore liable) to ensure that the car being driven to the station is of a safe standard - ergo bald tyres will still get you points.

There is no stipulation in law, as to a maximum distance you can drive without MOT to a pre-appointed MOT station.

I drove my yellow peril 174 miles directly to an MOT station, with only an insurance certificate that covered the car without MOT, and a printed letter from the DVLA stipulating there was no limit for distance, and a printed booking sheet for my pre-booked MOT.

I didn't get stopped but ensured I had enough to justify myself to any plod that could have stopped me en route.

As for leaving the MOT station to get tax its not clear in law and I didn't query. I keep my V5, insurance document with me so that I just drive to the nearest PO on the way home - if its close enough Ill just walk.

On occasions where the cars have failed, I have driven them back to a place of repair , which is legal if it fails - again you need to assess on what it has failed on, and whether it is safe to drive with those repairs - a bald tyre or rotten subframe wont leave a happy policeman, but if its something minor they should let it slide.

Its a pure grey area - just email you queries to your local police force and the DVLA and print their responses to help you, should you get stopped :)

A mate of mine found out the hard way about insurance policies a few years ago.

He'd swapped cars on the Friday, and gone off for the weekend in his new car.

The police pulled him over and did a document check. Turns out the previous owner had transferred his policy over to the new one, which meant my mate was driving a car with no insurance policy attached to it. Although he had a policy, and it allowed him to drive other cars on third party cover, the car wasn't legal.

It was a Sunday evening so he had to take out a new policy online before they'd let him drive away, which obviously he cancelled the next day. Harsh though it may sound, he didn't get a fine despite being a class A muppet. They'd got a tow truck waiting to impound the car if he didn't get a policy sorted.

Unless you're a trader, you must have a policy on a car in order to drive it on the road. Otherwise it's creating a loophole the size of the Channel Tunnel, insuring you to drive a fleet of cars TPO provided you have a policy on a token shitbox.

Just to add my car passed its mot on sat and I had no issues taxing it online while sat outside the test center. I'm still kinda breaking the law by not displaying a tax disk until it comes through the post, but fuck them.

Just to add my car passed its mot on sat and I had no issues taxing it online while sat outside the test center. I'm still kinda breaking the law by not displaying a tax disk until it comes through the post, but fuck them.

no your not apparently!

i had to ring up the DVLA to tax my polo as i forgot where he logbook was, the guy on the phone said i had 5 days i think it was that i could get away without displaying a disk.

result ha

Edited 28 May, 201313 yr by erixtar1992

Well in that case I've got one days grace left

Tbh tho I wouldn't trust a thing the dvla phone monkies say, seen/read about plenty of people being given wrong information off them and some getting in a lot of trouble for it. Theres no traceability to it either, just you saying someone at the dvla said so and so, and they just turn around and say "no they didn't". They really do take in aptness to a whole new level

As for the insurance..... You could have just phoned them? lol

Driving to an mot you are covered if the region is pre booked in with mot bay.

If it fails your covered to drive it away to home or place of repair (directly)

With no tax issue in both cases, you can't tax a car without an mot, so they would allow that.

Your dad will have 3rd party only cover to drive the vehicle, as long as the vehicle is taxed & mot'd & insured & is not in his name on the log book or hired to him.

(& must state on his cert he's covered)

You only get this type of cover over the age of 25 and only on fully comp cover, unless you are insured by Highway who will give driving other cars on a tpf&t cover to over 25's.

Also be aware this only covers you on British roads & does not extend to vans/pickups/motor cycles/quads.

If your dad drives that car on his driving other cars entitlement & it's not insured he will get an IN10 for no insurance & up to 6 points & up a £5K fine & the car will get towed & sold or scrapped.

If the car is in you're name on log book & not insured & your dad is caught driving it then not only will he get the above but you will get an IN14 for letting him drive your vehicle uninsured.

The maximum fine and points are the same as the IN10 !

You don't have to listen to me but I spent 8yrs in the motor trade & 2 and a half working for a well known modified insurer in the dub scene.

Edited 15 December, 201312 yr by Mintvalver