Car missing it’s first MOT?

[Abracadabra121]

Evening gents so looking at potentially buying a car which is on a 16 plate and only has 2 MOT present. First one would’ve been back in 2019 but it wasn’t done as owner apparently forgot (so the dealer says). It’s on below average miles for that age car only 32k miles but it’s not exactly a daily more of a toy so who knows. It’s also just a one owner car from new should I be concerned?

[greysquirrel]

No, if it passed the next one, and more importantly the most recent one, who cares? Did he forget the service as well though?

[B'stard Child]

Covid extension?

[sparkythecat]

No.
At that age and mileage, what’s more important is it’s service history

[1000 Miglia]

It was sitting for months in a bodyshop having the mangled rear end straightened out

[Abracadabra121]

Ouch to last common! I’m yet to check it’s services and confirm with dealers it’s visited etc problem is it’s not scheduled services it’s condition based so the computer flags up when something requires doing. My thinking was check mileages prior 2019 and check for anything fishy, but again hard to tell as condition based. My main fear is it’s been knocked and off the road as suggested in last commnet or it’s been clocked back on mileages

[Pica-Pica]

You can’t ‘forget’ your first MOT - ignored maybe, but the owner would have had a reminder of some sort.

[E63eeeeee...]

Pica-Pica said:

You can’t ‘forget’ your first MOT - ignored maybe, but the owner would have had a reminder of some sort.

I've never had any MOT reminders, apart from a local garage that bothers me annually about one of them. Certainly nothing official. Who's supposed to send it?

[Heartworm]

One of my cars doesn't have it's first MOT, it was off road for 18 months as I wasn't around to use it at the time.

[Abracadabra121]

True I’ve not received reminders for years now I don’t think, tax yes- mot no. Anyone know when the covid extension came into play? Because it would’ve been due may 2019 I think. Also between the past 2 Mot it has got cars done under 2k miles. Guy who sold it told dealer due to covid and he now works from home. Which I can believe because my current car also did only 2.5k as I have a daily. Dealer apparently knows the whole family as their enthusiasts and got quite a few flash cars, don’t know how true that is so keeping my wits about me.

[1000 Miglia]

Covid extension was from about March 2020 for a few months ,it finished before my car needed a MOT in about September .

[Abracadabra121]

Hmm means this cars been knocking about or parked up somewhere for a year without any mot. Surely this also means no valid tax

[Abracadabra121]

Could’ve been to mars and back in 4 years and displays only 32k miles today lol

[1000 Miglia]

Abracadabra121 said:

Hmm means this cars been knocking about or parked up somewhere for a year without any mot. Surely this also means no valid tax

It was almost 3 years ago ,not for you to worry about .

[Abracadabra121]

Just slightly concerning it wasn’t done. Surely no one forgets the first mot on a brand new car if they owned from new unless ofcourse they got more money then they can spend

[stevemcs]

Could be a Northern Ireland car, first mot is due on its 4th birthday

[Abracadabra121]

Wasn’t aware NI was 4years. It’s actually registered well according to first 2 letters on Reg in the reading area

[Sheepshanks]

Abracadabra121 said:

Hmm means this cars been knocking about or parked up somewhere for a year without any mot. Surely this also means no valid tax

As long as it wasn’t registered on the 1st of the month it could have been retaxed as normal.

There was talk in the past about changing the first MOT to four years - apparently it’s common that people think it doesn’t need to be done until just before the car turns four yrs old.

[Royal Jelly]

If it’s a toy car rather than a daily, it could well have been laid up in storage/SORNED.. No biggie either way if the paperwork is all good to go now.

Plenty of cars have missed MOTs due to winter storage..

[Tommo87]

Abracadabra121 said:

Just slightly concerning it wasn’t done. Surely no one forgets the first mot on a brand new car if they owned from new unless ofcourse they got more money then they can spend

If it was the last in a sequence of brand new cars traded in before 3years old, they could have spent more than a decade without ever needing to consider an MOT.


As others have said, the last MOT is the most important, the first the least (unless it failed catastrophically.