Expired MOT

After our 2 year trip to OZ and NZ our vehicle is returning to the UK in a container to Southampton next month.
We have arranged comprehensive insurance but do not of course have a valid MOT so cannot tax it.
Does anyone know if it is correct that we can still drive to a pre arranged MOT test and more importantly that that test can be anywhere (as opposed to the nearest) - we live in west Wales and want to use our local garage for the test and any repairs. Given the number of ANPR cameras around we do not want to take any risks!

Thanks
Simon
www.sastt.blogspot.com

Re MOT

Quote :

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.
The police can ask to see an MOT 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 certificate for your vehicle has expired.

Re Tax

Quote :

When is a private vehicle exempt from displaying a tax disc?
Private vehicles are exempt in exceptional circumstances which are:

Travelling to an approved MOT test centre for a pre–booked MOT. Pre–booked is where the time and date of the test is established in advance. It does not mean setting off 3 days in advance to a test centre on the other side of the country. If you are using this exemption, the reasonableness of the journey will be challenged.

On the MOT test itself (although nowadays there should be no reason for anyone other than the tester to be in/on the vehicle) if it is actually necessary to take it on a public road.

After failing a MOT test, for the purpose of taking the vehicle to a pre–booked appointment at a garage to have the work carried out that caused the MOT failure.
It follows that in theory, if your vehicle fails the MOT test, you cannot actually take it home!

Southampton to West Wales reasonable drive for purpose of getting an MOT? Very questionable!


Solutions?

Get it MOT in Southampton or use a trailer to get it to West Wales





It is my understanding that for a vehicle to be legal abroad it has to be legal in its country of registration!


Brendan

Thanks for the thoughts - your MOT quote is one I have seen elsewhere and seems to permit such a journey but mentions no limits re distance. Could you reveal the source of your Tax quote as this seems to put it differently.

I have quotes at the moment through Shiply and Uship for around £260 to get the van transported to our local garage which seems reasonable - anyone any experience of using these bidding sites?

Finally in a perfect world your final statement might be true but in reality it is impossible to comply for longer than 12 months max. Visitors to Europe or elsewhere could set off with 12 months tax and MOT but generally even if you get your MOT early you will have less than 12 months tax left. On vehicles more then 3 years old you cannot then retax online as you will not have an MOT so you will not comply once your tax has expired. Similarly once your MOT expires you will not get a new certificate without returning to the UK - tho' I did meet a guy in Portugal in an £80,000 motorhome who was getting a dodgy MOT issued in the UK and posted to him. Around southern Europe there are hundreds of old British vehicles long out of tax or anything else used daily by expats.
When we shipped the vehicle to NZ under a Carnet de Passage en Douannes we had by coincidence a year's tax and had MOT'd the vehicle early. According to the DVLA we also had to have valid insurance despite the company stating as expected that the policy was not valid in NZ and that they would not be able to renew it as it would constitute mis selling a product not fit for purpose - trying to resolve this with DVLA was predictably impossible.
Once in NZ - who don't have vehicle insurance anyway - we had to put the vehicle through a 'Warranty of Fitness' and were fit to go being exempt as a temporary import from the 'Road User Charges' - a second WoF was required 6 months later.
In Oz a year later with a new Carnet but a now expired UK MOT and tax disc we arranged insurance and as there is no safety inspection for temporarily imported vehicles we were good to go - in NSW even insurance is not compulsory.
SORN cannot be declared on a vehicle that is abroad so on the advice of Paul Gowan - Carnet officer for the RAC we had contacted DVLA to declare the vehicle temporarily exported for more than 12 months and received a letter confirming that they had noted this. However this did not stop another department issuing tax reminders and eventually warnings and threats to crush the vehicle - would they really have come to Tasmania what with all the cuts and that!! I wrote an explanatory letter referring them to their other department and got a contradictory reply stating that the vehicle was now regarded as exported and had been removed from the register. Generally as long as you are displaying UK plates, have a carnet as required and obtain insurance as necessary and are in for less than 12 months other countries accept you but it is a complex area
So it's good to know that UK bureaucracy is as slick as ever - perhaps if I drive the vehicle home it will not even trigger ANPR cameras as it is not on the database but I won't count on that so transportation seems the easiest option.
I'll post the results of all this in a week or two once I have dealt with the arrival of the container, unpacking, Customs, DEFRA, the DVLA, VOSA and Uncle Tom Cobley.

Give Dan a ring at Taurus Transport:

http://www.taurustransportservices.co.uk/

He is a mad keen LR fan and may be able to give a good quote.

Cheers

Ben

in spain we are having all sorts of problems if your paper work isnt upto scratch they are taking cars off you and crushing them,,,no questions or appeals,,,,a lot of expats that have there cars on sorn or running them without mots are getting stopped by the guardia,,,traffico and they now have the mobile computer so they can check,,,my mate just got a 6000euro fine and his car crushed for being on sorn,,,,zero tollarence,,,but harsh,,,,,

That is pretty savage. You would think they would at least hold their vehicle in an impound for 48 hours while they pay up a fine....

TJ

APL our shipping line recommended the services of JC Shipping in Southampton (02380 682016) who for around £500 dealt with all matters arising from the return of our van including port fees, documentation, customs clearance, shunting and unloading the container. They also dealt with the bizarre situation where our Carnet issued in the UK by the RAC was deemed invalid for the return of the vehicle by Southampton Customs - the whole point of carnets is that they cover the complete duration from export to reimport and I am awaiting some explanations of this in due course. However John at JC came up with the solution of making a 'Returned Goods Declaration' which required production of the original export Bill of Lading from September 2009 - luckily I had scanned a copy in to my computer and would recommend that all paperwork is retained similarly and indefinitely.
Thus after much checking on the web I decided I was OK to drive to a pre arranged MOT appointment, had insurance cover and so caught a train to Southampton where in the yard of YA Logistics Ltd I spotted the van which had been unloaded. On production of ID I was given the key and she started first time - not bad after 6 weeks idle in a tin box.
The journey home was uneventful although heavy traffic on the M4 meant I missed the booked MOT and left the van until it could be done a day or two later. Remarkably for a 12 year old van with 240,000 miles on the clock that had done 40,000 miles over our 2 years away on at times some very long, rough and dusty outback roads and had received nothing but routine roadside servicing undertaken by myself it passed without even an advisory.
Thus tax was obtained and we are now enjoying the familiar sights of Wales whilst planning the next trip - we plan to change our pop top roof as the canvas has seen much wear and tear including a possum ripping through for a loaf of bread and will probably settle for a fixed roof that can be better insulated, provide a little more storage and allow us to be set up almost instantly.

www.sastt.blogspot.com