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Which includes an updated comprehensive list of Council MOT centres
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If you want to avoid unnecessary repair bills come next MOT time, stop taking your car to be tested by a garage. My car is 17 years old, with 178000 miles on the clock, but it hasn't failed an MOT in the seven years since I've been getting it tested by the county council! The point is that they don't repair vehicles for the public, only test them, so there's no financial incentive for them to fail the test unless it's genuinely warranted.
(PS. If you're already using the council's VTS and the car's still failing, buy a Honda! !;D)
INSERT BY MARTIN 6 May: MoneySaver Bambie Blou has kindly collated all the council MOT centres people suggested later on in this thread (huge thanks). !To make it easier I am reprinting it here at the top
Government MOT test centres open to the public:
WYMAS (West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service)
Essex County Council, Coval Lane, Chelmsford – 01245 435108
County Transport, Halstead Garage, Dove Holes, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 8BJ – 01298 813141
Near Wetherby just outside Thorpe Arch trading estate between York and Leeds
GMAS (Greater Manchester Ambulance Service), Walmsley Road, Bury Station.
Bedfordshire County Council Vehicle Depot, London Road, Bedford – 01234 327369 (now privatised and run by Balfour Beatty Plant Services but the staff are unchanged)
Thamesdown Bus Garage, Corporation Street, Swindon. ·Medway Council – 01634 306000
.
Westside Motors at the junction of Lanark Road and Inglis Green Road, EH13, Scotland (not CC but apparently v. honest and fair)
Edinburgh City Council, CEC Fleet Services, Gorgie, Russell Road – 0131 337 2307 (choose option 1 for their workshops) OR City Fleet Services, 38 Russell Road, Edinburgh – 0131 347 1950 …….which one is it guys?
Wandsworth Council, South London – 0208 871 6761
Colchester Borough Council, MOT Testing & Vehicle Servicing, Unit 8 Westside Centre, London Road, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 8PH – 01206 282624
I always ask the garage if I can take the car elsewhere to be fixed if it fails. If it does fail I ask them how much and then get quotes from other garages on the specific problem. At least then if you have to use a garage they think you are going elsewhere and (hopefully) think they won't gain from failing you. Your idea sounds very interesting though....
One thing to be wary of though is that if your car does fail the MOT somewhere where you can't get it repaired, then you can't just keep driving it around until you get round to getting it fixed. I believe you can drive it home (unless the inspector declares it too dangerous to do so), but thereafter you can only drive it to a garage or an MOT test station, and it's possibly as restrictive as you having to have an appointment booked at the place you're driving it to.
If you do continue driving a car with a failed MOT your insurance may not be valid.
You can go and get your car tested upto 30 days before your current MOT expires, if it fails you then have 14 days in which to get the fault repaired, you can then go back to the MOT station for the test no charge 2nd time. If you leave it after 14 days you will be charged for 2nd test.
If it passes they will then give you a certificate post dated to your current Mot date if you supply the old one at the time of the test. Which means you are still legally driving with a current MOT in the 30 day period.
Moneysaver
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I use an MOT station they do not do repairs, but as far as I know if your car fails & you take it back repaired within 14 days then all garages will not charge again. If anyone works for an MOT garage then please post here if I am wrong.
Essex County Council
Coval Lane
Chelmsford
01245 435108
They tell me that all county councils do tests for the general public, except those who contract out their vehicle maintenance and don't have their own garage.
(Remember it's illegal to drive an unroadworthy car at any time, whether it has a valid MOT or not.)
In April 2000 when I collected my car from a service, the garage gave me a list of work costing over £700 they said needed doing. I asked how necessary it was, and he said it would need doing for the MOT. He looked pretty sheepish when I told him that it had been done the previous week!! The car's been through another three tests since then and I still haven't had the work done.
In 28 years of motoring I never had any car pass more than two consecutive tests at any garage, until I started using the council. A colleague had been telling people for years that he never had any trouble using the council, but I'd never taken much notice.
"You should be aware that although a vehicle can be driven to and from a testing station for the purposes of having its MOT by appointment, if defects are notified to you either on an advisory note or a VT30 failure certificate, on the way back you are now driving a vehicle knowing it to be defective. Should an accident occur as a result of those defects you could have a problem!"
Is there anyway of getting a list of all council testing centres- or indeed even general enquiry numbers for coucils as this will allow all of us to use this system
I have bought my last 2 cars new and 1 of the main reasons for this is seeing too many mechanics who see my car at MOTs and seem to find all mabnner of minor faults requiring work
i think that the leicstershire county council website (or city council depending upon the local govenrment in that area) would be a useful place to look
I've been following this and found it useful so I thought I would share with you my son's experience of a dodgy MOT. He came home one day with a car he had just bought (a Ford Escort based kit car jeep). He was a bit green and bought it because it had a recent valid MOT. when he drove it home (silly devil did not road test it) he found that the steering was wobbly and the brakes pulled violently to one side so he asked me to look at it. I drove it about 100yards and was so scared I took it straight to my local garage where they examined it. They found several serious faults and told us to contact the police,apparently its an offence to sell an unroadworthy vehicle MOT or not. The police refused to become involved because in their words: "the car was not in a virginal state" i.e. our local garage had had their hands on it and could have caused the faults - ridiculous. If we had called the police when my son brought it home they would have investigated. The vehicle testing people re-tested the car at the garage in the presence of the original tester and apparently gave him a serious b.........g but because a few months had passed since he issued the MOT they couldn't or wouldn't take any further action. Eventully we had the car taken away on a trailer, sued the tow-rag (or is it toe-rag) who sold the car in the Small Claims Court !and after 5 years recovered the money with an attachment to earnings order. My son actually came out of it with a significant profit.
I suppose this is another good reason for using your Local Authority testing station.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps. Take care over copyright. Use excerpts and links rather than copying long text. This site asserts copyright on all comments posted on the board.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps.
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