What's the chain of events...........

[Tigerrrr.......]

I've agreed to buy a friend's car.

It's been SORNed and has no insurance or tax.

She's agreed to put 6 months tax on it and get it MOTd, but what should the chain of events be? Do I buy it first, insure it then get it MOTd, or do I get her to insure it for a couple of days, MOT it, tax it then sell it to me?

Just not sure what to do.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.

Grey area i suppose.

If she has genuinely agreed to the MOT then she ought to get it towed to the MOT station (because I'm assuming she hasn't got valid insurance), once it passes, then TAX it. Then sell to you with both in place. Otherwise (worst case senario) you could end up buying, taxing and insuring a car that may then go on to fail the MOT.

[Red Herring]

It would be daft to expect her to insure it just so she can MOT and then tax it.

Agree to buy it provided it passes the MOT with no horrors, then insure it, take it for an MOT and if it passes tax it. Then give her the money for the car, less the cost of the MOT and tax.

[Bibio]

if it's cheep which i assume it is then get here to sign document slip, get your own insurance, drive it to the MOT station, get MOT, if fails MOT then get fixed then get MOT then get tax.

ask her for a retainer while all this is happening. i would also come to an agreement as to how much she is willing to pay to get the MOT done. if you both agree to this and it comes out more (retainer) then you should fork up the extra. if its less then give her the extra cash back.

simples really.

[BanannaMan]

Originally Posted by Bibio

simples really.

Not really.
You lot have some complicated vehicle/ insurance laws.

[Paul the 6th]

They kinda make sense in that you have to display a tax disc on your windscreen which is valid for a year or 6 months depending on which one you buy, but in order to buy one the car must have a valid MOT (annual safety test) certificate and valid insurance certificate (valid at the Time of taxing but it's compulsory to have vehicle insurance to drive on the road) in order to buy this little paper disc.

If the disc is out of date or not in the windscreen then it's a fair indicator to he police that the car's probably not insured or taxed, and probably out of MOT, all of which are subject to fines & points on your licence or even the car being seized (for no insurance). Plus the government gets a lovely wedge of money for the tax disc (from about £15-£400 per year depending on the vehicles emissions or engine size & year it was made/whether its a car or bike), plus insurance premium tax so they get a cut of the cost of insurance (£50-£100/year for older or low risk drivers upto £2000-£3000 for younger new or high risk drivers on little cars like 1 litre fiestas).

Just when a car is out of tax & mot at the same time it's then Locked in a position where it must be taken on a low loader to the garage for MOT test, if it doesn't have tax then the wheels aren't allowed to touch the road, so towing is out of the question. Oh and then there's the rules about towing...........

But like you say, very complicated.... even more expensive.

</derail>

If she's confident the car won't need any expensive repairs for the MOT then I'd make her an offer based on the car coming with 12 months MOT & 6 months tax. If it fails, you shouldn't receive a hard time for withdrawing your offer because it needs a load of work doing and she's stuck with the bill for transporting the car there/the cost of the mot..

[yorkie_chris]

Possibly simple solution... get someone with a traders policy to drive it to the MOT and back for you! Problem solved in a tea break.

Originally Posted by Paul the 6th

Just when a car is out of tax & mot at the same time it's then Locked in a position where it must be taken on a low loader to the garage for MOT test, if it doesn't have tax then the wheels aren't allowed to touch the road, so towing is out of the question. Oh and then there's the rules about towing...........

Paul don't try and explain it to the colonies when you don't understand it yourself!


You must have insurance to drive on the road.
So long as you have insurance, you can drive to get it MOT'd, or to get it fixed if it needs MOT work.

Once you have both of the above in place you can get a tax disc and drive to your hearts content.

[Paul the 6th]

I remember someone on the kitcar forums asking about getting a donor car home - the lads on there said fair enough if it's insured you won't land yourself in that much trouble, and driving it to or from the mot station is fine if you have an appointment - but apparently if the wheels are touching the road then it *must* have a valid road fund licence, only reason this bit popped up was because one of the lads was gonna use a trailer where the front wheels of the towed vehicle sit on the trailer but the rears sit on the tarmac, a few guys jumped on that and said it'll need taxing.

I'll double check but that was my understanding. I'm sure you'd have to get a copper in a bad mood for him not to be understanding if it all turns out to be legit and you are genuinely on the way for an MOT, and then on to the post office for a tax disc. But isn't there a clause in most insurance policies that you are the registerred keeper and that the vehicle is kept in MOT and tax in accordance with the road traffic act otherwise the insurance is invalidated?

So in summary Bill, yes it's a very complicated system

[yorkie_chris]

I can't be *rsed sifting through the road traffic act* to find it... but here it is on avon and somerset police website

http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk....aspx?sid=3493
Also exempt are vehicles solely used when:

• going to a test centre for an MOT if pre-booked
• undergoing an MOT test
• having failed an MOT test, the vehicle is taken to a pre-booked appointment at a garage to have the identified faults rectified.

*HERRING!

[Paul the 6th]

Mythbusters........ BOOM.

Did you know that if your 5 year old washing machine is making your clothes smell funny after washing them, stick a cup of bleach in and set it to 90 degrees super duper wash cycle. Then after that a rinse cycle... Then wash your smelly clothes again = boom. No more smelllls.