Can't get MOT booked in for a whole month. Can I drive my car?

[F0Xintherainbow]

MOT runs out tomorrow. Can't get it in anywhere for at least three weeks. Anyone know if I can still drive it if it's booked in somewhere? This didn't used to happen! Is it just my area? I've called four garages and all booked up

At this time of year, there will be high demand for MOTs and you need to book early. It is because in 2020 due to covid, people were given extensions on MOTs and so everybody that used to renew March to say September ended up not renewing until say October / November and this reset the anniversary for the next MOT for a massive number of people.

We found this last year and so my husband decided to take one of the cars in early this year, July rather than October, to get a different anniversary going forward as we really do not have many handy places.

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has been mentioned.
you can get your MOT done a month before it expires without losing any time left. This allows people plenty of scope to book from the beginning of that month to prevent it being left to the last minute and running the risk of running out of time or leaving it to the last minute and then it needed loads of work done and then not being able to do it straight away as it was only booked in for an MOT. (Bearing in mind failures can range from simple fixes to complex repairs so the garage can't just factor it in).
Ex garage owner here, you're not alone though, despite making people aware of this every year people still left it to the last minute and often ended up in a big panic and upset with us that we couldn't work miracles!
Just try and remember for next year, it will save you a lot of stress, trust me!

This.

We're in this group too - MOT moved from April to October. I know our local MOT centres are crazy busy for a few months and much quieter in the summer.

It'd be good if they'd incentivise doing what you have to shift the dates. Eg if we get ours done in August rather than October we get refunded 2/12 of the test fee. Obviously the money would need to come from somewhere though and I'm not sure the government are too bothered about garages having a horribly unbalanced system to work with. I guess it'll balance out again as older cars get scrapped.