MOT distance to go...

[stan0]

Can anyone tell me please - Is there a maximum distance a car can be driven for an MOT inspection. Is 150-miles considered too far if the car is purchased without an MOT and is needed to be driven straight to th enew local MOT centre.

Alternatively, does a car need Road-tax and MOT to be towed on the public highway excluding motorways ?

[smudger]

Hi Stan, and welcome to the site, as to your question I have no idea of what the law is on that. I would think however that 120 miles is a bit much for a traffic police officer to accept, if you were stopped?

As for your towing question. it depends if the car being towed is on a trailer, or actually being towed?
Cheers, Smudger.

[Rolebama]

I do not think that any mileage is stipulated in terms of travelling for MOT, but in Court, the word, 'reasonable' is bandied about a lot, so I would not risk over 100 miles! As to towing, quite simply, the car has to be road legal, as the driver is still in charge of the vehicle. If recovered on a trailer or flat-bed, if it is not delivered to an off-road location, the recivery driver is committing an offence. There is another post on the Forum about this. Try a search.

[stan0]

Thanks guys for your help. Reaonable eh ? Will give that some thought, thanks again and for pointing me towards the search facility.

Cheers,
Stan0

[Snowball]

The vehicle must be booked in for MoT before being driven for that purpose, and must go by the shortest route. I am not sure if that also means the nearest MoT station.

The car must be insured, though. If it is being towed, there may be a stipulation that it must be moved on a car trailer, which would probably allow movement without tax or insurance, provided it was not taken onto a public road at any time until valid insurance was obtained.

However, without tax, the vehicle must have a valid SORN certificate.

[ficklejade]

Why do you need to drive 150 miles for an MOT - are you moving house and need to get your SORN car down there?

I do know someone up in very NW of Scotland who took their car to Inverness for a service and MOT but this was because of special circumstances and he'd discussed with local police and got an okay - bit like I did when my windscreen was illegal and I had to go to the mainland - again, the windscreen people couldn't come over for three weeks and because Mum's disabled and needs car - special circumstances. But that's the way of Highlands & Islands pollis - if you have a big problem - they'll do their best to help you.

Personally, I wouldn't risk it!

[bandit600]

150 miles would take a lot of expalining to a traffic cop. There's surely an mot station closer to you?
There's no need to worry about tax as long as your car is booked in at the station.
If it were being towed it would still need tax, insurance and mot as although it's not driving itself, it's still being used on a public road. (it's that same for being towed by the RAC, no road tax = no tow. A complicated bit of law but the tower would be charged along with the towee).

[tommytwotanks]

Originally Posted by stan0

Can anyone tell me please - Is there a maximum distance a car can be driven for an MOT inspection. Is 150-miles considered too far if the car is purchased without an MOT and is needed to be driven straight to th enew local MOT centre.

Alternatively, does a car need Road-tax and MOT to be towed on the public highway excluding motorways ?

after reading this post yesterday, it got me wondering, what if you want to pick up a car miles away from home after buying it on say EBAY, the car is 150 miles away with no mot, what if you booked it in for a mot 75 miles away, halfway home, pick the car up early in the morning, drive 75 miles, mot at about midday, if it fails and it's a simple fix great, fix it, if not drive it 75 more miles home, or is that taking the p***

[Snowball]

Originally Posted by tommytwotanks

after reading this post yesterday, it got me wondering, what if you want to pick up a car miles away from home after buying it on say EBAY, the car is 150 miles away with no mot, what if you booked it in for a mot 75 miles away, halfway home, pick the car up early in the morning, drive 75 miles, mot at about midday, if it fails and it's a simple fix great, fix it, if not drive it 75 more miles home, or is that taking the p***

The DVLA ruling (www.direc.gov.uk) says:
You can drive a vehicle without an MoT to a pre-arranged MoT station for the MoT to be carried out. But the vehicle must have adequate insurance cover.

There is no specified maximum allowable distance in the DVLA rules that are given on line. So, in theory, you could do what you describe. However, the fact that there is no clear indication that you can't does not necessarily infer that you can.

The risk is that, in the event of being stopped by the police, you are then in the hands of police and magistrates. They will apply their own interpretation of the circumstances. If they decide you are gulty of an offence, then you would have no grounds to appeal against it, because (a) as far as I can tell, there is no specific allowance to do what you propose, and (b) the DVLA will not change their wording to clarify your action as acceptable. You then also have the added concern that the insurance company may deem your cover to be invalid because of the related offence; and very possible if you were unfortunate to be involved in a road accident during this time, giving the insurers a good chance to get off the hook.

The whole thing could be an expensive game of Russian Roulette. Be very wary!!!

[MrDanno]

Although as has been pointed out that there is no hard and fast rule, I think more than 20miles would be deemed to be more than what was classed as exceptable.

Personally, I'd rather not have to stand infront of a 'beak' to find out the hard way. I think most people live within a sensible distance of an MOT testing station.

My nearest 2 testing stations are within 2 miles of home and I'm pretty sure there are dozens within a 10 mile radius.

trying to mould a loophole in the law to suit one's needs could always end in a big problem.