Naughty Tesla WWYD?

[Neilio]

My car went in for a replacement coolant unit last month and they have no spares so it'll be 2 months before ita ready.

They gave me a loan car. But it turns out they gave me a car without am MOT and tried to cover it up when they swapped it.

I'm pretty furious to have been given a car that wasn't road legal but not sure what to do about it.

What would you do if that happened to you?

 

[MrMoonUK]

Unless you got pulled over then I wouldn’t do anything as there is no impact

 

[GlynG]

Driving without an MOT is not the same as driving an unroadworthy car, There has been no impact on you I assume so I wouldn't be doing anything other than logging your dissatisfaction with the service centre manager - so its on record.

 

[Limey]

It was most likely accidental, email them that it could put people at legal risk and move on.

 

[Durzel]

i think I’d think “oh” and then get on with my day.

 

[ACarneiro]

I believe you can be fined up to £1000 for driving a car with no MOT, so this doesn’t seem nearly as benign a situation as it appears…
What I don’t know, and couldn’t find anywhere that made it clear, is whether the fine goes to the registered keeper or to the person driving the vehicle.
I’m not sure you’d want to test that

 

[Spacerat]

And I believe it would also invalidate the insurance, so whilst it's easy to say "no harm done" it's definitely not trivial.

 

[MrMoonUK]

And I believe it would also invalidate the insurance, so whilst it's easy to say "no harm done" it's definitely not trivial.

It’s fake news the whole no MOT invalidates insurance

 

[Spacerat]

It’s fake news the whole no MOT invalidates insurance

It's not black and white, but it'll definitely be challenged by the insurer is my understanding, but more than happy to be proved wrong.

 

[Undecided_2]

My car went in for a replacement coolant unit last month and they have no spares so it'll be 2 months before ita ready.

They gave me a loan car. But it turns out they gave me a car without am MOT and tried to cover it up when they swapped it.

I'm pretty furious to have been given a car that wasn't road legal but not sure what to do about it.

What would you do if that happened to you?

Contact/drive back to the SC and ask before posting here.

 

[Neilio]

It was most likely accidental, email them that it could put people at legal risk and move on.

Contact/drive back to the SC and ask before posting here.

I did this. They didn’t even acknowledge they’d given me a car that wasn’t road legal. Which is even more annoying

 

[Neilio]

Unless you got pulled over then I wouldn’t do anything as there is no impact

So just let them get away with giving people cars that aren’t road legal. Nah

 

[GlynG]

My my, don't people like to spread it on thick? Insurance is not invalidated by the lack of an MOT - an unroadworthy car in certain but not all circumstances maybe. As for a fine for driving with no MOT in this situation - poppycock. Even the criminal law requires a person to be aware they are committing an offence for there to be a proven offence - its called the "Mens Rea" - There are two elements, 1 - the offence was committed and 2 - The guilty state of mind (The person knew, or should have reasonably known they were committing an offence)
When you are supplied a courtesy vehicle it isn't reasonable to demand access to all documentation relating to the vehicle - the duty of care is on the business to the person they lend their car to to provide a safe and road legal vehicle.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Tesla are providing the insurance on the car and may even self insure with a backstop underwriter above a massive claim (my father in law ran a Renault dealership and he said their excess was more than the price of any individual car, they’d only ever claim for personal injury).

But the standard of the cars is dreadful. I had a MX from Chester and when I got home I literally put all my clothing in the wash as I walked back into the house. Filthy inside, dents in every panel, I presume taxed and MOT’d but I shouldn’t need to check. I have the reg somewhere, I might check.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

My my, don't people like to spread it on thick? Insurance is not invalidated by the lack of an MOT - an unroadworthy car in certain but not all circumstances maybe. As for a fine for driving with no MOT in this situation - poppycock. Even the criminal law requires a person to be aware they are committing an offence for there to be a proven offence - its called the "Mens Rea" - There are two elements, 1 - the offence was committed and 2 - The guilty state of mind (The person knew, or should have reasonably known they were committing an offence)
When you are supplied a courtesy vehicle it isn't reasonable to demand access to all documentation relating to the vehicle - the duty of care is on the business to the person they lend their car to to provide a safe and road legal vehicle.

Isn’t driving with no MOT a strict liability law and not knowing is no defence? You have a argument as mitigation but I’m not sure it’s as clear cut as you suggest,

 

[Sparkeur]

Isn’t driving with no MOT a strict liability law and not knowing is no defence?

Correct. It is the responsibility of the operator of a vehicle to check the legality or otherwise of their vehicle.

 

[seadog]

My my, don't people like to spread it on thick? As for a fine for driving with no MOT in this situation - poppycock. Even the criminal law requires a person to be aware they are committing an offence for there to be a proven offence - its called the "Mens Rea" - There are two elements, 1 - the offence was committed and 2 - The guilty state of mind (The person knew, or should have reasonably known they were committing an offence)
When you are supplied a courtesy vehicle it isn't reasonable to demand access to all documentation relating to the vehicle - the duty of care is on the business to the person they lend their car to to provide a safe and road legal vehicle.

I was fined £60 by police for driving a vehicle without an MOT, it was a company owned car and as such I just assumed it was legal to be on the road, never even thought to check, although it was not so easy to do so back then as there was no online ability. The police knew I was unaware it had no MOT but that was no defence and I still got fined. It was a simple oversight by the business owner and the car was in good driveable condition, the police checked over the car when I was stopped and everything was OK, not like a full MOT but visual inspection of tyres, brake pads and discs, etc. The company gave me money to pay the fine and there was no points for that offence so didn't affect me but still a bit annoying, but it was just a genuine mistake by the owner and myself.

 

[MrT3]

What I don’t know, and couldn’t find anywhere that made it clear, is whether the fine goes to the registered keeper or to the person driving the vehicle.

The driver.

 

[NewbieT]

If i got fined for driving a loaner without an MOT I’d take up the loss with Tesla. No loss = make my point and move on.

 

[Undecided_2]

I did this. They didn’t even acknowledge they’d given me a car that wasn’t road legal. Which is even more annoying

i didn’t see that in your post. The below is from the Police and not hearsay or rumour. I wouldn’t drive the car. It’s the drivers responsibility to ensure the car is road legal. There are no exceptions and it’s down to the Police officer whether to enforce.

Police Officer: Any driver who drives a vehicle, whether it belongs to them or not, has a responsibility to ensure that they are insured to drive the vehicle, that the vehicle is fully road legal, taxed and MOT'd. If you are stopped by the police it is you as the driver who will face prosecution.