Can You Drive a Car That's Failed Its MOT? | We Buy Cars Hexham
Your car has just failed its MOT and you are standing in the test centre car park wondering the obvious thing: can I still drive it? The honest answer is that it depends entirely on what it failed on, and getting it wrong can cost you far more than the retest.
It comes down to how the fault is graded
An MOT fault is recorded as dangerous, major or minor. If your car has a dangerous fault it is not roadworthy and you must not drive it, even to another garage. If the only faults are major or minor and your existing MOT certificate is still valid, you can in most cases still drive it, although ignoring a major fault for long is asking for trouble.
The catch that surprises people is the timing. Once your old MOT has run out, a fresh fail means you have no valid certificate at all, and driving without one is an offence in its own right.
What it can cost you
Driving with no valid MOT can bring a fine of up to £1,000. If the car is genuinely unroadworthy, for example an illegal tyre or a dangerous brake fault, you are looking at a bigger fine, penalty points and a possible ban, and your insurance may not pay out if the worst happens. It is not worth the risk to save a recovery fee.
So how do you move a car you cannot drive?
There are only a couple of lawful exceptions to the no-MOT rule: you can drive to a pre-booked MOT test, or to a garage for repairs, as long as the car is not dangerous. Beyond that, the only legal way to move a car with no valid MOT or a dangerous fault is on a recovery vehicle, with all four wheels off the ground. That is exactly what a flatbed does. We collect it from the test centre, your home or the roadside and take it to the garage of your choice. You can see how our vehicle recovery service works, including the winch and driveway kit we carry.
A real one, close to home
One call-out sums it up. A driver in Hexham was pulled over by the police, who carried out a check on the car at the roadside. One of the tyres was illegal, so the car was prohibited from being driven and left stuck in a car park. The driver was handed a form requiring the car to be recovered, inspected and re-tested, with the result reported back to the police station. There are no photos of this one, but the job itself was simple: we recovered it on the flatbed and moved it, Hexham to Hexham, about a mile down the road, so the owner could get it sorted properly and legally rather than risk driving it.
Failed your MOT and cannot drive it?
If your car cannot be driven, do not chance it. Our local recovery starts at £120 plus VAT, 24/7, with no membership needed. Call the recovery line on 07707 440 222, or see the full details on our recovery page.