MOT tomorrow, car is dirty :-\

Saytan · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:03

my bicycle mechanic mates will refuse to work on stuff that's dirty.

I can see how making the tester's job more unpleasant could cause them to withdraw the benefit of the doubt from anything borderline.

teaboy5 · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:10

Gaygle said:
Did you refuse any for having a bit of road grime on or some crumbs on the carpet?

Crumbs on the carpet? What has this got to do with under the car?

Or has it come to the point were you know your wrong and just want to hear yourself talk?

teaboy5 · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:12

buckeejit said:
Hey all, well I've been very ill over the past few days and just remembered that my MOT is tomorrow. My car has been checked by a mechanic etc. and work was done to ensure that my car should be fine for passing the MOT but, my car needs washed and vacuumed and also, I'm not sure if underneath it is dirty (most likely).

The MOT is tomorrow at 17:40 and I finish work at 5pm but was thinking of just talking the car to a garage at lunch and putting it through the car wash and also hoover it if the garage has one. I'm worried that I will fail my MOT as underneath my car could be dirty (first MOT so quite nervous). My brother said that he's never got an MOT wash done on his car so I should be fine but I was wondering what your experiences are? Thanks.

To answer the OP.

Just take it out at dinner time and get a wee MOT wash done on it. I wouldn't worry about the inside of the car, but if you want it clean go ahead and get that done as well.

teaboy5 · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:13

Skeeter said:
The Irish require your car to be clean to be MOT Tested?

Isnt that a bit.... Irish?

Get back to finishing that server!

buckeejit · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:25

Gaygle said:
Or are the Irish very keen on cleanliness and insist on every component to be gleaming?

good point, hopefully an Irish person would be able to answer this?

Burnsy2023 · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:28

Von Smallhausen said:
My MOT is tomorrow as well and my car is dirty.

My car was dirty when it went in for it's MOT. Luckily, it came back all washed and vacuumed \o/

Gaygle · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:33

buckeejit said:
my car needs washed and vacuumed

You must also ensure that the exterior/interior and underparts of the vehicle are clean, otherwise the examiner may refuse to test it.

teaboy5 said:
Crumbs on the carpet? What has this got to do with under the car?

Hope the above helps xxxxx

teaboy5 said:
Or has it come to the point were you know your wrong and just want to hear yourself talk?

As stated, the car won't fail the MOT if it's dirty. And from what others have said, in England, a "dirty car" that cannot be MOT'd is generally considered as one with mud caked to every inch of it, not some everyday road dirt. I assume this is probably the same in Ireland?

[TW]Fox · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:35

Gaygle said:
As stated, the car won't fail the MOT if it's dirty.

My quote is directly from the NI government website. They are they rules they choose to enforce. I'm not sure why we are continuing to argue about it? It's there in black and white - they can refuse to test the car if the exterior, interior and underparts are not clean. Indeed, in NI, there are people who specialise in MOT cleaning services..

Gaygle · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:40

[TW]Fox;17954094 said:
I'm not sure why we are continuing to argue about it?

General interest and educational purposes?

[TW]Fox;17954094 said:
It's there in black and white - they can refuse to test the car if the exterior, interior and underparts are not clean. Indeed, in NI, there are people who specialise in MOT cleaning services..

I understand that, but im just interested as to what is generally considered a "dirty car that can be refused an MOT"?

In England, it is one caked in mud and all sorts...

In Ireland, is it one that isn't gleaming? One with a bit of mud on the interior?

I'm genuinely interested, but i suspect that it is the same as the English definition of a "dirty car" and probably isn't much of a worry to most people.

teaboy5 · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:42

Gaygle said:
Hope the above helps xxxxx

As stated, the car won't fail the MOT if it's dirty. And from what others have said, in England, a "dirty car" that cannot be MOT'd is generally considered as one with mud caked to every inch of it, not some everyday road dirt. I assume this is probably the same in Ireland?

If they refuse it, and you cant get it rebooked before it expires, they may as well of failed it, because your insurance then becomes toilet paper.

[TW]Fox · 7 Dec 2010 at 22:42

As an aside I'm not sure I understand why NI has special MOT laws.

What makes a Northern Irish car so different?

Lum · 8 Dec 2010 at 01:19

teaboy5 said:
If they refuse it, and you cant get it rebooked before it expires, they may as well of failed it, because your insurance then becomes toilet paper.

No MOT = no Insurance is cobblers, sorry.

Gaygle · 8 Dec 2010 at 07:50

teaboy5 said:
they may as well of failed it, because your insurance then becomes toilet paper.

teaboy5 said:
I really do despair when people don't know what they are talking about.

BigglesPiP · 8 Dec 2010 at 12:56

Oh dear.

It can fail the pre-MOT inspection by being quite insanely dirty, this is not an MOT fail, it's a refusal to test, which means your MOT remains valid if you had one. The level of dirt for this however is going to need to be mental, like preventing a door opening.

For example, if a rust spot is hidden by a sticker, the tester can't remove the sticker to see it, the ethos at the moment is "if in doubt; pass and advise".

If you're a Taxi, it's a different story, in many district councils there are standards of cleanliness Taxis must pass for their bi-yearly MOT and Taxi test.

Burnsy2023 · 8 Dec 2010 at 13:07

BigglesPiP said:
Oh dear.

It can fail the pre-MOT inspection by being quite insanely dirty, this is not an MOT fail, it's a refusal to test, which means your MOT remains valid if you had one.

Even if it fails the previous MOT is still valid.

buckeejit · 8 Dec 2010 at 13:14

my MOT expires today and I have my MOT test tonight so this is going to be fun if I fail. I'm stuck in work and haven't got time to take it to get vacuumed or washed but it's not majorly dirty, just road scum etc - no heavy muck.

Hope I pass.

BigglesPiP · 8 Dec 2010 at 14:10

Burnsy2023 said:
Even if it fails the previous MOT is still valid.

True, and surprisingly undocumented.

But there is a separate offense of driving a car in an unroadworthy condition.

Wicksta · 8 Dec 2010 at 14:27

BigglesPiP said:
True, and surprisingly undocumented.

But there is a separate offense of driving a car in an unroadworthy condition.

I don't understand your point there - if it was refused a test due to cleanliness or went through the test and failed it would still be unroadworthy either way (if it had a problem).

It's ok to just admit you are wrong sometimes. It was pretty clear you made out that if it was refused a test then it would still be ok to drive but would not if it failed.

BigglesPiP · 8 Dec 2010 at 14:40

Wicksta said:
I don't understand your point there - if it was refused a test due to cleanliness or went through the test and failed it would still be unroadworthy either way (if it had a problem).

It's ok to just admit you are wrong sometimes. It was pretty clear you made out that if it was refused a test then it would still be ok to drive but would not if it failed.

I didn't know, so I emailed VOSA about it. That's the extent of their response.

End Creditz · 8 Dec 2010 at 14:45

I should think all they're worried about is having unobstructed views/access to all the pipework, brake lines for instance, under the car to check for corrosion effectively.