Boot floor, seat belts and the law

There will be hundreds of boot floor posts on here but I can't find what I'm looking for.

Lets say you have a 300 5 door with a rotten boot floor, cills seat belts points etc, normal 300 rot points. Mot's due so you remove rear seats and seat belts and take for the test telling the tester you use it as a van [it still has windows]. Car comes back with a ticket but the mot says "used as a van, rear seat belts not tested".

Right or wrong?

I proberbly know what people are going to say. I would have thought that to have a car tested as a van it would need to be reclassified on the log book as such with the number of seats being 2 and not 5!

ya insurance is instantly invaldidated as you insured it as a car presumably for social, domestic, commuting. Not as a commercial vehicle with business use?? you will also have described it as having 5 ot 7 seats?? not 2 seats.

andyoak said:

There will be hundreds of boot floor posts on here but I can't find what I'm looking for.

Lets say you have a 300 5 door with a rotten boot floor, cills seat belts points etc, normal 300 rot points. Mot's due so you remove rear seats and seat belts and take for the test telling the tester you use it as a van [it still has windows]. Car comes back with a ticket but the mot says "used as a van, rear seat belts not tested".

Right or wrong?

I proberbly know what people are going to say. I would have thought that to have a car tested as a van it would need to be reclassified on the log book as such with the number of seats being 2 and not 5!

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If the rear seats are folded up then they wont be tested, it will be noted that the rear seatbelts wernt tested as an advisory but it wont be reclassed as a van. Its the same of you had a child seat fitted, it wouldn't be tested but would be an advisory.


As for invalidating insurance, I dont believe that is the case, your not changing your vehicle or any details about it, your not getting a 'van' MOT your getting a class 4 MOT. The MOT is only a check of testable items at the time it was presented, if the seatbelts aren't testable then they wont be tested but a pass will still be granted.

EDIT - just re-read it and you are going to remove the seats, well it still wont have the classification changed due to the MOT. An insurance company 'could' say its been modified from its original state but its highly unlikely, many people remove seats from vehicles, as long as its temporary you would be fine (i.e. removed for repairs or for carrying large/dirty items).

Jongould said:

If the rear seats are folded up then they wont be tested, it will be noted that the rear seatbelts wernt tested as an advisory but it wont be reclassed as a van. Its the same of you had a child seat fitted, it wouldn't be tested but would be an advisory.


As for invalidating insurance, I dont believe that is the case, your not changing your vehicle or any details about it, your not getting a 'van' MOT your getting a class 4 MOT. The MOT is only a check of testable items at the time it was presented, if the seatbelts aren't testable then they wont be tested but a pass will still be granted.

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Nope the floor will be failed for having corrosion within 30cm of a setbelt mounting. and the seatbelts will be still be available for testing as the buckles will be accessable even with the seats folded forwards. He's not on about dickey seats ere. He's on about removing seats and seatbelts in an attempt to avoid having to replace a rotten boot floor.

Jongould said:

If the rear seats are folded up then they wont be tested, it will be noted that the rear seatbelts wernt tested as an advisory but it wont be reclassed as a van. Its the same of you had a child seat fitted, it wouldn't be tested but would be an advisory.


As for invalidating insurance, I dont believe that is the case, your not changing your vehicle or any details about it, your not getting a 'van' MOT your getting a class 4 MOT. The MOT is only a check of testable items at the time it was presented, if the seatbelts aren't testable then they wont be tested but a pass will still be granted.

EDIT - just re-read it and you are going to remove the seats, well it still wont have the classification changed due to the MOT. An insurance company 'could' say its been modified from its original state but its highly unlikely, many people remove seats from vehicles, as long as its temporary you would be fine (i.e. removed for repairs or for carrying large/dirty items).

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So you don't think the tester has done anything wrong?

Fully story is my mate bought this a few momths ago. The seller had removed the saets etc, tested it and refitted them before selling it to my mate. I laughed at him at first and started to take the **** but then the penny dropped that I would be getting landed with the job as he doesn't weld. On and off I've been at it five week! I've welded a few discos and this is by far the worst I have seen. Really the thing needed to go back to the bloke that was selling it or to to the ministry but my mate was having none of it.

At this stage I can't see if there is any thing that could be done but just trying to clear it up in my own head. If I'm reading it right the seven seater seat belts are not a testable item if they are folded up?

redhand said:

Nope the floor will be failed for having corrosion within 30cm of a setbelt mounting. and the seatbelts will be still be available for testing as the buckles will be accessable even with the seats folded forwards. He's not on about dickey seats ere. He's on about removing seats and seatbelts in an attempt to avoid having to replace a rotten boot floor.

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If the seat is folded up then the seatbelts aren't tested, doesnt matter if they are accesible or not, you only test a vehicle as it is presented, if the seats are folded then you can only pass and advise. The corrosion must be on the chassis to fail the mounts as this is where they are bolted to, the boot floor isnt the mounting structure so it can't fail on this, if there is rust within 30cm of a chassis to body mount it can fail.

andyoak said:

So you don't think the tester has done anything wrong?

Fully story is my mate bought this a few momths ago. The seller had removed the saets etc, tested it and refitted them before selling it to my mate. I laughed at him at first and started to take the **** but then the penny dropped that I would be getting landed with the job as he doesn't weld. On and off I've been at it five week! I've welded a few discos and this is by far the worst I have seen. Really the thing needed to go back to the bloke that was selling it or to to the ministry but my mate was having none of it.

At this stage I can't see if there is any thing that could be done but just trying to clear it up in my own head. If I'm reading it right the seven seater seat belts are not a testable item if they are folded up?

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If the belts were removed then the tester has done nothin wrong, if the seatbelts were still fitted and there is rust within 30CM then it shouldn't have passed, this is the chassis though, floor doesn't come into it unless its within a mounting area.

andyoak said:

If I'm reading it right the seven seater seat belts are not a testable item if they are folded up?

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The side facing seats aren't testable full stop.

redhand said:

The side facing seats aren't testable full stop.

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OMFG

we all know that the rear inner wings rot like f**k right where the dickie seats and belts mount. So from another angle I could go and buy one with a full test and chuck my kids in the boot only for them not to be safe?

On the car in question the two rear body mounts were as rotten as a pear. The two on each side were ok but not conected to the inner cills as the inner cills were rotten. The first soundish body mounts working from the rear were the ones under the front foot wells. So going back to the rear seat belts [main rear ones not dickies] once you have a bump then the body would have tried to come away from the chassis and taken the rear belts ,well one end of it, through the floor. I wouldn't like to be sat in the rear in such a bump. May be if the boot floor were a fail, all of it, then the testers might test in a bit for detail.

When ever I repair one if it's rotten I chop back and renew regardless of location and what Mr MoT says, I wouldn't want it on my conscience

ya not supposed to put ya icckle uns in side facing seats anyway

Was it as bad as this.

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redhand said:

ya not supposed to put ya icckle uns in side facing seats anyway

Was it as bad as this.

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In place's yes but over all no, that is a bad un.

My mate has had to keep using it so for the last 5 week he has ran about with just the drivers seat in it. I have only been able to chop back what i knew I could put back in that sitting so never seen the full picture. There has been quite a few moments where it's been look at this and what if's. About half way in he did say that he should have took it back, I could have f**king killed him

andyoak said:

In place's yes but over all no, that is a bad un.

My mate has had to keep using it so for the last 5 week he has ran about with just the drivers seat in it. I have only been able to chop back what i knew I could put back in that sitting so never seen the full picture. There has been quite a few moments where it's been look at this and what if's. About half way in he did say that he should have took it back, I could have f**king killed him

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HaHA have been there. That one was bought as a donor for a 90TD conversion. But I did drive it from Bournemouth to Yeovil at 65/70 + and wondered what the clonking was on every bend. the wholl back end was unsupported except by the rear pillars holding it to the roof panel.

Thought you were gona say you had it back on the road in a week and that I were dragging me feet

On a brighter note I think I only have one more sitting

andyoak said:

Thought you were gona say you had it back on the road in a week and that I were dragging me feet

On a brighter note I think I only have one more sitting

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Lol if I was gonna fix it wouldn't have taken a week :behindsofa:

yeh, ya could have done it on the way back. One hand on the wheel the other welding, forget going home go straight to the test center, job done!

andyoak said:

yeh, ya could have done it on the way back. One hand on the wheel the other welding, forget going home go straight to the test center, job done!

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That's the spirit forget the welding though Gaffa tape & cable ties would have sorted that out..