MOT test certificate

Your MOT test certificate is a record of the MOT database. It confirms that your vehicle, without dismantling it, met the minimum environmental and road safety standards required by law. It doesn’t mean the vehicle is roadworthy for the life of the certificate and isn’t a substitute for regular maintenance.

Why you need an MOT test certificate

It is generally an offence to use on a public road, a vehicle of testable age that doesn’t have a current test certificate, except when:

• taking it to a test station for an MOT test booked in advance
• bringing it away from a test station after it has failed the MOT test, to a place of repair
• taking it to a place, by previous arrangement, where problems that caused the vehicle to fail its MOT test, can be repaired
• bringing it away from a place where the problems with the vehicle have been repaired

Even in the above circumstances you may still be prosecuted for driving an unroadworthy vehicle if it doesn’t comply with various regulations affecting its construction and use. Your car insurance may also be invalid.

Image by comedy_nose via Flickr

The police can ask to see an MOT test certificate for a vehicle that needs to have one. They also have access to the computerised records of MOT test results and can tell if the MOT test certificate for your vehicle has expired.

It is your responsibility as the vehicle owner to ensure that the due MOT test is carried out in time. You can subscribe to the text reminder service

• MOT test certificate text reminder service

The penalty for driving a vehicle on the road with an expired MOT test certificate is a fixed penalty notice from the police, currently £60, or a court fine up to a maximum of a £1,000.

MOT test certificate – Retests

If your vehicle fails its MOT it should be retested at the same test station which carried the original test, the notice of failure will contain further details of the type of retest required.

For the purposes of retests, working days do not include Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays. If the test station changes ownership then a full retest must be carried out and a full test fee may be charged. Only 1 partial retest can be conducted in connection with this refusal notice – if that test is unsatisfactory then a full retest must be carried out when the vehicle is next inspected.  If all goes well then you’ll be issued with your MOT test certificate.

Articles related to the MOT test certificate

• MOT testing could be set to two years (autonetinsurance.co.uk)
• Classis bikes to be MoT exempt (motorcyclenews.com)
• MOT tests to have 22 new checks (bbc.co.uk)