Vehicle documents part 2 - VC5, MOT, Insurance

In life things often come in threes, from the three nephews of Donald Duck to the holy trinity (not related by the way) Vehicle documents are no exception and just like Huey, Dewey and Louie or the Father, Son and Holy ghost these documents have a natural order to them. So, what comes first? Thanks for playing but let’s just identify them first, (1) Vehicle Registration Certificate, A.K.A the VC5 (2) MOT certificate and (3) Insurance certificate which, phew, we already covered.

(Red Light - On your marks..)The vehicle registration certificate is the first of our document trinity and every vehicle on the road must have one. The VC5 is your car’s identity papers identifying your (1) vehicle make, (2) engine size and (3) its registered keeper (you). *Fair warning* another multiple of three coming up. If, for instance, you decided to use your new pride and joy to ram-raid the local jewellers and, as a result you, had to (1) change your name (2) change your address and (3) change your vehicle, you would need to inform the DVLA. Actually, in such a scenario informing the licensing authority might be a bit stupid but that's a whole different blog. That said, if you did change your name or address or you sold your car then you would indeed have to inform the DVLA and return part of your Vehicle registration document to them for an update. Word to the wise, if you lose your VC5 you will pay handsomely for a replacement.
(Amber light – Get set..) The MOT (Ministry Of Transport) certificate comes next. Now you have acquired your car you become responsible for its roadworthiness. If the VC5 is your car’s I.D papers then the MOT certificate is its bill of health which must be renewed every year. Quick note, the MOT only comes into effect from your vehicle’s third birthday (Three’s the theme remember) We will revisit the MOT topic another time.

(Green light – Go) Insurance documents come last, Why? because you must be in possession of the first two before you can get insured. (remember the three levels of insurance) Good let’s move on. Oops, we’re not going anywhere until that police officer comes over, get ready, looks like he is getting out now and he doesn’t look too happy, anything you want to tell me? How about your road tax disc, is it up to date?

Just enough time to mention SORN documents (Statutory Off Road Notification) You could include this in with our vehicle documents if you wanted to be mean and make a mockery of my neat little trinity theme, however, SORN documents only apply if you want to declare your vehicle off road (thus exempting you from paying road tax) and like the MOT this must be renewed after 12 months. Ok, here he comes, be polite now...
http://twitter.com/theorytestnovel www.facebook.com/TheoryTestNovel

Vehicle documents part 1 - insurance

So this is the vehicle documents bit, perhaps the least interesting and unpalatable of all the theory test/driving related issues we could talk about but hey, if you don’t experience the sour how can you appreciate the sweet? Think of this post as the coffee flavoured revel, you need to digest it before you can finish the pack. Ok let’s talk quickly before that police officer gets out of his cruiser and comes over, no doubt he’s running a check on your vehicle right now to see if you are insured. You are aren’t you?
There are three standard levels of insurance, beginning with (1)Third Party, which is exactly that, it covers damage to other vehicles and injury to other people i.e the third party in any accident, you are not covered in any way here. (2) Third party Fire and Theft adds another layer and now covers your own vehicle for.. oh you got it, fire and theft (3) Comprehensive insurance (fully comp), covers everything, that’s pretty comprehensive then.
Staying in the insurance zone for a moment longer, what is excess? Well in order to achieve a cheaper price when you buy your insurance you can agree to pay an excess amount of money in the event you get into an accident, so if the repair bill on that hypothetical future accident is £500 then you will pay the first £100, if that's the amount you agreed (that’s the excess) The more excess you agree to in advance the less the insurance will cost, and most of us, believing we are invincible, will agree to any old excess right? cos we are going to be the best driver on the road and that accident aint happening so its a redundant issue. It’s a brain/ego versus wallet choice really.
Ah, I see you just have a cover note at the moment, this is the temporary insurance document companies sometimes issue while they are preparing your full documents, that’s fine, your cover note is valid for a month and will be accepted by the officer. Something else temporary is the anesthetising effects of this topic on your brain maybe so lets conclude this necessary discussion on documents next time...
http://twitter.com/theorytestnovel  www.facebook.com/TheoryTestNovel

Pulled over for Speeding

Let’s leave the city behind for a while now and hit the open road. That’s right, second gear into third and now forth as you build up some speed, what’s your speed now? Hey, not too fast, the speed limit is still fifty along this stretch of road, better reign it in a bit, oops, too late, looks like there is a police cruiser behind us. Sorry, my fault for encouraging you. Ok, there are two things he will do if he wants us to pull over, (1) he will put on his flashing blues, have a look in your rear view mirror, are they flashing? They are? Ok. (2) The police officer will also point to the left if he wants to reinforce his message, have a look in the mirror again, is he doing this? He is, Ok, lets find a safe place to pull over. If you were in town I would advise you not to pull over or park opposite another parked car which would cause a bottleneck in the road. Out in the country it is also important not to create a blind spot or obstruction by parking near a bend or junction, no matter, there just happens to be a layby up ahead so check your mirrors before indicating then pull into it. Take heart, at least we did some basic vehicle checks before setting off so we can be sure the car is roadworthy. Do you remember the legal minimum tread depth? Sweet ;) Are all your documents in order and up to date? I am sure he will be asking for them...                        http://twitter.com/theorytestnovel.com www.facebook.com/TheoryTestNovel

Puffin Pedestrian Crossing

Don’t know about you but we have a long way to go and I’m itching to make some progress, thankfully I think we are coming to the edge of town now, just need to be patient until we are past that pedestrian crossing up ahead then hello open road. Ah, it’s not our lucky day there’s an elderly person and it looks like he’s waiting to cross, better slow down and be prepared to stop ( remember this). The lights are turning to red but as soon as the old man has crossed and they have returned to green we can get moving again, then we will see what this car of yours can do without these urban shackles.

He’s a slow mover for sure and what’s more this is an infra-red controlled pedestrian crossing which means the lights won’t return to green until he has reached the other side. What? You don’t believe me? I’ll prove it, take a look at that gadget attached to the traffic light pole just above the lights, you see it? That’s right the one that looks like the laser gun the alien had on his shoulder in ‘Predator’. Well this one doesn’t shoot lasers and you’re not Arnold Schwarzenegger (are you?) but it does shoot an infra-red beam which is tracking the progress of the old man as he crosses now.

In this instance there is no need for the flashing amber stage in the traffic light sequence so you will see, only when he reaches the curb, the light returning directly to green. This particular pedestrian crossing is called a PUFFIN crossing and because it is infra-red controlled I like to think of it as a Ruby crossing, this is one half of a devastatingly brilliant little memory trick. To discover the other half and how it makes remembering the five different types of pedestrian crossing effortlessly easy look out for ‘The Demon Road: A Theory Test Novel’ available to order or download (or both if you wish) on June 1^st from all good online retailers and probably a few rubbish ones too. Next time, the open road...

http://twitter.com/theorytestnovel www.facebook.com/TheoryTestNovel

One-way Street

Looks like we turned left into a one way street, so what's to know about one-way streets apart from the fact you can only go in one direction? Actually if you did turn into a one-way street from the wrong direction your instinct might be to turn around and get the hell outta there, but no, be advised that the safest and highway code advised course of action is to continue cautiously until you reach the other end.
Lets assume you have not got yourself into this situation and that we are merrily going in the right direction, we know this because of that one-way sign we just passed, also all the parked cars are facing forward, also there's another car coming up behind us quite quickly, it looks like a doctor's car to me.
Check out your nearside/passenger wing mirror, she's coming up and about to pass us on our left... and there she goes. Oh but don't be too quick to curse her for bad driving, there are three situations where it is perfectly acceptable to overtake somebody on the left and on a one-way road is one of them. I will cover the others another time but for now you need to focus on being in the correct lane as we approach the end of this road. Look at the doctor's car, she has stayed in the left hand lane and now she is turning left; we are in the right hand lane and it is our intention to turn right so we will keep to our lane as we come to the end of the road now.
Didn't forget to look out for all those residential hazards did you? Incidentally you didn't ask me how i knew that car was a doctor's car, there wasn't any green crosses plastered on it but it did have a green light on its roof and doctor cars are the only ones that can carry a flashing green light...
http://twitter/theorytestnovel www.facebook.com/TheoryTestNovel

The Demon Road : A Theory Test Intro

Welcome to the Theory Test Novel blog. Over the coming months I will be writing this companion blog to run parallel with the release of The Theory Test novel on june 1st. So if you are studying for the driving theory test and would like a silent partner and guide on your quest to theory test success please read on and I will throw lots of theory test knowledge your way with the guarantee that I can make it stick. As we go along I will break down the theory test into easily digestible bite size chunks and blend them with tasty memory-trick morsels from the demon road, a book that reaches the parts all other literature on the topic can only dream about. Now I have laid my cards on the table will you open your passenger door and allow me in so I can share an amazing new resource with you... the ultimate theory test cheat sheet. There's so much for us to talk about, so much for you to know, I hope you're ready ;)  
www.facebook.com/TheoryTestNovel
http://twitter.com/theorytestnovel