I was recently alerted to the fact that a dealership in Glasgow had failed my car’s MOT – in spite of the fact that it has never been there and doesn’t require the test.
The dealership in question, Arnold Clark, told the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency that a staff member had made a mistake but the DVSA has said it will take weeks to investigate the problem and rectify it.
I am very concerned that this will render my insurance invalid, and that I’m now at risk of being pulled over by the police. I only found out about this because I had signed up to Moneysupermarket alerts, otherwise I would be none the wiser. What do you advise?
LC, York
Given that your car was in York at the time of the failed MOT test, the only solution had to be human error. Arnold Clark has confirmed that a member of its staff mistakenly put in your car registration when entering the failure into the system. It says the error was identified when that vehicle returned for a retest and the DVSA was contacted that day requesting that the MOT test failure should be removed.
The DVSA told me this problem does arise from time to time, and it is working with Arnold Clark to rectify the matter in next few days. The fact that the law does not require your car to have an MOT yet means you won’t be prosecuted for any offence. Your insurance is similarly unaffected, provided the car is roadworthy.
Anyone else concerned about their car’s MOT status can check it online at gov.uk/check-mot-history, which is also a good place to check whether a car’s claimed mileage is legitimate.
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