Cheap MOTs: Southampton, Bournemouth and South of England

charliekelly

i used first bus in portswood,southampton for my MOT.they only do MOT'S and no repairs.
My car passed its MOT with no problems.
the year before i took it to a garage that does MOT'S and repairs and they said it needed new brake pads and when i advised them it had only been done six months before they said they had got confused about what car it was!!!
First bus in portswood for me again in future.

Limey

I do any repair work that comes up on the MoT myself.

My local MoT garage knows me well enough now to keep advisories/failures to actual issues. :cool:

tjg04

I've also used the Hedge End Depot up the road from me in Fareham. 15 year old car with 201,000 miles. Passed with no advisories, including the oil leak that had been put on my advisories for the last to MOTs even though it's not a test item. I had gone over the car myself in anticipation and had to replace the rear shocks and the front tyres. However they were happy to let me watch and the service was quick and friendly. Highly recommend.

j-lu

Hi All, I called Portsmouth council this morning.

There is no council-run MOT test centre in or near Portsmouth as the council do not operate their own bus service or taxis, taxis are provided by Aqua (private company that probably have a deal with a local garage) and buses are run by Hampshire county council.

The nearest council-run test centres are Bishop's Waltham and Totton:
Bishops Waltham
Botley Road
Bishops Waltham
SO32 1DR
Tel: 01489 895305

Monday – Thursday 08:00–16:30
Friday 08:00–16:00
Sat 09:00 - 13:00 (Subject to prior booking. MOT only)

and Totton
Jacobs Gutter Lane
Totton
Southampton SO40 9TQ



tel 023 8066 9120

• Monday – Thursday 8am-4.30pm
• Friday 8am-4pm
• Sat 9am-1pm (subject to prior booking. MOT only)

If you can't make it to either of these (also ones in Petersfield, Micheldever and Hook if they're closer to you) it's probably best to simply find a garage that only does MOTs, no repairs.

Hope this helps!

J-Lu xx

Clearlier

Just wanted to add an up to date link for the Bournemouth yellow bus MOT service as the one provided earlier doesn't work.

As somebody coming from Ireland where all MOT (NCT) test centres are not permitted to do repairs I was amazed at the standard setup here and am convinced that work was invented for my first MOT.

I was absolutely delighted to hear Martin mention that there are centres that don't do repairs. I'll be giving these guys a call tomorrow.

pineapplesherbet

Hi, sorry couldn't find the link for Bournemouth, do you have the number please? Thank you :-)

wealdroam

pineapplesherbet wrote: »

Hi, sorry couldn't find the link for Bournemouth, do you have the number please? Thank you :-)

Here's the link you are looking for...

http://www.bybus.co.uk/about-us/mot-services/

sapper7983

I don't have any council MOT centres in my county (Kent) but for many years I have used a private haulier's MOT depot, they used to just work on commercial vehicles, but for a few years anyone could use their services, which is great for high vehicles like my 10' high motor home, they also do repairs and servicing.
They are Derek Linch, situated at Old Romney on the A259, their phone number is :- 01797367717 / 01797364466.

karatechocolate

kazzies wrote: »

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.

I suppose it is cheaper than the average mot. A cheap mot is difficult to find especially as I don't earn much

irisandalex

Snow_Dog wrote: »

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.

this may have been correct years ago when this was originally posted. However now their website states: 'We specialise in MOT testing and repairs' (http://www.u-drive.co.uk/motlanding.php ). This means they are not independent. The guy on the phone told me that they are so busy that they don't need to find faults, however, they did have availability to MOT my car for the following day - maybe not quite that busy?

I will most likely be trying the yellow bus company ( https://www.bybus.co.uk/about-us/mot-testing/ ) called them and their next available slot was 6 days later = seems they are busy! but that's irrelevant anyway as they do not work on cars.