If you’ve just bought a car, it’s important to find out when you should book an MOT and service for the first time. Here, we’ll seek to answer that question and provide plenty of other details regarding your first MOT for a new car. How can you check if your car is due an MOT? We’ll let you know below. In this piece, we’ll look at both brand new and second hand vehicles, so you can have a total understanding of what is required in your situation.
Remember, you can’t be fined on the spot for driving a car that hasn’t had an MOT test in the past year, and in doing so, you will also invalidate your insurance – so if you have an accident or incur damage, you won’t be covered.
When Do You Need To Get Your First MOT Test After Buying A New Car?
If you’ve just bought it, you won’t need to book your first MOT and service for a new car for another three years. To be exact, you should count forward three years from the date of registration – not the date you made the purchase – in order to make sure you are properly covered.
The time of registration is the guideline from which you need to count three years forward to provide the date for the first MOT for your new car.
How Early Can You Get Your First MOT?
You can book your MOT and service to take place up to a month (minus a day) before it is due. If you do this, the check will remain valid for 13 months rather than 12.
How Can You Check if Your Car is Due An MOT?
If you have forgotten when your car had its last MOT, you can check when the next is due either by taking a look at your vehicle’s “V5C” form – otherwise known as its logbook – or by using this handy tool on the gov.uk website. To do this, all you need is your car’s registration number. You can also find out:
- – If it passed or failed, and check the parts that had problems
- – The recorded mileage at the time
- – The location of each test
- This will also work if you’ve bought a second hand car and haven’t been told when it was last checked.
Do You Get 14 Days Grace For Your First MOT?
A popular question regarding vehicle checks is “do you get 14 days grace for your first MOT?” This is not in fact the case. The only leeway you get is the aforementioned month (minus one day) prior to your MOT due date, during which your checks may be done.
What Does An MOT Include?
As a part of your MOT, a garage will check your vehicle’s:
- – Brakes
- – Warning lights
- – Steering and suspension
- – Electrical equipment such as your wiring, horn, lamps and battery
- – Speedometer
- – Reflectors
- – Seat belts and restraints
- – Exhaust, including emission levels
- – Tyres – including pressure and tread depth
- – Road wheels
- – Bodywork condition
- – Registration plate condition
- – Vehicle Identification Number
- – Visibility, including windscreen condition, mirrors and wipers
How Do You Book An MOT?
All you need to do to book an MOT is to call up or visit a registered MOT centre and ask for an appointment. You’ll then be given an appointment letter, which you should bring with you on the day. If it’s your vehicle’s first MOT with you, you should also bring its V5C document. If your car is affected by a current certificate or notice of refusal referring to any previous MOT failures, you should take this with you too.
Here are the main things to remember when planning your first MOT booking:
- – You don’t need to arrange an MOT for a new vehicle until 3 years after it was registered
- – You can check when a vehicle last underwent MOT checks but consulting its V5C document or looking it up via gov.uk
- – You can be immediately fined for driving a vehicle that hasn’t had an MOT check within the last year, and you will not be covered by insurance until it undergoes its next one
- – You can book your next MOT to take place up to a month before it’s actually due
- – However, you do not get 14 days’ grace after your car’s next MOT due date: this is a popular misconception!
- – To book an MOT, simply contact a registered MOT test centre and set the date and time with them.