hellllllllllp

[philv8]

right guys and girls failed mot so can I still legally drive ??????

[MandM]

I think not as it will be recorded, but could be wrong

[marshman]

right guys and girls failed mot so can I still legally drive ??????

Recorded or not - No. Car has failed MoT so is not roadworthy. It is illegal to drive an unroadworthy car on the road full stop and you insurance is invalid.

However, you don't say what it failed on. A minor item such as non-working windscreen washers make the car unroadworthy and fail an MoT and could in theory lead to a fine if you get stopped and they get spotted, same with badly aimed headlights, non working sidelight bulb etc. but don't make the car dangerous as such in my opinion so I would be happy to drive the car home and fix it - but then again most friendly garages would sort these issues for little or no cost and then retest and pass the car.

If it failed on something more major like tyres, brakes, corrosion then that is a different ballgame and really shouldn't be driven on the road as it is in a dangerous condition.

Why do you ask the question and why not just get it sorted?

Roger

[philv8]

my car had two issues which the mot person knew about but did not tell me before mot that he would fail it but was more then welcome to take the test fee not happy so if I did not go for mot then im still legally aloud to drive my car so that has peeeed me off

[barkerwilliams]

I believe most of us would be grateful if pre-existing serious problems we did not know about were revealed by an MoT in our cars.
Not pleased with the prospects of the repairs and the expense and delays, but thankful that our loved ones and neighbours were no longer at risk.

Keeping old cars roadworthy and safe is all part of the classic car responsible ownership.

Classic car roulette is not a fun game to play.

Alan

[RobinLegin]

My car is no longer MOTd but it is checked over each year by my local Stag specialist. If he were no
longer able to help I would still pay for a local garage to give it an annual once over. I would hate to be responsible for injuring a third party or my passenger just because I had not taken the care to identify and sort out an issue which resulted in a mechanical failure. I am fortunate my local garage is sympathetic with old cars.

[marshman]

my car had two issues which the mot person knew about but did not tell me before mot that he would fail it but was more then welcome to take the test fee not happy so if I did not go for mot then im still legally aloud to drive my car so that has peeeed me off

Sorry but NO you are not legally allowed to drive the car even if it has not failed an MoT because it is not roadworthy, i.e. it has some defects. All an MoT does is tell you if the car is or is not roadworthy at the time of the test. The car has to be legally roadworthy at all times it is on a public road, if it is not capable of passing an MoT then it is not roadworthy whether or not it has actually been taken for a test- no debate there. It is the responsibility of the driver to ensure the vehicle is roadworthy at all times, ignorance of the faults is no defence.

If you don't believe me check here on the government website:

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-safe

What were the issues? I assume if you did not know about them they were not something trivial like washers not working or a failed light?

Roger

[bullstarz]

With the new MOT it will say if you can drive it home or to a place of repair. There's more than a straight pass or fail now, if its classes as a dangerous fail then you can't drive it and in some cases not even be towed.

What the new categories mean

Dangerous	A direct and immediate risk to road safety or has a serious impact on the environment. Do not drive the vehicle until it’s been repaired.	Fail
Major	It may affect the vehicle’s safety, put other road users at risk or have an impact on the environment. Repair it immediately.	Fail
Minor	No significant effect on the safety of the vehicle or impact on the environment. Repair as soon as possible.	Pass
Advisory	It could become more serious in the future. Monitor and repair it if necessary.	Pass
Pass	It meets the minimum legal standard. Make sure it continues to meet the standard.	Pass

Just look at the website https://www.gov.uk/government/news/m...es-20-may-2018

[DJT]

My car is no longer MOTd but it is checked over each year by my local Stag specialist. If he were no
longer able to help I would still pay for a local garage to give it an annual once over. I would hate to be responsible for injuring a third party or my passenger just because I had not taken the care to identify and sort out an issue which resulted in a mechanical failure. I am fortunate my local garage is sympathetic with old cars.

Why not put it through an MOT then? The annual once over should be to the same standard as the MOT.

[djtaylor]

A minor item such as non-working windscreen washers make the car unroadworthy and fail an MoT

Just to be pedantic, non working windscreen washers is a MAJOR item as far as the MOT is concerned. I have two consecutive years of this being the only annoying fault. Next year i'm going to hang a Super Soaker water pistol from the T-bar and label it "Windscreen Washer" as it's probably more reliable than the new replacement pumps that I seem to fit!

(I know what you mean about it being minor though, personally I think it's incorrectly classified as any car can run out of washer fluid during a journey and doesn't need to be removed from the road at that moment but are in no different a situation than someone with a faulty pump just chucking some water from a bottle on the screen, even easier with the roof down off).

However, in answer to the original question, I would have thought that even with a fail, if the fault is fixed, it's no longer the reason to fail it and therefore the car is now roadworthy. That's the only requirement, not to have a subsequent PASS MOT following a fail.

This is certainly what I did with my washer failure, fixed it and drove it. Then arranged for an MOT to align with a sunny day so that the car didn't get wet

[marshman]

Just to be pedantic, non working windscreen washers is a MAJOR item as far as the MOT is concerned. I have two consecutive years of this being the only annoying fault. Next year i'm going to hang a Super Soaker water pistol from the T-bar and label it "Windscreen Washer" as it's probably more reliable than the new replacement pumps that I seem to fit!

(I know what you mean about it being minor though, personally I think it's incorrectly classified as any car can run out of washer fluid during a journey and doesn't need to be removed from the road at that moment but are in no different a situation than someone with a faulty pump just chucking some water from a bottle on the screen, even easier with the roof down off).

However, in answer to the original question, I would have thought that even with a fail, if the fault is fixed, it's no longer the reason to fail it and therefore the car is now roadworthy. That's the only requirement, not to have a subsequent PASS MOT following a fail.

This is certainly what I did with my washer failure, fixed it and drove it. Then arranged for an MOT to align with a sunny day so that the car didn't get wet

I agree that the washers being classified as major seems wrong - but the law is the law!

If you have fixed the fault then there isn't an issue - your car is roadworthy and in the case of a Stag (or any other 40 year old car) MoT exempt so can be legally driven. In the case of a modern car you must get it retested before driving on the road (other than driving to/from the testing station).

I take the distinction between Dangerous and Major faults to be that with a DANGEROUS fault the car MUST NOT be driven on the road at all, with a MAJOR Fault the car CAN BE driven HOME from the test station OR to another GARAGE to be repaired.

Roger

[Ritchie6]

Why not put it through an MOT then? The annual once over should be to the same standard as the MOT.

I must admit that would be my thinking on the subject. If you're going to pay a garage to check over your car and deem it roadworthy then I'd prefer to have a piece of paper, ie an MOT certificate as proof. My local garage, who test my Stag don't charge for re-tests so any small fault can soon be sorted and then returned for a pass.

Richard

[djtaylor]

I must admit that would be my thinking on the subject. If you're going to pay a garage to check over your car and deem it roadworthy then I'd prefer to have a piece of paper, ie an MOT certificate as proof. My local garage, who test my Stag don't charge for re-tests so any small fault can soon be sorted and then returned for a pass.

Richard

Same. I even had a discussion around emissions as I thought my car was running rich but he said no, it was fine. Our role is to keep the car (all cars in fact) in a roadworthy condition and it's also a condition of insurance so it has to be the easiest way to demonstrate that. Promising the insurance company that i'd looked after it would be harder to demonstrate and I don't think "shiny chrome" would qualify!

[RobinLegin]

I fear the new MOT is inflexible when it comes to old cars. For example in the case of my Alvis it is almost impossible to find a garage that has experience of undertaking an MOT to the standards applicable to the year of manufacture. Rather than have a failure registered for the life of the car for something minor like a screen washer not functioning properly, i prefer to be told to fix it and do so.
I realise there are lots of opinions about this. I will keep having my cars checked over by the garages at least once a year. They both need a visit for one reason or another twice a year or more!

[wilf]

I am lucky in that the local MOT station happens to be run by a classic car specialist.