At the start of the lockdown, Government announced that it was relaxing the rules surrounding MOTs. This provided owners of cars, vans and motorcycles a six-month exemption from MOT testing from 30 March, meaning if you had an MOT due from 30 March 2020, the next test date was to be extended by six months.
This news was welcomed by many, but it is now emerging that there are some catastrophic consequences of delaying MOTs, and delaying regular servicing of vehicles, as the following readers have discovered:
Stacey from Rothersthorpe was due to renew his MOT in April. He took advantage of the extension, and so decided to delay for six months. On 24th May, Stacey crashed into another car on a roundabout, causing damage to both his and the other party’s vehicle. When he submitted his claim, his insurer asked about the vehicle’s MOT and when Stacey said that he had taken advantage of the extension, his insurer informed him that this had voided his policy. He put in a complaint but it then transpired that the reason the insurer had taken this step was because the brake pads were dangerously low, making the car dangerous. The insurer said that the issue with the brake pads would have been picked up at an MOT.
Jack from Kettering purchased an extended warranty for his vehicle. In May, the vehicle was due its 45,000 mile service, but due to the lockdown, Jack missed this. At the start of August he made a claim under the extended warranty as his car needed a new part. However, his claim was rejected as one of the terms of the warranty was that the vehicle’s servicing was kept up-to-date.
Top Tips
If you have taken advantage of the MOT extension, inform your insurer immediately and ask them to confirm that this will not void your policy. You should also inform the finance company (if you purchased the car on finance and the loan is still live), and also the warranty company if you have an extended warranty policy.
