At some point in your driving career, you may have to put up with the inconvenience of a car that fails its annual MOT. This can be for any number of reasons; from faulty brakes to unscrupulous mechanics tampering with something they shouldn’t. In this blog post, we’ll outline what you should do if your car fails its annual test and is not deemed roadworthy by the government.
If you find yourself with a car that has failed its MOT, we will issue you with the VT30 form. This is something to take note of because it includes your vehicle’s information as well as the test number and reasons for failing in order to inform future inspections. You are not allowed by law (since May 2018) to operate any vehicles if they have dangerous faults; this could land up costing £2500 or banning from driving altogether! The new legislation means people can be fined or banned from operating their own cars when there are serious safety concerns about them – don’t risk it and save money now before anything happens worse than what might happen on an unfavourable inspection.
When you go to retest your vehicle, there are two options for how it will be tested. The first option is that the car can stay at an approved test centre and have any issues fixed within ten days of when they were found. Or the second option would be if those repairs cannot happen in time then a partial retest could occur where only these specific parts on this VT30 form need checking. Before you can get your car re-tested, all things with regards to why it failed must either been resolved or addressed before being able to continue moving forward. There are really just three different ways one’s vehicle may come back after failing;
1. Leave it to be fixed: you can leave your vehicle at the approved test centre to have the issues fixed if repairs are carried out within 10 working days, a partial retest can be completed, this is where only the issues listed on the VT30 will be retested.
2. Bring it back within 10 working days: you can, of course, take your vehicle elsewhere to have the repairs carried out, and a partial retest can be completed as long as the vehicle is returned to the initial test centre within 10 working days.
If you think your car has unfairly failed its MOT, there are steps to take. Discuss the reasons for failure with the test centre first though- and do not carry out any repairs or modifications while waiting on a decision! If after talking it over with them, still believe their verdict is wrong, fill out Complain about an MOT form which must be sent in within 14 days of the original date. An alternative appointment to test your vehicle will be arranged within 5 days. You may have the chance of being refunded if you are able to successfully appeal this charge, so it’s worth a try!
If you’ve been told that your car needs more than just an annual MOT, don’t worry! The team at AutoKing is here to help. We can inspect the damage and give you a quote on any repairs needed in order for your vehicle to pass its next MOT test with flying colours. Give us a call today if you are unsure of what issues may be causing failure or need assistance getting back into compliance with UK law.
