A faulty brake light or broken windscreen wiper will cost a £50 non-endorsable fine. In fact, fixed penalty notices are issued for a wide range of defects. If you're stopped after causing an accident and the case was attributed to faulty tyres, you could also be fined £2,500 and three penalty points for each illegal tyre. However, as government advice states, you need to review your car's roadworthiness even if you've passed an MOT an MOT isn't a free pass to drive a dangerous car. You can be fined up to £2,500, be banned from driving and/or face three penalty points if you're found driving a "dangerous" vehicle without an MOT. You can be fined up to £1,000 if you're caught without a valid certificate, but that's not the end of it. Only drivers whose cars are less than three years old and those whose vehicles are over 40 years old are exempt. It can be unsafe even if you have a current MOT certificate."īy law, you're responsible for maintaining the roadworthiness of your vehicle, so if you're driving on public roads, you must have a valid MOT – the yearly test of roadworthiness. The UK Government states that "you’re responsible for making sure your vehicle is always safe to drive (‘roadworthy’). The research, conducted by vehicle data experts HPI, found drivers are lacking in both knowledge and urgency when it comes to both recognising and reacting to dashboard warning lights – it takes an average of eight days and three hours to resolve an issue with a warning light. Do most drivers look after their cars?Ī survey by Halfords revealed millions of motorists are unprepared for winter driving – with nearly half admitting they've not conducted any maintenance checks on their vehicle.Ī similar proportion (46%) said they didn't know how to jump-start their car, while one in six 25-to-34-year-olds (16%) said they didn't know where to find their car's battery.Īnd more than half of UK motorists (59%) are unable to identify some of the most common car warning lights. likely to have a higher resale value and a longer lifeĬonfused? Read our beginner's guide to car maintenance jargon.more environmentally friendly because it runs cleaner and is more economical.often cheaper to fix because problems are caught earlier.less likely to break down because of a common fault.One thing's for sure: driving a car with defects could not only be illegal, but dangerous too – not just to you, but to your passengers and other road users. You can tackle lots of simple tasks yourself, saving on expensive garage labour bills and potential MOT failures, but it's also important to leave some jobs to the professionals with the specialist equipment and expertise. Looking after your vehicle is time and money well spent.