Driving Your Car Without MOT Certificate: Is it Possible?

If your vehicle fails its MOT test you aren’t allowed legally to drive your vehicle, unless you are going to a pre-booked repair and MOT appointment and no serious faults were found on your vehicle by a tester.

MOT testing follows a strict set of guidelines which has been set out by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), and your car must meet atleast minimum standards required to pass the test.

But, research suggests that over a million drivers have agreed to drive their vehicles without a valid MOT Watford. Without a valid MOT certificate, you won’t be able to renew your annual road tax and you will be driving your car illegally.

What Happens If You Caught Driving Without A Valid MOT?

Recently DVSA upgraded their system for testing MOT and has equipped the police and camera units with the capability to detect if the vehicle has an invalid MOT or not.

If you are caught driving without a valid MOT certificate it could result in a police caution, but in some cases, it can you have to pay the penalty of massive fines of up to £2,500. Fines can also include points on your licence or driving ban in more serious cases.

If your vehicle is involved in a road accident, you will be asked to show an up-to-date MOT certificate. If you cannot provide one, any insurance claims that need to be made could be affected. Normally this is the case if the incident results in a physical injury.

It is better to keep your MOT up-to-date to avoid these needless situations. Effective options are available for your use that will ensure you never forget to update your MOT certificate. For example, tests can be booked up to a month prior to the due date of the previous MOT.

What Do You Need To Bring In The MOT Centre?

Taking your car for an MOT test is not a difficult task to complete. You won’t need to take any supporting documentation to the centre. You only need to take your vehicle for the test. Using the comprehensive DVSA database, your MOT tester will find all the details of your car and discover all your existing details needed for the MOT.

Can You Drive Your Vehicle Without A MOT To A Garage?

For the safety of yourself and other road users, if your vehicle is found to possess a defect that is categorised as dangerous by your MOT test and fails. You should never drive that vehicle from the place of testing until the fault is fully fixed and your vehicle roadworthy. 

It is illegal to drive a vehicle that endangers lives. This rule applies in every case whether your vehicle has an up-to-date MOT certificate or not.

However, a testing centre doesn’t have the authority to stop you from driving away in a vehicle they have examined and failed. Although they can advise you to repair or replace any default parts. 

If you choose to do so, you can drive your faulty vehicle to a workshop for repairs but you will have to take the risk of facing huge fines, points on your licence, or even a ban if caught by the camera units or police.

Many MOT centres are run by the local authorities that only do MOT testing rather than repairs of the vehicle. In some cases, not all garages offering MOT will be able to handle failed parts in vehicles if they are not full service. For more serious repairs and other defaults, sometimes a more speciality repairer is required.

Rather than the unnecessary breaking of the law that may lead to expensive fines and in the worst case, severe incidents, it’s a better idea to arrange to have your faulty vehicle collected or towed to the garage by a breakdown company.

You should arrange to have your vehicle towed and taken to the garage where the necessary repairs will be carried out by a mechanic. The cost of driving a faulty and unsafe vehicle could be far more serious.

Is Vehicle Insurance Valid Without MOT?

While it may vary depending on the policy and the nature of your incident, in most cases when your MOT certificate reaches its expiry date, your insurance becomes invalid. If your vehicle is involved in a road accident, you won’t be incurred by the provider and will have to cover all the repair expenses by yourself.

If fault for the accident falls comes with you, damages caused to any other involved vehicles will be your responsibility which can be highly expensive. In addition to this, driving without insurance coverage is illegal, so if you are caught, you can face fines a six to eight points penalty or even a driving ban.

How To Avoid Driving Without A Valid MOT?

Ensure your vehicle MOT is always up to date by setting a reminder on your phone or you can even sign up for a free reminder, which can come to you via text or email. You can also check your vehicle MOT due date online. All you need to do is fill up your vehicle’s registration number to access the data.

For the safety of yourself and other road users, take full responsibility for your actions and vehicle. Ensure your MOT certificate stays up to date. If you have an MOT test coming up and need and need Car Service Watford, get in touch with the reliable garage.