Naff looking new MoT certificate

Why should it matter? The MOT details are kept on a central database, you hardly need a copy of it at all.

In message , Mrcheerful writes

I was underwhelmed when I got mine last month. The garage said that it was little more than a receipt, but it had the ticklist attached for tyre tread thickness etc.

It's no longer accepted as proof of having passed; it's just a receipt to prove a test has been carried out:

"The test certificate is no longer proof of an MOT and shouldn?t be relied on as such. Only the MOT computer database record can prove a vehicle has a valid MOT."

It has the advantage that any advisories are on the same sheet, so can't be "lost" by a seller.

Chris

Except the whole thing can be lost, since it's no longer very useful.

[...]

If I went to view a used car, either at a dealers or privately, and they told me the MOT was lost, I wouldn't hang around too long...

Chris

yes they are s**te !!!, I had to bin literaly 100's of unused old certificates when the new ones came on line, government cut backs !!! we said when they first mooted this idea at the VOSA yearly seminars, it wont go down well with the public & so far it hasnt, I stick coloured stickers on the ones I issue, green, orange & red dots, just to distinguish what is what. You wait when they go paperless, you'll pay your money & you'll get nothing in your hand to show for it !

If you get you tax from the post office you'll still need it I guess.

I was thinking of trying to get mine online this year, although I am worried it will get lost .

[...]

At the moment, yes, although when the barcode on the renewal form is scanned,it connects to the MOT and insurance databases to check anyway.

Are you worried the disc will get lost in the post? If so, at least there will have been a record of the transaction so it will be easy to sort out.

FWIW, I've been doing it online since it was first available and have had no problems at all.

Chris

Yeah I guess its the fear of it getting lost, although this year I'll give it a go as you say it will show as paid. I guess its the inconvinience if it does, although for some jobsworth you could get a ticket possibly for dailing to display but probably unlikely.

Looks easier and no cues so worth a go I'm sure I'll be a convert.

In article , Joseph scribeth thus

Do it!, it's one of those systems that works and very well too;!...

[...]

There was a commonly-held urban myth that you had 14 days grace from the expiry of the old disc; that never has been the case, and in theory you were committing an offence from the first day that you had no tax displayed.

With the introduction of on-line renewal, there is now an official period of five days where you do not need to display a current disc *provided* you have already renewed online.

Chris

I'd use my phone to check it online.

Talking about bits of paper, having recently renewed my insurance, the company sent me the insurance certificate.

Twice, about 3 days apart.

Well, yes and no. It was the case that *provided* you bought the new disc within the 14 days, then that was fine. What many people did was to run the car for those 14 days, then scrap/sell it or take it off the road, which was an offence.

Steve

I thought that the 14 day period was being able to buy the new disc before the current one expired.

Since it has been available to do it on-line, that is what I have done too. No problems as yet.

regards

David

In message , Chris Whelan writes

The only "moving" traffic offence with which I was charged in 56 years of driving was "Failure to display a valid tax disc", although they made its sound ridiculous with "Causing a mechanically propelled vehicle to be on the highway, blah,blah blah..."

I had renewed the tax early, but then forgot to swap it into the holder and the cop spotted it in his rear view mirror as I stopped behind him at a junction. I offered to produce it within 10 minutes, but he said he would book me, they would check, and I'd probably hear no more. I did hear, but resented paying a fine and being on record for the offence. I took the trouble to appear in court to explain, and also apologised on behalf of myself* and the PC* for wasting the court's time.

I got a smile from the lady magistrate and an absolute discharge.

I've bought a few used cars over the years, and have found you can often judge the car by the owner. If I'm presented with all the paperwork to inspect all in one place, together with a spare key, I'm of the opinion that the vehicle may well be better cared-for than if the seller(s) are running around like headless chickens trying to find things.

Similarly, I always ask the alleged owner to drive the car initially. In addition to showing up any bad driving habits that might have caused undue wear, it's possible to decide whether it really is a car they have owned, or they are a trader. I caught one person out in that way; the lady was selling "her" car, but on the test drive she clearly had never driven it before. It aroused my suspicions, and made me look close enough at it to discover it had been (expertly) accident repaired.

Chris

[...]

I'm sorry, but that is wrong. Until the law changed in 2008, at the time online renewal became possible, it was never possible to drive a car legally on the road with an expired tax disc. Not even on the first of the month, and with the new disc in the post.

Chris

I bought an Escort that had been "welded" out of two cars from a dodgy dealer many years ago now, it was in essence quite a good cosmetic job but we discovered some odd faults with it so I Part exchanged it with another slightly less dodgy dealer who went apeshit when he discovered what it was he had traded in;!....