MOT

Date of issue.

Unlike subsequent tests, you can't get the "up to one month" extra either.

Chris

assuming it is a normal car then it will be dated from the date of first reg.( plus three years )(if carried out within a month beforeit is due)

Unless it has changed recently, then yes, you can take the car in up to a month before it is three years old, you used to have to take the V5 along with you to get the deferred date expiry date. Probably now everything is computerised that does not apply, but I would take it anyway.

When my last car was coming up to its first MOT date, I rang the local testing station to ask what would happen if I had it tested in the month before it was due. They told me that for a first test, they could only date it on the day tested, not a date in the future. They agreed with me that it was a stupid arrangement, and would mean that a car might have a certificate for up to a month before it was needed.

I doubted the validity of what I had been told, and took it up directly with VOSA. They also agreed the rules were illogical, but said that the garage was perfectly correct; you can't post-date a first MOT certificate.

This was seven years ago, so it might have changed to a more sensible arrangement, but it was definitely the case in 2003.

Chris

Yet I've just found this:

"If the vehicle is tested within the calendar month prior to when the MOT is due, the test certificate will run from the date of the test to one year after the expiry date of the current certificate. For example, if the current certificate was due to expire on 1 April 2007, and the vehicle was presented on or after 2 March 2007, the certificate would run from the test date until 1 April 2008.

The same rule would also apply when the vehicle is taken in within a calendar month of its first MOT. In this case, the vehicle owner would need to present their registration document."

which directly contradicts what happened to me!

I can only assume it changed after '03.

Chris

My car was first registered on 1/11/04, and the first MOT was 29/10/07, dated 1/11/07, so it was only a couple of days post-dated, hardly a test of the rules. :)

ah, well found, it was silly if you had to go 'on the day' for a first test. The other stupid anomaly in the rules that still exists is that if you take in a car for MoT with more than a month to go on the old test, then you can only get a twelve month certificate. I can fully understand not issueing a massively long certificate, but since they can make out a thirteen month ticket, there seems no reason not to issue a maximum 13 month ticket if you have say 6 weeks left on your old one, it would hurt no-one, nor subvert anything.

[...]

I didn't know that; how bloody stupid!

Chris

Thanks

AIUI, the test certificate is only valid on the day it is issued, and a new one is required by law every 12 months, not every 13.5 months.

Gordon H gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

No, a test certificate is valid for 12-13 months from issue, until the date of expiry printed on it.

You're getting confused with the certificate and roadworthiness. The test is not proof of roadworthiness for any amount of time - it merely indicates that the car met the standards at the time of the test.

As it's an offence to drive without a valid certificate (if the vehicle requires one), that would mean we would all be breaking the law for 364 days every year!

A vehicle may be tested up to one month before the due date. If it passes, the new certificate is dated to expire 12 months after the expiry date of the current one. This means that it is possible to have a period of up to 13 months before the next test is due.

Indeed, used cars are often advertised as such...

Chris

In message , Adrian writes

That is of course what I should have said. :) I see plenty of vehicles on the road which would fail on several counts.