The 'E' Type Forum

So the old MGB MOT expired on Sept 29th and the tax on the 30th. So on the 30th i checked the MOT status for EMW880D and sure enough....red box...expired.

So I went to re tax and was asked if I wanted to declare it exempt. I said yes and renewed the tax Sunday am. By the afternoon the MOT check now said "no mot results returned" and the box was green again and the tax ran til Sept 2019.

I took the MG for the MOT yesterday. £50 for peace of mind. It was a Pass and no advisories I checked the MOT status today and now it once again shows the car as having an MOT that runs to 30th Sept next year. And all the previous results are visible again.

So even if you declare and exemption and then change your mind the system copes.

Hi Julian,

Since my post on this subject a few weeks back I have come to the conclusion that it is all actually very simple.

If your car is over 40 years old it IS exempt from the MoT. Full stop. It is not a decision for the owner.

If you decide to have a voluntary test it is if no interest to the police but it will be recorded on the DVLA system as before.

When you "tax" the car, if it has a current MoT, it will not be mentioned and you just renew the tax. If it has no current MoT you just have to declare NOT that you want to exempt the car, but that it is eligible for exemption or, more to the point, that it is not ineligible by virtue of being significantly changed.

In your case, when you renew the tax next time you should find that you can do it without the MoT being mentioned as it will still be valid for a couple more days.

One question does occur to me though and that is where do you stand legally if you have a voluntary test and it fails ? Obviously you are required to keep your vehicle roadworthy but are you obliged to fix it and have a retest if you were not required to have a test in the first place ? And, if so, within what timescale, especially if there is no expiring MoT ?

“One question does occur to me though and that is where do you stand legally if you have a voluntary test and it fails ? ”

The answer is obvious. A failure means the car must not be used on the road. Whether the unroadworthiness is discovered by a test or by the owner’s regular maintenance checks is immaterial. A car must be roadworthy if it is on the road. Using a car that is unroadworthy (whether this is known or not) is an offence. MOT exemption is not a defence.

I would agree Chris.....fortunately mine sailed through....phew. The whole exemption thing is a bit of a nonsense to me....and as an addendum brother has a classic and his insurance policy says the car must have a valid MOT or the insurance is void...even though his car is technically exempt too.
Someone will eventually find their pride and joy is not insured when they have a prang and they have chosen not to get the magic piece of paper...and worse still ...somewhere along the line an unroadworthy classic car with no MOT will injure someone or worse....and then a whole hornets nest will be stirred up...we all know the MOT is not perfect and is only as good as the day it was done but it does provide some independent evidence of roadworthiness which is better than none at all IMO....

At the time this law was passed, after a consultation with 'the industry and consumers' had suggested that it was a BAD idea, I thought the purpose was to clear the way for some highly restrictive legislation on the use of classic cars on the roads.

I'll keep the car MOTd for as long as I can afford to, knowing with a high degree of certainty that the exemption system will be abused by some (none of us, of course), and restrictions on classic car use will result.