My MOT is due the end of May, but I was wondering how early you can book in for them and if say, I booked it in 3-4 weeks early and it failed, would it's existing MOT be valid until the 23rd of May?

Because if it Does fail and it needs work doing (which I'm fairly sure it may do) and I drive it back to where I live, I can't move it to anywhere that I can get work done...

Starting to try to think about how I can approach this, because I'm not massively confident of a pass.

Thanks for any advice!

You can MOT it up to a month before its due and keep the original expiry date for the next year IIRC.

You can MOT a car anytime. But to keep the same date you can put the car into the test centre 1 month early. So you'd get a 13 month MOT if it were to pass first time.

As for if it failed, would your previous MOT still be valid then that is something I've never had a straight answer too. But a couple years ago I put the BMW e36 I had at the time in for a test a month early, which it failed. I fixed the car in time for the 10 day partial re-test but the garage I was using closed suddenly for 3 weeks. I carried on driving the car during this time and never got so much as a second look from the Police.

If you want to leave testing the car till the last minute then I'm sure it states somewhere as long as the car hasn't failed on anything that the tester deems 'dangerous' then you may drive the car from the test centre to a place to fix the car. Then once fixed you may drive the car once again to a Pre-Booked MOT.

Okay, thanks for that. Provides a bit of clarity. Think I'll aim to get it in early. I've got a couple of bits to do, but to be honest I'm gonna put it in with the rust as it is and see if it fails, because if anything was going to let me down I'd say it would be the sills and the section under the passenger door that's rusting away.

All the advisories from its last MOT I've addressed and fixed. However I should probably sort out my squeaky coilover soon, just as that immediately would raise suspicion if I were the tester.

Going to start to look for reliable garages, as this is my first ever MOT.

If you have the spare cash you could always put it into a garage for a 'Pre-MOT' check.

That way nothing is registered on the VOSA system so you won't be restricted by a timescale for a re-test or anything.

On the coilover issue, as long as the bushes don't look worn or have excessive movement then the squeaking shouldn't be an issue.

Also make sure that when the car is jacked up the springs aren't free to float about as that is a fail. If you still have the helpers in you should be ok.

A lot of the MOT points they check are common sense. If you can jack the car up and have a good look around underneath have a look for worn bushes, split gaitors, excessive movement in bushes and joints (big pry bar is handy) and corrosion either on the body or on things like brake lines. Rust is fine but if it is thin and you can push your finger or a screw driver through it then that's a different story.

Yeah, I heard about pre-MOT's but I've been underpaid 2 months in a row now and payroll are claiming its my fault. That's why I've not treated the rust.

I'm not brave enough to poke the rust under my door, but I'm not certain it would hold up if a screwdriver were to go through it. :/

The part of the sill that all the jacking points are on has suffered over winter and look pretty bad, and I managed to damage part of it on a speed bump yesterday that I didn't see until the last second. Frustrating considering my cars not THAT low! Down maybe 60-70mm.

If I can find a sunny day I'll try and get it up and have a look. Not confident for this at all. Not sure what I'll do if it does fail either.

Edited 3 April, 201511 yr by mbusby993