Cheap MOTs: Southampton, Bournemouth and South of...

[MSE Andrea]

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Paying for MOT repairs can take a hefty wack from your wallet. Yet there's a way to cut this cost. The first point of call is read the full Cheap MOTs article. This discussion is specifically to talk about MOTs in your local area:

Cheap South of England MOTs

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[dorks]

Does anyone know of any of these council run MOT centres in the Portsmouth / Havant / Waterlooville area? The nearest one on the main list supplied through MSE is in Southampton which is a fair distance from me!

[runmichellerun]

Not sure Dorks. I'm looking for one in the Bournemouth area but having trouble finding it on the website.

[Scorpio33]

I would love to know of any near portsmouth too - I did e-mail the council a while back and never got a reply

[KeithP]

The bus depot behind the Castlepoint shopping centre does Mots. It also does taxi testing. It is totally independent... they don't do any car repairs (maybe different if you have a bus though)... The wont even suggest anyone who might be able to do repairs.
I know this because I had to deliver a taxi there from outside the district. It failed and they claimed not even to have a yellow pages.

Most unhelpful, but in a way, just what we are looking for isn't it?

[vikingaero]

I pay £30 flat for all my personal and family MOTs. It's because I give the guy all our fleet MOTs so he sorts me out the cheapies as and when I need them.

[Philip honest Mot tester]

look at your old mot and ring the number on the back and they will tell you any thing that you need

Originally Posted by dorks

Does anyone know of any of these council run MOT centres in the Portsmouth / Havant / Waterlooville area? The nearest one on the main list supplied through MSE is in Southampton which is a fair distance from me!

[luffers]

Try Just mots, they seem to have a number of branches is Kent and Sussex, they charge £28.00 (booked over phone) or £23.00 if booked on line with free partial retest if taken back within 10 working days. I've had an MOT test done on an old Volvo (18 years old) and the guy said it was still solid and it only needed a small repair to get it though so I was happy with that. As the name sugests, they just do MOT's and no repairs so I hope this helps you same some money.

[kazzies]

I am a partner in an independant MOT station
We charge £53-00 for the MOT and you get a free retest no matter what it fails on if the car is bought back within 10 working days.
The best place to have an MOT is at an independant MOT station as they dont benefit if your car passes or fails as they do not do repairs.We do change bulbs and wipers and charge for the items but we do not charge an added labour fee for doing it.which some garages charge for changing a bulb

Many people are attracted to the cheap MOT. some cars pass and you are getting a cheap MOT but what people dont realise is that garages can charge for certain retests which can be half the max MOT fee.which is £26-50.
then add your cheap MOT of say £39-00 and it works out an expensive MOT.

Why do some people have pre MOT checks it baffles me they are charged normally an hours labour which round my area is from £45-00 then they are charged £53-00 for the actual MOT.
when all they have to do is go for an MOT and if it fails they can just get the work that is needed done all for the MOT fee of £53-00. plus if the mechanic doing the pre MOT check is not an MOT TESTER how could he possibly know if the car is going to fail on certain items.

Another one customers do is have there car serviced then bring it for an MOT and then moan if there car fails. servicing and an MOT are two totally different things just because your car has been serviced it does not mean that it is guaranteed to pass an MOT. it is best to have an MOT first then if it fails you can have the repairs done at the same time as the service.

On a lighter note a customers car failed on both repeater lights not working she was adamant that they were working as she and her husband had checked all the lights that morning. when we went to change the bulbs there was not any bulbs in the wing repeaters. so how they were working in the morning is a mystery LOL exit one red faced customer.

[Snow Dog]

Try U-drive at the top of the old wareham road in parkstone. (Yes the hire place, they do all their own MOTs and have about 3 test stations in the workshops).

They do MOTs (well they used to when I had my Landy) but no work so they have no vested interest. Always got a fair MOT there.

[jinx_uk_98]

Hi,

Did anyone find out where the Portsmouth one was?

Cheers

[bing0]

I can fully recommend Carwise on Stoney Lane.(Just next to the vets practice).

In the five years we have used this family run garage,I can truely say not once have I felt I've had the 'wool pulled over my eyes'.They are as honest as the day is long.

They have the cars inspected by an MOT place near the recycling centre,so that part is fixed at £35.00.Carwise just do any work ,if required.And this is the best bit,if there is no work,you only pay the fixed £35.00 still.

I would fully recommend these to anyone.

[KeithP]

I've been asked, via PM, for the address and postcode of this mot centre.
Thought it might be useful to others, so...

Here is the address with postcode...
Yellow Buses Head Office
Yeoman's Way
Bournemouth
BH8 0BQ

Here is their web page with details about MOTs.
Hope this helps.
p.s. I just googled 'bournemouth buses' to find this info.

My earlier post refers.

[Elsterap]

Used http://www.yellowbuses.co.uk/mot/default.asp for an MOT in Bournemouth, Poole, Dorset Area. Was £51, but got a free restest as i only had small items which failed.
Was good to know i wasnt having the wool pulled over my eyes and the person who done the MOT even said exactly what i needed to say to any garage i went to. It was along the lines of "Dont let them replace straight away, get them to check if its out of align and get them to fix that first, if its not out of align it will need replacing."


Recommended

[runmichellerun]

Originally Posted by Elsterap

Used http://www.yellowbuses.co.uk/mot/default.asp for an MOT in Bournemouth, Poole, Dorset Area. Was £51, but got a free restest as i only had small items which failed.
Was good to know i wasnt having the wool pulled over my eyes and the person who done the MOT even said exactly what i needed to say to any garage i went to. It was along the lines of "Dont let them replace straight away, get them to check if its out of align and get them to fix that first, if its not out of align it will need replacing."


Recommended

Agreed!!!

I went to yellow buses yesterday and had my MOT done by them. My last MOT was done by the Renault dealer the car was originally bought off of, and they had said my breaks needed doing and were going to charge up a couple of hundred for the privilege.

Needless to say we took the car away and had nothing done to it. That was a year ago.

I was expecting a full-on fail yesterday but in fact it not only passed, it had one less thing wrong with it than last time!! Renault dealers in Wallisdown are a complete rip off I'm afraid. Money grabbing *&^%$£* . Avoid at all costs.

Go to yellow buses. Kind, quick and unbiased. Perfect

[stinky_daddy]

Originally Posted by jinx_uk_98

Hi,

Did anyone find out where the Portsmouth one was?

Cheers

I have just emailed Portsmouth City Council - I will post any response I get .

[stinky_daddy]

Hi

thought I had posted this response (but obviously not!), below is the brief communication I got from PCC:

Portsmouth City Council leases most of their cars/vans and therefore uses the leasing company's facilities

[andyfras]

I have used Berkeley MOT Service, Cranford (02087590144) for about 25 years. They are on the A4 near Heathrow.

They are very efficient and have two MOT bays for busy periods.

You can make an appointment or just turn up and wait (free refreshments provided).

They will replace bulbs at cost and do minor adjustments free.

They can supply and fit tyres at good prices.

They can also do motorcycles.

They charge full price but they're not making money out of rip-off repairs.

Even though I have left the area, I still feel it's worth travelling 20 miles to use a place that I trust (and our nearest council test centre is not much nearer).

[GabbaGabbaHey]

Originally Posted by runmichellerun

My last MOT was done by the Renault dealer the car was originally bought off of, and they had said my breaks needed doing and were going to charge up a couple of hundred for the privilege.

Needless to say we took the car away and had nothing done to it.

Am I alone in being astonished by this?!

[g_attrill]

Originally Posted by GabbaGabbaHey

Am I alone in being astonished by this?!

Presumably it wasn't bad enough to fail the MOT, but they advised that the work needed doing. There are lots of things that a car might "need" which won't necessarily fail an MOT. For some models of car you can't see the brake pads by a visual inspection and can run the brakes right down to the rivets. It will then fail when the braking performance isn't good enough. At that point you will have trashed the rotors and tripled the repair bill!

edit: However for a car > 3 years old I wouldn't use a main dealer anyway, a good independant will most likely be more honest and far cheaper.