# MoT/Tax expiring while abroad.



## Ricster (Sep 3, 2010)

Not sure if this post should go in here or not, but couldn't see a dedicated section for this sort of question. Mods, feel free to move/close this.. 


Ok, so we have a van that has 9/10 months of MoT left, the tax needs renewed on the 1st of Oct too. The trip we are planning could last longer than a year and I'm wondering what do you do about MoT/Tax renewals when you are not in the UK. I am guessing that insurance is voided if you don't have either although I wonder whether I need road tax at all considering I won't be using UK roads.

While this might sound a little left-field, and no giggling if it's a really daft suggestion, but should we aim for somewhere like Gibraltar in order to get new UK MoT/Tax rather than back to ol' blighty?

Thanks in advance.

Ric.


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## Wupert (Aug 6, 2007)

Ricster said:


> Not sure if this post should go in here or not, but couldn't see a dedicated section for this sort of question. Mods, feel free to move/close this..
> 
> Ok, so we have a van that has 9/10 months of MoT left, the tax needs renewed on the 1st of Oct too. The trip we are planning could last longer than a year and I'm wondering what do you do about MoT/Tax renewals when you are not in the UK. I am guessing that insurance is voided if you don't have either although I wonder whether I need road tax at all considering I won't be using UK roads.
> 
> ...


A good place to start

dont forget you can Tax your vehicle on line

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_4022052

Hope this helps

wups


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## Wupert (Aug 6, 2007)

Ricster said:


> Not sure if this post should go in here or not, but couldn't see a dedicated section for this sort of question. Mods, feel free to move/close this..
> 
> Ok, so we have a van that has 9/10 months of MoT left, the tax needs renewed on the 1st of Oct too. The trip we are planning could last longer than a year and I'm wondering what do you do about MoT/Tax renewals when you are not in the UK. I am guessing that insurance is voided if you don't have either although I wonder whether I need road tax at all considering I won't be using UK roads.
> 
> ...


A good place to start

dont forget you can Tax your vehicle on line

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_4022052

Hope this helps

wups


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Tax you can do up to two months in advance or by post although it will be posted to your home address and you will have to get someone to send it on to you. Whether you do tax or not is up to you but coming back into the UK without tax could be a very bad idea.

MOT, as far as I know there is nothing you can do. You can have tests done in Spain or so I have read but it is not valid in the UK. Opinions differ about having an MOT done in Gibraltar but as far as I know it is not possible. I would love to be told otherwise as we are in the same situation.

I don't think most insurance policies require MOT, although it seems some may, you will need to check yours and see. My insurance requires only that the vehicle is roadworthy so lack of MOT will not invalidate it. 

We are in the same position as you, our van will be three years old in March next year. I have decided just to MOT as soon as I arrive back in the UK, around August next year, but I will have current tax and Insurance. There are many threads and links on here but I have not found a satisfactory solution despite much research. People on other web sites have corresponded with various UK Govt. departments and had no workable or practical answers, all these departments do is parrot the legislation and contradict one another in their interpretations of the laws, Alan.


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## loddy (Feb 12, 2007)

UK is the only place to get UK MOT

Loddy


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Hi.

When we were over wintering in Markadia Portugal the elderly couple next to us who were full time on the site had to travel back to the UK once a year for a couple of weeks to MOT and tax the van.

This also forced them to visit their family!.. :lol:


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

At the moment the best thing I can think of is to try and find a good, honest, helpful MOT station near the channel ports.
That would allow us to book MOT appointments before returning to the UK and would allow us to drive legally to the test station as long as we are insured. 

I will start another thread and ask if anyone can recommend an MOT station in the area, Alan.


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## RickyRiot (Aug 28, 2010)

Thanks guys, that's cleared the issue up a little.

I think the best option is to have the van taxed and insurance covered but MoT being done when we return to UK shores.


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## Ricster (Sep 3, 2010)

Ooops, that post above was me, I f*cked up the accounts when I was joining, sorry for that.


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## PeterandLinda (Feb 21, 2009)

Hi

"I wonder whether I need road tax at all considering I won't be using UK roads."

We did once talk to a chap who had been convinced that he didn't need to tax his UK registered vehicle when he was abroad. I wasn't convinced. 
The whole idea behind European vehicle law is that if a vehicle is legal in the country of origin, it is legal in the host country. In this case the vehicle would not be legal in the country of origin and therefore the 'guest' rules would not apply. I wouldn't want to argue this with the Guardia Civil in Spanish, and If I had to claim on my insurance I wouldn't want to argue the point with them either.
Also, how do you achieve this in practice, do you declare the vehicle off the road? I don't imagine my insurers would be too impressed by my lying to the DVLA !

P&L


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

This is more of a problem for people leaving Europe (Africa, USA, Russia etc for year + trips), who don't have the option of returning to the UK for the test. If you are staying pretty much in Europe if I were you I would not deliberate any further and just get back to the UK for an MOT before yours runs out.

Once its expired you cannot legally drive in the UK (off the ship yes, out of the port no) apart from to a pre-booked mot. Its not a case of seeing a Policeman, cameras by the side of the road will get you anyway. In that situation I would think the camera will not know of your prebooking, so that booking number will be needed to respond to the fine in the post? Not sure about how that works?! I can't imagine you would be insured to drive with an expired MOT since you are not then road legal? And if you're not legal in the UK you won't be in the rest of the EU would be my take on it. 

There is nothing to say where your MOT needs to be, and if the specialist for that vehicle happens to be 300 miles away then that perhaps is the best place to book one?

The only other option, which my camper did just prior to me buying it, is a garage was paid for one of their guys to collect it from the ferry (from the USA) on trade plates and drove to Lancaster. Of course it could go on a trailer too.

This all seems to be because the DVLA system can't incorporate a UK vehicle leaving the UK for more than a year. I believe other EU countries don't have this issue. The DVLA will expect you to permanently export, which you can do on the V5, but thats no good if you're not permanently importing somewhere else! You have to have a V5 from somewhere! Importing and exporting between every country you visit is not very sensible! 

Its slightly easier if you're going outside the EU as insurance can be bought at borders etc, I'm not sure why this is so hard for a UK resident to arrange outside of the UK but in the EU. In France for instance I need to be resident in France before anyone would discuss cover. In Morocco you buy at the border. Spending a year in Africa for instance will be OK while there, and if you book an MOT you can get to that from Dover, but how do you get from southern Spain to Dover?! Carefully seems to be the only answer!

Or is it Guernsey that doesn't have an MOT? So if you can obtain a Guernsey address, register your vehicle to that, plates to suit, then off you go! 

The RAC who deal with vehicle Carnets have been pressurising the DVLA to accomodate this issue, but I'm not sure if anything has happened yet? They do reccomend SORN once the tax and MOT have expired if you're still 1000's of miles and weeks from returning, as much to stop the DVLA from sending lots of nasty letters to you home address.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Having done much research on this I agree almost entirely with GrizzlyJ on this.

One point though, GrizzlyJ says, "I can't imagine you would be insured to drive with an expired MOT since you are not then road legal? And if you're not legal in the UK you won't be in the rest of the EU would be my take on it. "

On another thread here this issue was discussed in detail. It seems that some insurance policies do require a current MOT, others require that the vehicle be in a roadworthy condition. Whether or not you are insured if you don't have MOT will depend on the wording in your policy document and of course keeping your vehicle in a roadworthy condition which a current MOT does not guarantee except at the moment of the test, Alan.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Hi.
Does this throw up another problem :?: . If the van is used abroad for a length of time has it to be re-registered in whatever country you are in, or is this a way round the UK MOT predicament :?: ..


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## inkey-2008 (May 24, 2008)

I posted this on another thread Alan started and thought it might be of use to anyone not reading the other thread

I have just had mine done at the VOSA at Canterbury as they are the only ones that can do the bigger motorhomes around herethat I know of.
They only do the Motorhomes on Wednesday and Fridays.

There is a RV/Motorhomes service centre between Faversham and Sittingbourne, they charge £42 hr and can do any size.
www.mercuryarv.com 07810190808. They prepare and will take your van to VOSA for testing.

Andy


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## thieawin (Jun 7, 2006)

practicalities

1, Foreign authorities are not interested if your MOT or tax is valid and up todate. That is not what the recognition is about. However if you have an MOT you are exempt from the requirement to have anITV or any other equivalent

Your vehicle has to be roadworthy and if there are different standards, such a tyre depth and headlight beam, it is local rules which apply anyway. But an odometer in miles rather than one in Kms is OK. You have to lok at the requirmenst one by one and decide whether local or home rules apply.

You cannot get a UK MOT outside theh UK. But you can renew at any time so get it done the day before you leave and it runs for 12 months, you don't have to wait until it expires to renew. If it does expire whilst you are away you can only drive, once back home, direct from the port to an MOT station for a prebooked test.

tax you can renew on line and have someone send on from your home, but only if renewal happens whilst you have a valid MOT (you cannot renew without an MOT certificate for a current test)or you can surrender shortly before departure and then re tax, you lose a bit of the tax, but get a full 12 months

Some insurance policies will require an MOT others won't, same with road fund, but it would be very unlikely that they would get away with declining cover if you had a claim if the van was roadworthy but you had no tax or MOT and there was a situation giving rise to a claim

IOM does not have mot's so I can take my vehicle to UK or Europe in theory and not need to return. I keep a vehicle permanently garaged in Spain in fact and take down the tax disc every year. The UK, and IOM both have this odd 12 months absence requiring de registration. But how do they prove that at departure you intend to be absent for 12 months or more. There is nothing you or they can do in reality. Most countries have an immediate requirement to re register if you become resident or if you keep the vehicle on the roads there for 6 months. If you are travelling you won't become permanently resident. And it is easy to pop over the border once every six months if it is an extended stay


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