Car insurance due December but may fail MOT in January

[LookMaggie]

Hey, sorry, boring question.

My ford is now 13 years old. I'm due to renew my insurance next month for the next year. But I'm conscious it may not be good news at my MOT in January - it may cost more to fix it than it's worth.

Does anyone have any advice? Do I get a partial refund in January if give the car up? Should I just buy a short term insurance policy?

Thanks

Indeed, what actually happens if your car fails its MOT and it's not worth fixing? Are you allowed to drive it to one of those "We buy any car" type places or does the garage get rid of it for you?

If your insurance is due 30 days or less before the MOT, put it in for an early MOT before the insurance is due, then you can make an informed decision

Can you pay the insurance monthly, then cancel if it fails the MOT?

You can mot your vehicle up to one calendar month before it expires and have the new mot run concurrently so if it passes it'll still expire in January 2025. If it fails though it's still failed early so you would lose the extra month of mot you had left.

You can have the MOT a month early and it goes from the original date if it fails IYSWIM so I’d do that .

When one of my old cars died the garage scrapped it for me. I'm not sure but if it fails the MOT I think you would have to get it towed to wherever you want to sell it to? Pretty sure you can't drive it.

If you get it done up to 30 days before the expiry of the current MOT, the current one is still valid. Bonkers I know, but that’s how it is.

Theres usually quite a hefty financial penalty if you cancel a car insurance policy early in its term

Presumably you'll buy a replacement car if your current one fails it's MOT, so you can just change the car on your insurance policy and pay whatever increase plus admin fee for the newer one. No need to cancel your policy if you buy a replacement.

You can just get it MOT'd early and then you have certainty. You'd lose a bit of time on the existing MOT as your renewal date would change but just tell the garage you're away/too busy with work/ whatever and you want it done early. (i.e. don't tell them you think it might fail . . .)

If you are going to get another car if this one fails then you will be able to transfer the insurance to your new car (there may be a difference if the car is a different insurance class).
Otherwise, as others have said, get the MOT done just before the insurance is due. If the due date is within 30 days, then you will get it dated for the due date but even if not, it will be better than having to cancel car insurance.

I would def just get the MOT done early

This happened to me and I just transferred the insurance policy to the new car - they adjust it if needed etc

You need to ask if you renew insurance for a year can you switch it over to another car if you need to in January.

This is NOT the case…if you have it done up to 30 days before your expiry date, you,preserve the original date so you effectively have a 13 month MOT

Just a warning - if you put it in early and it fails the existing MOT is no longer valid - you immediately have no car. You can't drive it away if it's a "dangerous fail". Mine had to be collected by the scrap guy from the garage, I had to go there and take all my stuff out.
I knew my Y reg polo would fail next Feb, insurance was due at end of Oct. I looked for a 'new' car to start the new insurance policy with. On a previous vehicle I used Veygo for temp insurance to cover the month between the two.

@Soshitatgifts

Doesn't the op mean it would need doing early early e.g. if its due on 23 January and insurance runs out on 12 December- but she could get the Mot done on 11 Dec and have 11 Dec as her new MOt renewal date forevermore. The month in hand would only apply if she waited until 24 Dec. You lose a few weeks but there's no rule against doing it too early.

From my own experience you can put it in 29 days early if you want to preserve the mot date. I put a car in exactly 30 days early one year and had a new date.

You could of course mot the car pre renewal even if it more than 29 days away and have a new earlier MOT date but you may then need to get a new car earlier then you planned.

The other option is to insure the car anyway and change details of the insured vehicle plus pay admin fee as a pp said. The disadvantage here is you can't shop around for the cheapest insurer for any new car until the next time you renew.

If you think the car will fail you really shouldn't be driving it anyway, as it will be dangerous.

this relates to driving the vehicle away following an MOT fail, if your previous MOT is still in date

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test

Depends on your insurance company. Ask when you renew if you can get a refund should you want to cancel and if there is an admin fee. Or you could pay monthly and cancel your policy if the car fails it's mot

My insurance policies have always overlapped cars. My current policy is about 6 years old and I've had 3 cars in that time - ssuming youd replace the car, I've just transferred the policy to the new car each time at the cost of a small admin fee (about £25) although it will be dependent on policy Ts & Cs, whether you've made any claims in the overlapping period etc.

That isn't true. It's only if the MOT turns up "dangerous" faults that you can't drive it. If it fails on other "not dangerous" grounds, such as major faults, you can continue to drive it until the expiry date of the existing MOT certificate.

https://insure2drive.co.uk/news-advice/early-mot-fails-can-i-still-drive/#:~:text=In%20this%20case%2C%20you%20can,government's%20minimum%20standards%20for%20roadworthiness.

I used to think that (ex motor traders daughter) but its not true unfortunately

Just a warning - if you put it in early and it fails the existing MOT is no longer valid

Why comment on something you know nothing about?

Thanks everyone! This has been a busy thread even though I thought it was a super-boring topic!

My insurance is only about £220 so won't be a disaster if I lose the whole lot.

No, I won't be buying another car right away. I will wait at least until summer as Dec-Jan is the worst time to be paying loads of car costs and potentially being without a car whilst it's in the garage.