What Happens If Your Car Has a Recall?

What happens when your car is recalled

If your car is recalled for a safety reason, the manufacturer will usually write to you. gov.uk says the letter tells you why it's being recalled, what to do next and who to contact. You won't usually pay for the parts or the work. Whether you can keep driving until the appointment depends on what the letter says.

The big one is a letter that tells you to stop driving. That changes everything below, so check for it first.

A recall isn't a verdict on your car. It's the maker admitting it built in a fault and offering to put it right.

This guide is part of our series on running a car. It's for people who already own the car and have just heard about a recall. If you're checking a car before you buy it, our guide to checking a used car for a recall covers that side.

First, work out which kind of notice you have

Not every recall letter means the same thing. The DVSA, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, runs the UK recall scheme. Its code of practice for manufacturers sets out the options.

A stop-drive safety recall is the serious one. The code uses it when there's "an immediate threat to safety so the vehicle must not be driven".

An ordinary safety recall is a step down. The fault meets the definition of a safety defect, but the code says the threat "is not immediate or can be mitigated with 'reasonable' consumer action". You book it in, and the letter tells you what to do in the meantime.

Be careful with that line, though. gov.uk's recall checker page doesn't draw it. It says that if your vehicle has a serious safety defect, the manufacturer will write to tell you what to do, and "You must not drive the vehicle." So if the letter doesn't say plainly that you can keep using the car, ask before you drive it.

A non-safety recall or service campaign is different. The code lists both as actions for faults that don't meet the safety test. A service campaign has "no involvement from DVSA" at all. gov.uk's own page on registered faults, the non-safety faults that do get registered with DVSA, says you don't have to act on one if you don't want to.

The letter tells you which one you've got. Those labels are the code's, and your letter may not use the same words.

If it isn't clear, ring the number on the letter and ask whether it's a safety recall and whether the car can be driven. The free government recall checker tells you a safety recall exists. It isn't a substitute for the letter on what you should do.

Do you have to get it done?

For a safety recall, yes, in practice. There's no offence called "ignoring a recall". But the law is clear about whose job it is to keep the car safe, and gov.uk uses it to explain why you shouldn't leave a recall sitting.

gov.uk says you're "legally responsible for making sure that your vehicle is kept in a safe condition" and "safe to drive whenever you drive it". If you don't get it inspected and fixed, it says you "could affect any insurance claim you make" and put yourself and others at serious risk.

In England, Scotland and Wales, the offence behind that is section 40A of the Road Traffic Act 1988: using a vehicle in a dangerous condition. It applies when the condition of the car "involves a danger of injury to any person". It also catches anyone who causes or permits someone else to drive it. The section doesn't mention recalls at all.

So the question is whether the car is dangerous, and an open safety recall is the manufacturer telling you it might be.

For a car, the penalty is a fine of up to £2,500, three penalty points and a possible driving ban. Those figures come from the penalties schedule to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 and match what gov.uk says. The ban becomes compulsory if you've been convicted of the same offence in the previous three years. The maximum fine is higher for goods vehicles and for vehicles adapted to carry more than eight passengers.

Two things fall outside all that. A non-safety fault or service campaign isn't a safety recall. gov.uk says you don't have to do anything about a registered non-safety fault, though it warns the car "could become unsafe in the future" or fail its next MOT. Its example is a car given the wrong vehicle identification number (VIN) at the factory.

And a stop-drive notice is the other way round. There, the instruction is to stop driving until it's fixed. The code's own definition says the vehicle "must not be driven".

On insurance, the honest position is gov.uk's own: an unfixed recall "could affect any insurance claim you make". I haven't seen an insurer's policy wording that says a recall voids cover, so don't take a blog's word that it does.

On the MOT, an open recall isn't a test item. I read the current MOT inspection manual on 26 October 2026 and it doesn't mention recalls anywhere. gov.uk says that in England, Scotland and Wales the certificate might tell you about a safety recall, depending on the manufacturer.

Booking it: what the appointment is like

Recall work is normally done by the manufacturer's franchised dealers, not your local independent. The letter names who to contact. Ring them, quote any recall reference the letter gives, and book.

You won't usually pay. gov.uk's wording is "you will not usually have to pay for any repairs or parts under a safety recall". The Motor Ombudsman says you shouldn't be charged. Our recall check guide goes through the small print.

How long it takes depends on the job. There's no official typical figure, so I won't give you one. Ask the dealer when you book.

Some recalls are an inspection first, with a repair only if the car needs it. The code of practice also lists a buy-back as a possible remedy, though that's the manufacturer's call.

Expect more than one letter if you don't respond. The code says three notifications per motorist "would be seen as reasonable". It's an expectation on the manufacturer, not a right you can insist on.

A big recall may also be phased, with the manufacturer agreeing the order with DVSA. That's one reason a neighbour with the same model can be called in before you.

Then there's the courtesy car. You'll read online that you're entitled to one if the repair takes a long time. The Motor Ombudsman says the opposite: supplying a courtesy car "is at their discretion (i.e. a gesture of goodwill), and is not a legal requirement".

Ask for one when you book. Just don't book on the assumption you'll get it.

When it doesn't go to plan

No appointments for weeks. The Motor Ombudsman's advice is to go over the dealer's head. Ask the manufacturer about "alternative businesses in your area" that may have availability.

The code of practice tells manufacturers to plan to fix cars "as quickly as possible", and encourages them to add capacity beyond the dealer network where that's the bottleneck. That's an aim, not a deadline.

No parts. There's no formal timetable for parts on a recall. The Motor Ombudsman says manufacturers "endeavour to supply parts as soon as possible", and that's the whole of it.

There's no deadline on you either. The code says a recall stays open even after the manufacturer stops actively chasing it. The manufacturer and its dealers are "still expected to act upon it should a vehicle be presented".

A stop-drive notice and a car you can't drive. Follow the letter. Ask the manufacturer whether the car needs to be towed to the dealer, and who's arranging and paying for that. I couldn't find a published rule on who pays, so get the answer in writing before the car moves.

The dealer damaged the car. Raise it with the dealer first, in writing. If the dealer is signed up to the Motor Ombudsman's Service and Repair Code, you can take a dispute to the Ombudsman. That's after eight weeks without a resolution, or sooner if you reach deadlock.

Our guide to a mechanic who didn't fix your car walks through that route and what to do if the dealer isn't signed up.

You paid for the fix before the recall came out. Ask the dealer who did the work, or the manufacturer, about a refund. The Motor Ombudsman's advice is to contact them "to see if there is any element of goodwill that can be offered". So it's a goodwill request, sent with the invoice attached.

Who to complain to depends on what's wrong. The Motor Ombudsman can look at the standard of recall repair work, but only against a business signed up to one of its codes. It can't look at whether a recall should have been issued. That's DVSA's job.

If you think your car has a serious safety fault nobody has recalled, report it to the manufacturer first, then to DVSA if you're unhappy with the response. I found no DVSA route for "the dealer won't book me in", so for that one the manufacturer's customer service is where you push.

You never got a letter

The letter goes to the registered keeper, the person on the V5C logbook. DVSA's recall leaflet says the manufacturer writes "normally by letter to the registered keeper" and may use keeper data from the DVLA, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. If you moved and never updated the V5C, the letter went to your old address. If you bought the car recently, it may have gone to the previous keeper.

The leaflet puts it plainly: "Keep your keeper record up to date with the DVLA". That leaflet dates from April 2014. But the keeper data route is the one the current code of practice describes. Our guide to keeping your V5C updated covers the mechanics.

You can check for yourself.

gov.uk's recall checker shows unfixed safety recalls by registration number. Without the registration, it lists recalls by make, model and year, which tells you whether the model was recalled but not whether your car has been fixed. Whether the registration route covers your car depends on the manufacturer. The recall check guide explains the routes and their gaps.

There's one more trap. The Motor Ombudsman says recalls are often specific to a region, so a recall you read about abroad may not apply to UK cars at all.

Selling a car with an open recall

You can sell it. The Motor Ombudsman says you can part exchange or sell privately with an outstanding recall, "but this must be disclosed to the buyer". That's the Ombudsman's guidance rather than a statute I can point you to for a private sale. Disclose it anyway.

It costs you nothing, and the buyer can check it in minutes. The repair is normally free to whoever books it, too.

Then tell the manufacturer you no longer own the car. DVSA's leaflet asks you to, because it "will protect the new owner". Telling DVLA you've sold the car is a separate step. It updates the keeper record manufacturers may draw on, but the leaflet asks you to tell the manufacturer as well.

Do both.

If you're the buyer in this story, the dealer side is covered in our recall check guide.

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