My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 3
My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
Dear all,
I desperately require some specific advice. I am in France since early this year. My insurance is valid(?) till the end of the year. I mixed up my MOT and Tax dates and just realised my MOT ran out first instead of the tax. In this situation:
I can go back to UK and get a MOT. An internet search is telling me that I should make a confirmed booking, keep some sort of print out of that booking incase I am stopped and should drive directly to the MOT center at Folkstone. Is it still a good advice?
On top of the MOT issue I made a terrible mistake when I left the UK based on very bad advise. As my stay would be significantly long in France so I filled up the "Exporting the car" (section 11 ?) of the V5 document and posted it to DVLA.Based on this gaffe, I have no idea how to address the MOT issue as I have no idea how that would reflect on the whole situation or on my insurance. In hindsight I should not have done what I have. Now I need to find out what need to be done. SO PLEASE HELP.
I desperately require some specific advice. I am in France since early this year. My insurance is valid(?) till the end of the year. I mixed up my MOT and Tax dates and just realised my MOT ran out first instead of the tax. In this situation:
I can go back to UK and get a MOT. An internet search is telling me that I should make a confirmed booking, keep some sort of print out of that booking incase I am stopped and should drive directly to the MOT center at Folkstone. Is it still a good advice?
On top of the MOT issue I made a terrible mistake when I left the UK based on very bad advise. As my stay would be significantly long in France so I filled up the "Exporting the car" (section 11 ?) of the V5 document and posted it to DVLA.
#2
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
Dear all,
I desperately require some specific advice. I am in France since early this year. My insurance is valid(?) till the end of the year. I mixed up my MOT and Tax dates and just realised my MOT ran out first instead of the tax. In this situation:
I can go back to UK and get a MOT. An internet search is telling me that I should make a confirmed booking, keep some sort of print out of that booking incase I am stopped and should drive directly to the MOT center at Folkstone. Is it still a good advice?
On top of the MOT issue I made a terrible mistake when I left the UK based on very bad advise. As my stay would be significantly long in France so I filled up the "Exporting the car" (section 11 ?) of the V5 document and posted it to DVLA.Based on this gaffe, I have no idea how to address the MOT issue as I have no idea how that would reflect on the whole situation or on my insurance. In hindsight I should not have done what I have. Now I need to find out what need to be done. SO PLEASE HELP.
I desperately require some specific advice. I am in France since early this year. My insurance is valid(?) till the end of the year. I mixed up my MOT and Tax dates and just realised my MOT ran out first instead of the tax. In this situation:
I can go back to UK and get a MOT. An internet search is telling me that I should make a confirmed booking, keep some sort of print out of that booking incase I am stopped and should drive directly to the MOT center at Folkstone. Is it still a good advice?
On top of the MOT issue I made a terrible mistake when I left the UK based on very bad advise. As my stay would be significantly long in France so I filled up the "Exporting the car" (section 11 ?) of the V5 document and posted it to DVLA.
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 44
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
As an extension to what BIP said...
You are currently driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle. The MOT is the least of your worries.
You are currently driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle. The MOT is the least of your worries.
#6
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2012
Location: Dépt 61
Posts: 5,254
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
As others have said.
It sounds like the car has been/will be in France for over 6 months. If that's the case, depending on your circumstances, the advice to declare it exported was likely correct and your gaffe was in not registering it in France when you arrived. If you'd done that, you wouldn't be in this situation now.
Are you a student, working, or what? as this may have a bearing on the situation.
Regarding the insurance, hopefully you explained to your insurers that the car was going to be kept abroad long term, and they agreed to keep cover in force? If you didn't, and the car is insured on the basis that you are living in the UK and the car is normally kept overnight at the postcode you specified on the form, it's unlikely they would meet any claim since you have broken the contract by failing to declare material facts.
Whatever, you could start by inputting your vehicle details into the DVLA vehicle check website, and see what status is showing for your car.
It sounds like the car has been/will be in France for over 6 months. If that's the case, depending on your circumstances, the advice to declare it exported was likely correct and your gaffe was in not registering it in France when you arrived. If you'd done that, you wouldn't be in this situation now.
Are you a student, working, or what? as this may have a bearing on the situation.
Regarding the insurance, hopefully you explained to your insurers that the car was going to be kept abroad long term, and they agreed to keep cover in force? If you didn't, and the car is insured on the basis that you are living in the UK and the car is normally kept overnight at the postcode you specified on the form, it's unlikely they would meet any claim since you have broken the contract by failing to declare material facts.
Whatever, you could start by inputting your vehicle details into the DVLA vehicle check website, and see what status is showing for your car.
#7
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
Dear all,
I desperately require some specific advice. I am in France since early this year. My insurance is valid(?) till the end of the year. I mixed up my MOT and Tax dates and just realised my MOT ran out first instead of the tax. In this situation:
I can go back to UK and get a MOT. An internet search is telling me that I should make a confirmed booking, keep some sort of print out of that booking incase I am stopped and should drive directly to the MOT center at Folkstone. Is it still a good advice?
On top of the MOT issue I made a terrible mistake when I left the UK based on very bad advise. As my stay would be significantly long in France so I filled up the "Exporting the car" (section 11 ?) of the V5 document and posted it to DVLA.Based on this gaffe, I have no idea how to address the MOT issue as I have no idea how that would reflect on the whole situation or on my insurance. In hindsight I should not have done what I have. Now I need to find out what need to be done. SO PLEASE HELP.
I desperately require some specific advice. I am in France since early this year. My insurance is valid(?) till the end of the year. I mixed up my MOT and Tax dates and just realised my MOT ran out first instead of the tax. In this situation:
I can go back to UK and get a MOT. An internet search is telling me that I should make a confirmed booking, keep some sort of print out of that booking incase I am stopped and should drive directly to the MOT center at Folkstone. Is it still a good advice?
On top of the MOT issue I made a terrible mistake when I left the UK based on very bad advise. As my stay would be significantly long in France so I filled up the "Exporting the car" (section 11 ?) of the V5 document and posted it to DVLA.
Personally I would refrain from driving said vehicle until you have a CT and French insurance.
Last edited by Chatter Static; Jun 20th 2017 at 7:39 am.
#8
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: 1.2 East
Posts: 762
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
First in a prompt fashion get your car booked in for a CT "Control Technique" French equivalent of a MOT, Secondly go and find a French car insurer most banks offer this service on top of all of the other normal suppliers. Then get all the documents needed and take a trip to your local Prefecture to change the plaque d'immatriculation.
Personally I would refrain from driving said vehicle until you have a CT and French insurance.
Personally I would refrain from driving said vehicle until you have a CT and French insurance.
#9
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
The legal onus is getting the car into the testing station wether it passes or fails at this stage.
#10
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Joined: Jun 2010
Location: 1.2 East
Posts: 762
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
Yes but if he has had the Control Technique and gets given a demand for retest then you have two months to make the repairs or changes and the car can be driven in the meantime with the appropriate French insurance as well.
The legal onus is getting the car into the testing station wether it passes or fails at this stage.
The legal onus is getting the car into the testing station wether it passes or fails at this stage.
#11
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
I agree that the OP needs a Control Technique asap, but surely this isn't possible without a French Carte Grise (CG). Every time we've taken our vehicles in for the CT (several different stations), the first thing they ask for is the CG.
Has anyone here ever had a UK registered car CT'd here? I'd be surprised!
Has anyone here ever had a UK registered car CT'd here? I'd be surprised!
Last edited by Tweedpipe; Jun 21st 2017 at 10:13 am.
#12
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2012
Location: Dépt 61
Posts: 5,254
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
I agree that the OP needs a Control Technique asap, but surely this isn't possible without a French Carte Grise (CG). Every time we've taken our vehicles in for the CT (several different stations), the first thing they ask for is the CG.
Has anyone here ever had a UK registered car CT'd here? I'd be surprised!
Has anyone here ever had a UK registered car CT'd here? I'd be surprised!
I believe they use the VIN number for the CT report.
#13
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
I agree that the OP needs a Control Technique asap, but surely this isn't possible without a French Carte Grise (CG). Every time we've taken our vehicles in for the CT (several different stations), the first thing they ask for is the CG.
Has anyone here ever had a UK registered car CT'd here? I'd be surprised!
Has anyone here ever had a UK registered car CT'd here? I'd be surprised!
#14
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: 1.2 East
Posts: 762
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
Sell it, risk it, scrap it or put it on a low loader back to the UK.
#15
Re: My MOT ran out and I am in France - Please help
As has been discussed several times on several different forums, it is virtually impossible to scrap a "foreign" (unregistered) vehicle in many (all?) countries in the EU.
It is also likely impossible* to sell to anyone in the same country because you have to be the legal owner to register it and you can't register a transfer with the DVLA when you aren't living in the UK. So if you want to sell or scrap a British registered vehicle after you have taken it to a country in the EU, first you have to register it locally.
* An exception might be to sell it to someone who repatriates it to the country where it is registered.
It is also likely impossible* to sell to anyone in the same country because you have to be the legal owner to register it and you can't register a transfer with the DVLA when you aren't living in the UK. So if you want to sell or scrap a British registered vehicle after you have taken it to a country in the EU, first you have to register it locally.
* An exception might be to sell it to someone who repatriates it to the country where it is registered.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jun 21st 2017 at 5:30 pm.