Can anyone help me with a few queries?Coming close to getting my 127 ready for the mot,can I drive it to a pre-booked mot legally or does it have to be trailered?Obviously no tax either.Its all stripped out at the mo so will just have the drivers seat in and the seat belts,that should be ok shouldn't it?

Thanks for any help.

It is perfectly legal to drive to and from a pre-booked MOT without tax etc. I'm not sure about the lack of seats in a passenger car, I know anchorage of the seats is tested, obviously they can't be checked if not fitted but I'm not sure if they have to be fitted in a passenger car if you get my drift

yes. you can drive the car to a pre-booked test,and be insured(third party only is the minumin) i think, also i believe you should have all the seats in and belts so these can be tested, but, you may just get away with just the front ones in, ask at the station before your test time to confirm the above,

Membership Number: yes

Hi Pete,

I have checked this out quite carefully recently, and the answer (from Police & DVLA) is:

YES you can drive an untaxed and un-MOT'd car perfectly legally to a PRE-BOOKED test. Great!

The problem arises with insurance. You CANNOT legally drive a car to the prebooked test without at least 3rd party cover. Unless you have an understanding insurer they will NOT provide onroad cover for a car not MOT'd. Catch 22 (the book's worth a read but hard work - sorry I digress!).

My local MOT place tried to convince me no insurance was ok - they eventually collected it on their policy when I pushed them..... So basically don't risk it unless you are sure you have 3rd party cover from somewhere - it's 7 points on your licence for no insurance.

No idea about putting seats in place - just ask the MOT tester and he'll let you know what's needed for a test.

Hope this helps,

Regards, Gavin.

Membership Number: 5260

It is illegal to drive an 'unroadworthy' car to and from an MOT station whether it's Taxed, insured or mot'ed.

I think only driver's seat and belt would be unroadworthy

Membership Number: 11553

Having restored a number of cars (that did not have a current MOT) I have never had a problem obtaining insurance. I simply rang the insurance company up to arrange it. The 130 is currently insured and taxed but the MOT has elapsed as it is undergoing work. When I bought it it was not MOT'd but I had no problem gaining insurance in order to take it for MOT.

For years my Panda wnet thrugh the MOT without rear seats, but they still had to check that the rear seat belts worked, as well as look for possible corrosion around the anchorage points. Never tried without front passenger seat.

Regards Richard

Membership Number: 7428

Spoke to my regular m.o.t chap today and he said you can drive a car to a prebooked test if you got tax and insurance,obviously I've no tax so he said it was up to me if I wanted to chance it,sods law I'd get pulled over!He also said just the drivers seat is fine,all he'd do was put an advisory about the other seats,he said he could only test whats there.

Should only be a few weeks away now so will let you all know how it goes.

Hi Pete. You are definitely 100% ok without tax! If it is pre-booked you are fine. Insurance is the one to worry about.

Just to prove it, this is taken from the direct.gov.uk website just now!

"Driving an untaxed vehicle to an MOT test
You can drive your vehicle to and from a pre-arranged test at an MOT test station as long as you have adequate insurance cover in place for the use of that vehicle.

This is also for vehicles being driven to and from a pre-arranged test at a Vehicle Inspection Check (VIC) test station, an approved weight testing station and reduced pollution test."

As I said in an earlier posting, insurance is the only problem, and I've checked this many times.............. Sad or what??


Regards, Gavin.

Membership Number: 5260

Got in touch with VOSA last week and they said you can drive with no MOT or tax to a prebooked test so thats good news and the car is fully insured to.That just leaves the test itself for me to loose sleep over!Will try and make it to a few shows once its on the road.

Had the mot yesterday,didn't pass but well chuffed.Failed on offside beam allignment(they said they'd sort it on the retest as long as all the bolts are free),nearside headlight not bright enough,just got new bulbs,washers not working(never thought to check but sorted now) and insufficient handbrake.He also said nearside rear wheel binding which is probably something to do with it.Managed to sort the wheel so here's to that green piece of paper and the open road!

We have a pass!!!

Membership Number: 12048

well done pete. another fiat on the road!

Membership Number: yes, I`m back!