Should I complain about an MOT station

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twice_nightly

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Carnforth, Lancashire
Took the Disco to have it's MOT on Friday, I've recently changed jobs so for convenience I took it to a garage over the road from where I work instead of my usual one where I've been for several years. Anyway the garage said it would be £54.60 and ready by lunchtime, I went back at lunch and he said "it's basically scrap, not worth repairing" I asked what it had failed on to which he replied "everything" and handed me the fail sheet, well two sheets actually! All it kept saying was "nearside front vehicle structure has excessive corrosion which adversely affects braking or steering" then same for offside, rear etc I asked the garage what exactly this was referring to and they then told me they didn't know because they didn't do the MOT!! Apparently some other garage around the corner did it. I asked again what it had failed on specifically and they said "look underneath at the weekend"

What was more annoying and suspicious was the garage then told me of a nice Discovery that a customer was selling which was sound and would be ideal for me to swap over my off-road bits onto, how convenient!

Now to my problem, I was just going to take the Disco to my old garage for a second opinion however when I looked at the car today I discovered the MOT tester had bashed big hole everywhere and I've practically no boot floor left, the old MOT station used to circle everything in yellow that needed welding, this one it seems just used a hammer!!!!

So I'm wondering whats the point in taking it to another garage for a second opinion when I've got bloody great holes everywhere? The MOT runs out tomorrow and I don't really want to spend another £54 quid when I know it will fail, but I don't know what exactly it needs in order to pass because the garage said "scrap it"

I haven't paid the garage for the MOT yet and don't feel inclined to. So what should I do, re-test it at another garage, complain and ask the first one for a list of work or just scrap it? Sorry for the long post..bit fed up this weekend :(
 
twice_nightly said:
Took the Disco to have it's MOT on Friday, I've recently changed jobs so for convenience I took it to a garage over the road from where I work instead of my usual one where I've been for several years. Anyway the garage said it would be £54.60 and ready by lunchtime, I went back at lunch and he said "it's basically scrap, not worth repairing" I asked what it had failed on to which he replied "everything" and handed me the fail sheet, well two sheets actually! All it kept saying was "nearside front vehicle structure has excessive corrosion which adversely affects braking or steering" then same for offside, rear etc I asked the garage what exactly this was referring to and they then told me they didn't know because they didn't do the MOT!! Apparently some other garage around the corner did it. I asked again what it had failed on specifically and they said "look underneath at the weekend"

What was more annoying and suspicious was the garage then told me of a nice Discovery that a customer was selling which was sound and would be ideal for me to swap over my off-road bits onto, how convenient!

Now to my problem, I was just going to take the Disco to my old garage for a second opinion however when I looked at the car today I discovered the MOT tester had bashed big hole everywhere and I've practically no boot floor left, the old MOT station used to circle everything in yellow that needed welding, this one it seems just used a hammer!!!!

So I'm wondering whats the point in taking it to another garage for a second opinion when I've got bloody great holes everywhere? The MOT runs out tomorrow and I don't really want to spend another £54 quid when I know it will fail, but I don't know what exactly it needs in order to pass because the garage said "scrap it"

I haven't paid the garage for the MOT yet and don't feel inclined to. So what should I do, re-test it at another garage, complain and ask the first one for a list of work or just scrap it? Sorry for the long post..bit fed up this weekend :(
Click to expand...

theres some good threads on welding discos up, but does sound rotten,put some pics up
 
no point in going somwhere else....all your fails will come up on the computer screen before they start. they will just add more to the list :)
 
What Johnlad said. Ya disco is fooked either scrap it or get a welder out and start welding.

Next time ya need a vehicle mot'ing. Take it a station that only does MOT's. then there's no incentive to make up failures, cos they won't be getting any work outta it. Oh and check the price 1st, cos mine cost £39. :confused:

Tester can only use a specified "Corrosion testing tool" Basically a little rubber hammer. It can't make holes in solid metal. If yours is full of holes after an MOT then it was rotten before it went in.
 
Buy a decent used mig and teach yourself to weld thats what I did.
You won't find an easier motor to patch up than a disco :)
 
Take it on a saturday next time and watch it being done.my mot inspector pokes around and will show you whats needs doing.or failed on.
 
If they have managed to bash holes in it then it wanted failing as if the metal was in good condition then no amount of hammering would leave a hole



EeEk said:
no point in going somwhere else....all your fails will come up on the computer screen before they start. they will just add more to the list :)
Click to expand...

Incorrect, we are not shown any previous test results
 
Agree with the heavy handed bit but what difference would it have made if he'd only poked a screwdriver through it? It was excessively rotten and it failed on it, as has been said it was rusted before it went in. Suck it up and either weld it or scrap it
 
The testers have a tool for poking holes. If they can make a hole with this plastic toffee hammer then it's a fail. If you old place just circles things rather than having a poke. It probably should have failed last time or time before! But how would they no without poking it. Look on the mot. It will show you where it was done and who done it. Go and ask him POLITLY to please show you what you need to do. Or what he wants to charge you to fix it.
 
Think about it this way.... You now have a great opportunity to learn new skills, get to know your Landy and best of all spend loads of time and money doing it up :D

MOT stations don't tend to be vindictive they just have to tick the boxes. Get some pics up on here and look around at some others, you'll gain some inspiration, they all tend to rot in the same places... :tea:
 
I can appreciate you're not best pleased that you've got holes in your truck, but in a way they've done you a favour.
Put it this way... do you really want to drive around in a vehicle that isn't structurally sound? There's a lot of rough 'n ready looking land rovers rocking about but on balance I think I'd rather rock round in something that looks rough rather than something with pretty paint that WAS rough where it mattered.

The other lesson to take away is don't take your vehicle for an MOT within days of it expiring. Get a 13 month ticket - that way if it does fail on something trivial you've got a couple of weekends in hand to get things put right.
 
Two fail sheets ain't too bad. I had three when I put mine in. I still got it all sorted n back on the road.. All the info you need is on this site. Like the others have said, go beg, buy or borrow a welder n get stuck in..
 
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