MOT question

[MrRegieRitmo]

I've already posed this question on another thread but time is getting short now so need to repost:

I've booked the Saab in for it's MOT this Saturday, 6 days ahead of expiry, mainly because I'm meant to be going away for the weekend on the 17th & aim to use the Saab & also because I'll have no opportunity to book it in before expiry other than this weekend.

I believe the MOT certificate mentions preserving the anniversary of your test & that you can't present your car earlier than so many days in order to keep the same expiry date. If you take your car in prior to the expiry date to have it tested, my belief was that if it failed you could still use the car until the MOT expiry date. Presumably you do this so you have a few days to prepare your car & you know what you're faced with & can get it sorted before your MOT actually expires. I don't know why I would think this if I hadn't heard it somewhere. But am I talking complete bollocks? I can see the point that somebody made to me that if your car fails then it fails & is therefore illegal to drive regardless of when you present it for testing, but if that's the case then it means I've shot myself in the foot by bringing MOT day forwards (other than the fact I want it all sorted by the 17th so that I can take the car up north!).

[retrogeezer]

You can take it for up to 30 days before the expiry of the current ticket. If it fails you can still use it as you have a current ticket - it's not illegal at all so whoever told you that is the one talking bollox.

 

An MOT is only really an examination of your car at that time on that day...10 minutes down the road after the test a spring could snap, a shock could develop an oil leak etc etc..

 

After all, if for instance it failed on tyres you could borrow your mates wheels, pass the test and then put your old wheels back on.

[MrRegieRitmo]

You can take it for up to 30 days before the expiry of the current ticket. If it fails you can still use it as you have a current ticket - it's not illegal at all so whoever told you that is the one talking bollox.

 

An MOT is only really an examination of your car at that time on that day...10 minutes down the road after the test a spring could snap, a shock could develop an oil leak etc etc..

 

After all, if for instance it failed on tyres you could borrow your mates wheels, pass the test and then put your old wheels back on.

Thanks for that - that was the answer I was looking for!

I was picturing them tearing up your existing certificate if it failed the test!

In regards to the test itself, it makes a nonsense of it really doesn't it!

[dollywobbler]

The only thing that could stop you driving away is if the tester finds something that he considers is too dangerous - but that's unlikely as long as your suspension mounts aren't bendy with rust or something!

[pogweasel]

Just remember that bone-headed thugs in a uniform from "Police Interceptors" won't see it that way and will take great delight in crushing your car and arresting you using extreme force if you protest....

[retrogeezer]

Just remember that bone-headed thugs in a uniform from "Police Interceptors" won't see it that way and will take great delight in crushing your car and arresting you using extreme force if you protest....

I don't see what they could do...it will still show as having an MOT on their ANPR.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Just remember that bone-headed thugs in a uniform from "Police Interceptors" won't see it that way and will take great delight in crushing your car and arresting you using extreme force if you protest....

I don't see what they could do...it will still show as having an MOT on their ANPR.

So a new test doesn't overwrite the old one on the system? (Unless it passes first time?!)

[ashmicro]

You can take it for up to 30 days before the expiry of the current ticket. If it fails you can still use it as you have a current ticket - it's not illegal at all so whoever told you that is the one talking bollox.

 

 

 

My bold.Correct 100% RG. I had this discussion 2 days ago with a mate.

[retrogeezer]

Just remember that bone-headed thugs in a uniform from "Police Interceptors" won't see it that way and will take great delight in crushing your car and arresting you using extreme force if you protest....

I don't see what they could do...it will still show as having an MOT on their ANPR.

So a new test doesn't overwrite the old one on the system? (Unless it passes first time?!)

I would think that having a paper certificate with an expiry date on it would be pretty good evidence for court.

 

 

It's probably the same info as you can see on the MOT checking website, it gives you all the info of the last few MOT's so you can see when the current one was issued and you have 12 months from that date...simples!

[pogweasel]

Also having a paper failure sheet in your car when you get a 'stop and search' from Dazza & Wazza [on the grounds that anyone driving an older that 55-reg car MUST be dodgy] would see a case of action first and ask questions later (i.e. when it's too late!)

[Cavcraft]

And if that happens you have to perform in front of the cameras, kick off a bit and suggest if you weren't handcuffed you'd 'knock everyone of them clean out'. Then when the handcuffs get removed back at the nick go all shy like.

 

There does seem to be some sort of debate in general over whether computerised MOTs are recognised by ANPR now. I do wonder if they are then will they know about advisories or failures?

Only I'm thinking if you have a current MOT, take it early and it dips on say tyres and a couple of bulbs, are you playing into the traffic coppers hands because ANPR will ping off to say it's failed an MOT on those items recently?

[myglaren]

I always take mine a month early, this year two months early as I got the date wrong - a month before I took it last year .

 

As a fail permits you to take it away from the test centre to carry out repairs at a venue of your choosing then it can hardly be illegal to drive it on the 'old' test certificate although it is illegal to drive a vehicle while aware that it is in an unroadworthy condition - bit of a contradiction there.

Keep the 'good' certificate with you, hide the fail one

 

Mine will almost certainly fail on tyres but I want them to have a good look at the front suspension and steering before I renew them as I had an advisory on a steering/suspension ball joint last year but when I took it in to be fixed they (another MOT station) couldn't find a defect.

 

It's all rather vague really.

I want to decat mine and put a stainless exhaust on but I still can't pin down if that would then go through an MOT - although a diesel cat is a useless encumbrance.

[Barry Cade]

This was always an interesting debate when I was testing.. I've never had a straight answer out of anyone who should be able to say for sure.. The way it was put to me is that if your car fails, then you are aware it is in an unroadworthy condition, and if anything should happen,then you were knowingly driving an unroadworthy car. ...its a HUGE grey area.

[MrRegieRitmo]

So perhaps just drive carefully during the period following a fail but prior to MOT expiry & stay out of trouble!

Not that I don't anyway.....

 

If I was taking it in a month ahead of MOT expiry though, that is rather a long time to knowingly use a car that didn't pass a recent test! Seems to be a case of just keeping your head down & hope you don't give anyone a reason to check any details!

[retrogeezer]

You are in possesion of a current and valid test certificate,a taking your car for it's new MOT early does not alter this fact.

[Cheggers]

Maybe, just maybe, the Saab will pass it's MoT and render this whole thread redundant

[MrRegieRitmo]

Maybe, just maybe, the Saab will pass it's MoT and render this whole thread redundant

I can but hope! I'm due a good MOT...

[hennabm]

An MOT once isued cannot be rescinded. When you take your vehicle in early (up to a month) you can preserve the date of the previous MOT (a post dated MOT).

 

If it should fail when you take it in early, you do still have a valid MOT until it expires.

Under the Motor Vehicle Test Regs of 1981 you are allowed dispensation to drive a vehicle to an MOT station and return with either no MOT or indeed a failure.

 

Any further use of the vehicle beyond that (if failed) means you are knowingly driving a defective vehicle on the road, which is an offence.

 

The Polis do have access to the MOT database and therefore can see when the last test was as well as previous tests.

[Barry Cade]

^^ What he said.. Thats what I meant,but was told this in a very vague way..

[retrogeezer]

Thats not what you said Tiff, henna is saying that your current MOT cannot be rescinded and is still valid up to it's expiry date whether or not you take your car early for it's new one or not.

 

If your car passes, the new one runs for 12 months from the originals expiry date, this in itself shows that the previous one is valid up until it's expiry.

[warren t claim]

I can assure you that no MOT is an ANPR ping.

[retrogeezer]

I can assure you that no MOT is an ANPR ping.

Yeh, I've seen it on police interceptors!!

 

But if the old one hasn't run out then you still have an mot.

[oldford]

To save all the hassle of booking mine in next year, I may have a DIY MOT.

[warren t claim]

To save myself problems next year I'm getting mine tested over the phone by M***** ******W. The only tester in Liverpool approved by The Merseyside Lesbian Gay and Transgender community. £20 in the ashtray must be a euphamism for something!

[MrRegieRitmo]

Maybe, just maybe, the Saab will pass it's MoT and render this whole thread redundant

 

I can but hope! I'm due a good MOT...

 

 

 

Well.....it passed! With flying colours, only one advisory! I said I was due a good one!

 

Sorry for the slow response, this is the first time I have graced this board since the new one was set up

 

It's now been a month since the success of the MOT & all was rosy in the garden of Saab.....HOWEVER, last Monday morning after leaving the other halves' in Borehamwood, I made it as far as the junction where the A1 (N) meets the M25 (junction 23 of the M25), drove up the slip road to the lights, went to pull away & "thump" the clutch pedal went to the floor! Bugger, yet another clutch cable (I'm plagued by them, this is the 3rd car in the last 5yrs I've owned/driven where the clutch cable has broken, 2 of the others broke the cable twice each!). Is it me, am I doing something to break them???! Had to be recovered on a lorry 90 miles back home (having feared they'd only relay me within 10 miles, as our policy states, they told me I'd be covered for this 9 x longer journey! I'm still puzzled by that, but wasn't going to question it, I was mightily relieved to indeed be taken all the way home - a real let-off!).

Anyway, it went to our mechanic yesterday & it's all sorted again & I'm £93 lighter for the privilege. My question is, to any current or previous owners of GM 900s, are they known to break clutch cables or am I just unlucky? Can I expect this one to break within the next few months or do they usually last a while on these cars? Our mechanic said to us that the clutch is very heavy so probably needs replacing & could be a factor in the cable breaking. We've had the car for a few months now & yes the clutch is heavy but we've got used to it. Will our mechanic be right that a heavy clutch means it needs replacing or is the clutch normally quite heavy on GM 900s?

 

Just trying to get an idea of whether trouble awaits us down the line or whether this is just usual garage pessimism!?

[hennabm]

Why didn't you drive it home with no clutch - would have saved a whole lot of hassle.

 

Somtimes a clutch going heavy on you may mean it is on it's way out.

Personally a clutch used as it should be, ie a switch and not a footrest, will outlive a car. I have only ever changed one clutch and that was in a MkI Cortina which was bought with a knackered clutch.

[whitevanman]

Why didn't you drive it home with no clutch

 

A skill lost to so many people now a days

[wuvvum]

Why didn't you drive it home with no clutch

 

A skill lost to so many people now a days

And to be fair, from my experience with GM 900's (I've had three) they're not the easiest of gearboxes to do clutchless shifts with - not nearly as forgiving as most Ford or Jap stuff.

[whitevanman]

I wasn't being derogatory, just stating a fact. Ford 4 speeds have to be the easiest to shift, I find all FWD's much harder to do

[hennabm]

I agree that fwds are normally harder to shift clutchless but not impossible.