For the past couple of months I have been extremely busy and had lots going on within the family. No excuse I know for whats following.
Over the weekend I was sure the tax was due on Mrs ND's car, quick check of the disc tells me it was 11 days out of date. No problem, will order it online and we'll be ok.
Problem no 2. While trying to order the disc online the computer says no. There is no current MOT on the car. W'oh. That means its 2 months out of date.
Quick visit to my local garage on Monday. "When can I have an MOT done mate"? Oh, Thursday or Friday at the earliest. Er, Steve, you dont understand its 2 months out of date. OK, go get the car now and I will get it done this afternoon for you. Thank goodness for local garages that enjoy their work.
Car passes MOT, no problem and order my tax online that evening.
So, warning to everyone else. Please dont be a numpty like me, get your MOT's done on time.
Edited by Webmaster on 15/01/2009 at 00:28
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I always put reminders in the diary (actually Outlook which sync's with my mobile) for these things. But it is so easy to forget these things.
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You can also get a reminder emailed via:
www.mottest.net/mot/mot-reminder/
I did the same thing with my MOT last time, came to renew tax and the MOT was 3 months out of date! Oops!
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I've got mine timed so that the MOT expires one month after the tax is due. So no panics about getting the MOT for the tax and the RFL reminder doubles as an MOT reminder.
It can take a bit of effort to get them sync'd but worth it for me.
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mot.s come with a removable reminder sticker that you peel off and stick somewhere... try the windscreen, avoid the tax disc side and try driver side...simple or what?
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I use the removable sticker too. Top corner of the screen in the car, and under the seat on the bike. Works well.
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^^^^^
I have yet to have one of those stickers stay on my screen for more than 2 - 3 months, so what I do is write the date down on a piece of bright card and stick it in a prominent position on my study noticeboard.
The garage also reminds me a month or so before it's due, and I have the tax timed for around the same time.
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>It can take a bit of effort to get them sync'd
A one-time work colleague was so worried about this possibility that he got his car (I think a Renault 5) tested every 6 months ...
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Talking about forgetting things, I took a car back to the rental place in Prague with just over half a tank of diesel, I could not find a filling station and it was getting late. I was charged £72 on a credit card I hardly ever use. I forgot to pay it on time and now have to pay an extra £12.
So less than half a tank of diesel has cost me £84!
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Getting off topic but this might help someone else.... well a bit might but it is sort of amusing.
Hire car from Pisa airport in 2005 and I had to take it back full or be charged a lot. Go back to the airport and they tell me where the nearest petrol stations are.... it was on the way to them.... but they had closed for the afternoon. One let you pay by card... then the farce:
- Put card in machine and picked up pump
- Nothing working.... then someone else put cash in and used the other pump
- Then my pump worked and realised it was their cash!
- Had to pay them back for their cash
- Card was now stuck in petrol pump controlling machine!
- Retrieve card using tweezers (don't ask!)
- Car still not full of petrol
Then the garage reopens... turns out the machine would not accept a card issued from outside Italy and definately not a credit card. Paid inside in the end when open. So sometimes it is difficult to fill them back to full which is surprising. The petrol station was a few miles away from the airport.
Don't get me on to walking around the walls of Lucca the wrong way to get back to the car!!! I knew I should have used my satnav to check where we were. And then... Take the car back and checking all taken out... car door hits me in the head and cuts me above my eye and lots of blood!
Then the following year, we hire a car at Malpensa and get rear ended by an HGV and end up in hospital for stitches, x-rays, CT scan, etc.
Aren't I the lucky one ;-)
Edited by rtj70 on 15/01/2009 at 18:52
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I'm lucky in that my tax is due three weeks before the MOT, so I book the MOT when I sort out the tax. The insurance renewal is six months from then thus spreading costs - I pay the insurance yearly rather than monthly.
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I am more than capable of forgetting a family birthday or other special occasion but for some reason car tax, MOT and insurance renewal dates are firmly lodged in what remains of my once nearly adequate brain.
I do worry about that.
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If I didn't put my wife's MOT date in my calendar (so phone/Outlook) I'd soon forget. Do the same for the dentist - book the next appointment when leaving after a check-up.
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i never get a tax reminder for some reason, but i know its new years eve when it runs out so not a prob
Edited by zookeeper on 15/01/2009 at 20:31
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ND, you're not alone, a few years ago when my life was in severe upheaval my road tax was due and i then found the MOT had run out some 3 months earlier.
One of the pitfalls in having a completely reliable vehicle i suppose, just never gave it a thought.
I offer no excuses and i still can't believe i let it happen.
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