MOT - It's a game

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gencybay

gencybay

gatvol
Full Member
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Took the old '95 bus in today. Passed with 2 advisories. I used a council testing depot and we did have a bit of an issue with the ABS. However, they went into their system and were satisfied that the warning light does not extinguish until moving at 5 mph.

I then discovered that certificates are no longer issued - you get a receipt instead that can be confirmed online - anti-forgery provision.

I checked online and, sure enough, today's test is there. You can also check the vehicle's MOT history, including previous advisories.

I'm a lazy git and tend to view MOTs as a test and rectify process so I haven't really paid too much attention to advisories. Looking through the previous advisories, it seems that Mike the mechanic has been paying discreet free visits whilst I've been sleeping because most of them appear to have cured themselves without any intervention at all!

Curiously, fails and advisories seem to be linked to the services provided by the owner of the test station. Kwik-fit seems to find fault with tyres, exhausts and brake discs.

A local garage/tester with a posh name found all manner of things that cured themselves over the next 12 months.

The council test centres take twice as long, do a thorough job and seem willing to show and explain what they find. I'm still glad to know that last year's oil leak has sealed itself without me having to find it.

The moral seems to be that it is unwise to get the vehicle tested at a centre that has a commercial interest in fixing anything that they find to be wrong. I can't imagine why.

G~
 
My local MOT guy doesn't do repairs, to be fair he's getting on a bit and passes stuff I know should fail - he just doesn't spot it! - Which is nice.
 
Kwik fit have mot'd wifes car twice, passed first time, then failed this year on a broken spring ( was the bottom coil and I just didn't spot it ) :eek: , so it would of failed anywhere , I , against all my morals even got them to replace it, because it was only ten quid more than what I could get a spring for
 
*minty* said:
Unless its dangerous to you or others of course :(
Click to expand...

Well I service my own cars and don't allow any dangerous fault to remain unfixed. However it is handy sometimes when timing issues mean I need to tax a car before I can get round to fixing it. I'm more concerned about the hundreds of thousands of unlicensed drivers on the road - which there's no political will to tackle because they'll arrest too many people "of the wrong type". The police are only interested in fining law-abiding, accountable people with full-time jobs for minor infringements - they are no more than tax collectors these days.
 
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I take mine to a local MOT testing station that doesn't do anything else other than MOT's. They are not trying to sell you tyres or anything.
I regard it as a positive thing when someone else casts a fresh pair of eyes over the car. On the odd occasion in the past where there has been a fail or an advise, a discussion with the tester usually resolves the issue. I have frequently asked to have the car jacked up again to show me the fault.
 
gencybay said:
Took the old '95 bus in today. Passed with 2 advisories. I used a council testing depot and we did have a bit of an issue with the ABS. However, they went into their system and were satisfied that the warning light does not extinguish until moving at 5 mph.

I then discovered that certificates are no longer issued - you get a receipt instead that can be confirmed online - anti-forgery provision.

I checked online and, sure enough, today's test is there. You can also check the vehicle's MOT history, including previous advisories.

I'm a lazy git and tend to view MOTs as a test and rectify process so I haven't really paid too much attention to advisories. Looking through the previous advisories, it seems that Mike the mechanic has been paying discreet free visits whilst I've been sleeping because most of them appear to have cured themselves without any intervention at all!

Curiously, fails and advisories seem to be linked to the services provided by the owner of the test station. Kwik-fit seems to find fault with tyres, exhausts and brake discs.

A local garage/tester with a posh name found all manner of things that cured themselves over the next 12 months.

The council test centres take twice as long, do a thorough job and seem willing to show and explain what they find. I'm still glad to know that last year's oil leak has sealed itself without me having to find it.

The moral seems to be that it is unwise to get the vehicle tested at a centre that has a commercial interest in fixing anything that they find to be wrong. I can't imagine why.

G~
Click to expand...



i to used to use my local authority testing station,they did a thorough job in testing it,if fault was found they failed it if not it passed but at no time were they able to offer repairs,this i found was a good way to get my MOT.
 
MOT's barely minimum requirements, our cars should have no trouble passing, sure we can miss out the odd thing but its everyones safety and one or two things are missing here in the UK IMO.

Tyres - correct speed type, yes legally you cannot go more than 70 but set a foot on the continent and you may be buying new tyres after a fine and tow.

Brake fluid - minimum boiling point, thats a thing that can really cause brown pants if running old or contaminated brake fluid there boils at low temperature resulting in NO brakes from high speed, downhill or towing braking.
I've tried once having barely any brakes, at any test they were fine apart from the water content was so high that it under heavy braking started boiling due to the heat from the brakes, bleed & top up sorted the problem. (The fluid was new but hadn't been bleed so old fluid at brakes, done by red faced garage there charged for full change)

Remember if you leave brake fluid in contact with atmosphere it absorbs water and becomes useless, use from sealed containers only.

(Sure most of you hard-cores know already but if it prevents just one accident it's worth the write)
 
I used an MOT Max this year to do all three cars. They did some offer which worked out pretty cheap. All 3 were due in March so I just brought them down on 3 consecutive weekends. They all passed and only one had an advisory for a tire close to the limit. It was different Guy each time but one of them clearly had access to the previous advisories and wanted to know what I did to stop the oil burning issue which got me an advisory last year.

MOT Max don't offer repairs either and if your car fails they don't charge you. Hard to beat really.
 
I've used one of my local private garages for about 4 years now. The first time I took a car in for mot, I told them, then and there that they would not be gettting any repairs/work from a mot failure, as I do all my own work.

Never had an unfair mot failure from them and they know who to call, if they get a P38 in which needs diagnostic's pluging in...
 
gencybay said:
Nearly a year on. Passed again today at the same council testing station.

Hurrah!

G~
Click to expand...

And so again! Two advisories. Nearside mirror that had an argument with a tree - fair do-s. One tyre. Bit fussy I thought. Just compared to the other three pristine ones.

For a motor that is 17 or 18 years old, I am very happy.

G~
 
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Grrrrrr said:
Wait and see if it cures itself, eh?

I think they feel they have to put something down or they'll be marked as suspicious for too many "clean" cars passing.
Click to expand...

This is possibly true just as they have to be logged on for a certain amount of time. Or VOSA ask questions. But don't be afraid, unless they have improved since my day as a tester, the average VOSA rep couldn't find a bloody corn flake in a box full of them. :D:D
 
I use a local garage which I trust, they don't need to generate work, they have a two to three week waiting list, if you try to book in for work and have no room on site to employ any one else.
I'd never heard of council MOT centres, only two of the 10 counties I'd lived in since I learnt to drive have them according to http://www.ukmot.com/Council-MOT-Test-Centers/UK.
Looking at the distances from where I've lived, to the nearest council test centre, they range from 280 miles to 20 miles. It's 22 miles now but the test centre is in a different county!!
 
Where I live we do not have roadworthy tests, ever, it's classed as a "remote" area with some reasonable roads and some shocking dirt tracks, (would not in any way esteem them as roads), but if you are pulled over by the constabulary, sometimes in company with the transport inspectors they will do a roadside inspect and can issue a "bung" that gives 14 days to make good and have re-inspected, mind you after 14 years up in this area, I have only been "road-sided" once. Normal stops by the cops for RBT, speeding etc the cops take no real interest in what you are driving just as long as it is currently registered.
I would like to see the stats on how many road accidents are caused by defect/mechanical failures, because when I look at some of the "junk cars", (no other way to describe them), on the road here we seem to have very few accidents that are not caused by excess speed, drunks, (despite "saturation" RBT campaigns by the cops), and all the usual stupid stuff drivers do.
But a rumour is circulating that our status as "remote" may soon be coming to an end.
 
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