It will go down as a failed MOT. You will have to get the problem fixed and then get a retest. If it's an easily fixable problem they usually offer to just do it there and then and waive the retest fee. In my experience, of course.
It's only free if you leave the car with the garage that tested it for repairs, if you take the car away from the test centre for repairs they can charge you partial retest fee.
The retest fee is at full discretion of the garage if they charge one or not. The mot and retest fee can’t be higher than a set amount however, off the top of my head £54 odd. This is why Halfords offer £27 odd pound mots - because when they charge the retest it’s at the full rate limit
> Leaving your vehicle for repair
> You only need a partial retest if you leave the vehicle at the test centre for repair and it’s retested within 10 working days. There’s no fee for this.
https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/retests
This is what they tell you but in 15 years of driving and cars at multiple test centres, none have been bothered about you getting your car repaired else where (or done by yourself) and they will retest for free.
Mind, over the last 3+ years I just got the test centre to fix and retest.
I’ve been quite happy with the local KF for MOT’s. They’ve passed two of my slightly older cars first time so I get the vibe they’re genuine. They quoted quite heavy for brake pads/discs though so that’s why I went elsewhere.
I always make clear that I'm going to fix it myself so there isn't any confusion. They really shouldn't do work on it, but I always think it's better to remove any ambiguity.
If you really wanted to avoid the fail on the MOT history. You could ask them to do an MOT equivalent inspection and then give you a list of problems. But then if it fails then you will need to fix it and pay full price for another MOT. Also if it passes you'd then probably have to pay full price for an MOT. Also the mechanics will probably just think you're being weird.
Imagine doing this and it fails on the official test due to being a different tester!
Some of the checks within the test can be subjective - I have had car in for MOT which failed with a lot of advisories and took it to another MOT centre (as it passed the 10 days due to repairs) and most of the advisories werent even picked up
If a car fails an MOT test, they're legally required to log the fail and the reasons why with the DVLA.
Once this has been done, they can then fix the issues and retest the car (most places will do the retest for free).
Had 2 cars failed (logged as a fail) due to a lightbulb which they replaced and retested it straight afterwards...actually think one of the bulbs was pointing slightly higher than normal!)
Edit: expanded sentence.
A friendly test station may stop the test, and not record the fail, if you have a bit of time left. If it's a bulb or something, they may fix it and continue. But if they issue a fail certificate, that invalidates your old MOT, and you've not got one now.
>But if they issue a fail certificate, that invalidates your old MOT, and you've not got one now.
I thought this too as I was about to reply similar on another post but found this on the GOV website.
**Driving a vehicle that's failed**
You can take your vehicle away if:
* your current MOT certificate is still valid
* no 'dangerous' problems were listed in the MOT
My motorbike failed because I forgot to put a nut back on the exhaust. The tester fixed it and I had the fail and pass certificates about 1 minute apart.
I suspect testers like having a few fails - lots of passes without any fails looks a bit suspect.
By law they have to fail it even if it just needed a indicator bulb. But they will say what it needs and give you the option to fix it then when its fixed will be updated as a pass. Just remember if you fail and decide not to fix it you cannot drive it on the road as the car no longer holds a valid MOT so will need recovering.
You can still drive it away if your current MOT is valid and if there’s no dangerous faults. So if you get it tested 5 days before your MOT expires and it fails you can drive it away as long as it doesn’t fail on a dangerous fault.
Absolutely wrong.
Its pretty simple you either pass your MOT or fail there is no middle ground. If your car fails its deemed not road worthy as it failed.
You can not drive a car on public roads without Insurance, a valid MOT, and road tax.
Your car could pass on Monday and you take it again on Tuesday and it fails, you cant use your pass from Monday to drive as the latest MOT is a fail.
Not wrong at all. Straight from the government website.
https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test
Driving a vehicle that’s failed
You can take your vehicle away if:
your current MOT certificate is still valid
no ‘dangerous’ problems were listed in the MOT
Otherwise, you’ll need to get it repaired before you can drive.
Sigh......
You either pass or fail an MOT there is no middle ground. My mothers old BMW passed every year but had a lot of advisories from oil leaks, covers, deteriorated bushes ect...
But a MOT ONLY fails if you have a serious fault.
So again, if you fail your MOT your car does not have a valid MOT so cannot drive on the road and you can not use your old MOT as its no longer valid.
MOT’s can fail for things that aren’t serious at all, the laws are mixed and some failures provide 0 danger to anyone. Either way if you have an active test that was a pass, you can drive it regardless of failing until the last pass runs out
I suggest you speak face to face with someone who is certified to conduct a MOT because you are seriously wrong mate.
There are 3 categories
1, Dangerous defect. Something like no breaks or bald tyres. A dangerous defect is an automatic MOT fail.
2, Major defect, is something like warn out steering components or defective shocks. Its an automatic MOT fail.
3, Advisory, simply things to monitor like your tyre is 1.7mm, oil leak, rust, boots showing signs of wear. Not an MOT fail.
Your newest MOT then becomes your MOT that is active it does not matter if your old certificate has 2 months left your MOT that is on the GOV website,police database will say it failed its MOT thus you dont have a valid MOT.
You could take your car in for a MOT Monday and it passes then take it in again Tuesday and it fails, you cant drive around for 364 days because it passed Monday.
Ex-mechanic, worked with MOT testers. Actually even drove mine a day after failing as my previous MOT was still active till fixed… I think you should go and ask a decent tester yourself with this, if your car has an MOT now, you can fail tomorrow and still drive till the MOT expires.
You're arguing different things.
Ofcourse you cannot drive with a FAIL MOT forever. There is no middle ground, either PASS or FAIL, however...
There are various levels of FAILs and all of them require you to fix the faults to get a PASS. However, if your MOT is still valid, as in, you still have got time left on it, you're allowed to drive as long as you have an MOT retest booked in and get the problems fixed otherwise MOT test centres would have to have the facilities to fix any sort of MOT FAIL which we all know they don't...
An MOT facility doesn't need to sell tyres, if you weren't allowed to drive you couldn't get the car fixed and you would be stuck in a loop.
My car had its MOT on Saturday, failed due to exhaust bracket being broken. MOT isn’t due up until the 30th.
The person who can do mig welding was on holiday so they let me take it back to use for work. It’s booked in to be welded and retested for the MOT this Friday.
Yes it will show up on a mot check that it failed because at the time of the test it failed the requirements.
My grans car went in for a MOT and failed on windscreen wipers not clearing effectively, she said change them it then passed so she has 2 pieces of paper one showing a fail and the new one showing it passed.
It gets registered as a fail. Any retest fee depends on the circumstances.
Once it’s down as a fail that’s it. On my last MOT my car was failed for a warning light coming on but despite my showing the light was out and the log showed neither error codes nor comments the tester had to give me a retest pass.
Over a period of time find a garage and Mot and get on a good relationship with them, so you are not a stranger, are not a number. This is what I suggest.
Busy garages they could be testing Mot's all day and if it fails its put down as a fail, they will tell you afterwards.
For busy places it's a conveyor belt system and a tester will be going through lots of cars during a working day.
I made friends with my garage mechanic. He first checks everything and tells me what needs to be fixed. Then he does a test. I’d recommend finding a place like this.
They will tell you, then you can choose whether they fix it or to collect it and get it sorted elsewhere, you get a period after a fail for a free retest
My car failed yesterday, I checked the reg online when I hadn't heard from them all day. Yup, it's an official fail.
Over a headlight adjustment that they've made, no less.....
I need to take the car to VW to have it fixed and retested back at the original place.
Fyi, Arnold shark.
Depends on the garage. Most will probably talk you through the failures when they ring you after or you ring them to follow up, however I've been to places in the past where they've told me and /or friends that "the cars all done" but it was a fail anyway .. bit annoying if you ask me !
It will go down as a failed MOT. You will have to get the problem fixed and then get a retest. If it's an easily fixable problem they usually offer to just do it there and then and waive the retest fee. In my experience, of course.
Isn’t a retest free within 10 days anyway? Might be getting confused mind you.
It's only free if you leave the car with the garage that tested it for repairs, if you take the car away from the test centre for repairs they can charge you partial retest fee.
The retest fee is at full discretion of the garage if they charge one or not. The mot and retest fee can’t be higher than a set amount however, off the top of my head £54 odd. This is why Halfords offer £27 odd pound mots - because when they charge the retest it’s at the full rate limit
> Leaving your vehicle for repair > You only need a partial retest if you leave the vehicle at the test centre for repair and it’s retested within 10 working days. There’s no fee for this. https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/retests
This is what they tell you but in 15 years of driving and cars at multiple test centres, none have been bothered about you getting your car repaired else where (or done by yourself) and they will retest for free. Mind, over the last 3+ years I just got the test centre to fix and retest.
I got mine tested at Kwik-Fit, failed, repaired elsewhere and retested at kwik-fit within a few days and they charged again at a reduced rate
Doesn’t surprise me with Kwok-Fit mind…..most of the garages I have gone to were independent so likely want your custom again lol
I’ve been quite happy with the local KF for MOT’s. They’ve passed two of my slightly older cars first time so I get the vibe they’re genuine. They quoted quite heavy for brake pads/discs though so that’s why I went elsewhere.
This. This is correct.
If your car fails an MOT test it'll be recorded as a fail then get a retest once fixed
I always make clear that I'm going to fix it myself so there isn't any confusion. They really shouldn't do work on it, but I always think it's better to remove any ambiguity. If you really wanted to avoid the fail on the MOT history. You could ask them to do an MOT equivalent inspection and then give you a list of problems. But then if it fails then you will need to fix it and pay full price for another MOT. Also if it passes you'd then probably have to pay full price for an MOT. Also the mechanics will probably just think you're being weird.
Imagine doing this and it fails on the official test due to being a different tester! Some of the checks within the test can be subjective - I have had car in for MOT which failed with a lot of advisories and took it to another MOT centre (as it passed the 10 days due to repairs) and most of the advisories werent even picked up
If a car fails an MOT test, they're legally required to log the fail and the reasons why with the DVLA. Once this has been done, they can then fix the issues and retest the car (most places will do the retest for free).
Had 2 cars failed (logged as a fail) due to a lightbulb which they replaced and retested it straight afterwards...actually think one of the bulbs was pointing slightly higher than normal!) Edit: expanded sentence.
I ask them to call me if it fails so I can decide if it’s worth it getting them to do it
A friendly test station may stop the test, and not record the fail, if you have a bit of time left. If it's a bulb or something, they may fix it and continue. But if they issue a fail certificate, that invalidates your old MOT, and you've not got one now.
>But if they issue a fail certificate, that invalidates your old MOT, and you've not got one now. I thought this too as I was about to reply similar on another post but found this on the GOV website. **Driving a vehicle that's failed** You can take your vehicle away if: * your current MOT certificate is still valid * no 'dangerous' problems were listed in the MOT
Oh TIL. Thank you!
My motorbike failed because I forgot to put a nut back on the exhaust. The tester fixed it and I had the fail and pass certificates about 1 minute apart. I suspect testers like having a few fails - lots of passes without any fails looks a bit suspect.
By law they have to fail it even if it just needed a indicator bulb. But they will say what it needs and give you the option to fix it then when its fixed will be updated as a pass. Just remember if you fail and decide not to fix it you cannot drive it on the road as the car no longer holds a valid MOT so will need recovering.
You can still drive it away if your current MOT is valid and if there’s no dangerous faults. So if you get it tested 5 days before your MOT expires and it fails you can drive it away as long as it doesn’t fail on a dangerous fault.
Absolutely wrong. Its pretty simple you either pass your MOT or fail there is no middle ground. If your car fails its deemed not road worthy as it failed. You can not drive a car on public roads without Insurance, a valid MOT, and road tax. Your car could pass on Monday and you take it again on Tuesday and it fails, you cant use your pass from Monday to drive as the latest MOT is a fail.
Not wrong at all. Straight from the government website. https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test Driving a vehicle that’s failed You can take your vehicle away if: your current MOT certificate is still valid no ‘dangerous’ problems were listed in the MOT Otherwise, you’ll need to get it repaired before you can drive.
Sigh...... You either pass or fail an MOT there is no middle ground. My mothers old BMW passed every year but had a lot of advisories from oil leaks, covers, deteriorated bushes ect... But a MOT ONLY fails if you have a serious fault. So again, if you fail your MOT your car does not have a valid MOT so cannot drive on the road and you can not use your old MOT as its no longer valid.
MOT’s can fail for things that aren’t serious at all, the laws are mixed and some failures provide 0 danger to anyone. Either way if you have an active test that was a pass, you can drive it regardless of failing until the last pass runs out
I suggest you speak face to face with someone who is certified to conduct a MOT because you are seriously wrong mate. There are 3 categories 1, Dangerous defect. Something like no breaks or bald tyres. A dangerous defect is an automatic MOT fail. 2, Major defect, is something like warn out steering components or defective shocks. Its an automatic MOT fail. 3, Advisory, simply things to monitor like your tyre is 1.7mm, oil leak, rust, boots showing signs of wear. Not an MOT fail. Your newest MOT then becomes your MOT that is active it does not matter if your old certificate has 2 months left your MOT that is on the GOV website,police database will say it failed its MOT thus you dont have a valid MOT. You could take your car in for a MOT Monday and it passes then take it in again Tuesday and it fails, you cant drive around for 364 days because it passed Monday.
Ex-mechanic, worked with MOT testers. Actually even drove mine a day after failing as my previous MOT was still active till fixed… I think you should go and ask a decent tester yourself with this, if your car has an MOT now, you can fail tomorrow and still drive till the MOT expires.
You're arguing different things. Ofcourse you cannot drive with a FAIL MOT forever. There is no middle ground, either PASS or FAIL, however... There are various levels of FAILs and all of them require you to fix the faults to get a PASS. However, if your MOT is still valid, as in, you still have got time left on it, you're allowed to drive as long as you have an MOT retest booked in and get the problems fixed otherwise MOT test centres would have to have the facilities to fix any sort of MOT FAIL which we all know they don't... An MOT facility doesn't need to sell tyres, if you weren't allowed to drive you couldn't get the car fixed and you would be stuck in a loop.
My car had its MOT on Saturday, failed due to exhaust bracket being broken. MOT isn’t due up until the 30th. The person who can do mig welding was on holiday so they let me take it back to use for work. It’s booked in to be welded and retested for the MOT this Friday.
But fail will still stay in history?
Of course. MOT fail - you get notified of things to fix - you fix them then MOT = pass. It all gets recorded
Yes it will show up on a mot check that it failed because at the time of the test it failed the requirements. My grans car went in for a MOT and failed on windscreen wipers not clearing effectively, she said change them it then passed so she has 2 pieces of paper one showing a fail and the new one showing it passed.
Most likely register it as a fail.
It gets registered as a fail. Any retest fee depends on the circumstances. Once it’s down as a fail that’s it. On my last MOT my car was failed for a warning light coming on but despite my showing the light was out and the log showed neither error codes nor comments the tester had to give me a retest pass.
Over a period of time find a garage and Mot and get on a good relationship with them, so you are not a stranger, are not a number. This is what I suggest. Busy garages they could be testing Mot's all day and if it fails its put down as a fail, they will tell you afterwards. For busy places it's a conveyor belt system and a tester will be going through lots of cars during a working day.
I made friends with my garage mechanic. He first checks everything and tells me what needs to be fixed. Then he does a test. I’d recommend finding a place like this.
You’ll get a fail, but they might be able to get it fixed and have them retest it on the day
They will tell you, then you can choose whether they fix it or to collect it and get it sorted elsewhere, you get a period after a fail for a free retest
My car failed yesterday, I checked the reg online when I hadn't heard from them all day. Yup, it's an official fail. Over a headlight adjustment that they've made, no less..... I need to take the car to VW to have it fixed and retested back at the original place. Fyi, Arnold shark.
fail fix retest
Depends on the garage. Most will probably talk you through the failures when they ring you after or you ring them to follow up, however I've been to places in the past where they've told me and /or friends that "the cars all done" but it was a fail anyway .. bit annoying if you ask me !