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MOT/TAX Question

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:59 am
by silverlink
Not sure if this has been raised before so please forgive me if it has,
My Elan's MOT ran out at the end of August but my tax (Historic Free) is due to run out in January 2019 and I just wondered as I don't have to have an MOT anymore can I go on the road without been prosecuted for no MOT.
I want to renew the tax when its due and avoid SORN but will get the car to the MOT garage after the winter when the weather improves. I have looked on DVLA and as I see it I don't need to do anything about an MOT you either have it MOT'd or you don't, am I missing something here?
I agree with others on the forum that its a good idea to have an MOT at least you then know your cars safe.
Ian

Re: MOT/TAX Question

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:45 am
by JonB
I think you must either declare exemption or have a valid MOT to drive legally.

To declare MOT exemption you have to SORN then retax it, as the MOT exemption is made via the DVLA tax page. The car would be off the road for a week as the DVLA enforce a 1 week gap between SORN and retax (presumably so their computers have time to synchronise databases). This is what I did.

Your other option is to MOT now, then declare exemption in January when you retax.

Re: MOT/TAX Question

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:24 am
by Elanintheforest
A couple of months ago I taxed a car on line (free as it is 'Historic') and it hadn't been MOT'd for 4 years. It is now taxed and MOT exempt, no problems.

Rather than having an MOT, try and find an old-fashioned garage who will check out the car properly, and service it if you don't do that. MOT's can't check the most important aspects of safety regarding when the brakes were last overhauled or the fluid replaced, and they don't look at the age of tyres, which can be dangerous even though they look perfect.

MOT's on the other hand can fail you if you have insufficient washer coverage, slightly worn wiper blades, headlamps slightly out of adjustment and a load of other small bits and pieces, a lot of which is irrelevant to most classic cars that aren't used in the wet or at night! As time goes on, the MOT tests will inevitably get tough on things like the handbrake efficiency, and the testers less likely to understand that some old car handbrakes just don't work too well!

In general, the application of modern car standards with a tester that doesn't understand old cars may well lead to older cars failing unnecessarily.

Re: MOT/TAX Question

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 3:37 pm
by elanfan1
The man talks some sense! :shock: :shock: :shock: :lol:

Re: MOT/TAX Question

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 5:16 pm
by UAB807F
I was in a similar position to yourself with the MoT running out before the tax did. When the MoT ran out I decided rather than declare SORN & re-tax on the next month I'd just try to re-tax it. You need the log book as you won't have a renewal slip from the DVLA, but it's fairly straightforward and during the process you get the option to declare it as MoT exempt.

A few months later the Europa came to the same point, I just went through the taxation process. This time a warning came up that the car was already taxed and it didn't need doing "unless you have been instructed to do so".

I just carried on, declared it MoT exempt and the taxation end date was bumped ahead to 12 months from the application date.

Now if I'm stopped by a copper who finds "MoT expired" on his car computer I can honestly state the car has been declared exempt on the DVLA computer.

Brian