National auto centre MOT TEST...problem

Conor_3

anewman wrote: »

Actually I've just been remembered my car had been to a garage not long before I had an MOT and they said it should pass - but it failed on a corroded brake pipe and a knackered centre exhaust. I guess you just have to remember when a garage does a bit of work they aren't doing a full MOT test which takes about an hour, and a 2 minute visual check can't make it pass a one hour test.

In addition to that, the mechanic is most likely not an MOT tester either. I've seen no end of pre-MOT places that have done repairs for stuff that wasn't even testable. Battery trays in MK3 Escorts were a common one.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

gsmmad wrote: »

I was on auto trader and saw the 50% off on the MOT. So i booked it and went there and i own a car in very good shape and i had it fully serviced by a local garage who said there is no way it can fail.

I went in and 2 guys looked up and down on my car and i was sitting a far distance away and i couldn't see what was happening. Anyhow they came back said 2 of my tires were bad. One needed changing. My headlights were too high and that they had re adjusted it however they would charge me £13. Also my CV boot needed changing and they said its a big job and would cost £110.

So i asked the guy why he was trying to charge me for a job i didn't ask for. He went and he set my headlights both too high and when i got the paper work i checked and it said only the nearside was too high. So he set both too high when only one was. Also there was a massive confusion over if it was too high or too low.

The tire's i have checked and they are 1.7 ....so above the limit. and nothing wrong.

Got a new CV boot fitted on by the local garage who couldn't understand why the guy had failed that. They replaced it and preserved the CV boot so that we can examine it and possibly complain. It turns out its not split which is what i was told. But it had a small pin hole so that a little bit of grease had come out. I was advised that this small hole would hardly have happened why driving and was probably done by the tester.

I advice everyone not to take the £26.55 offer from auto trader. Also to never use nationwide autocentre. I'm taking it in for the retest soon. I would like some advice as i am really annoyed.

So you had a perfect car with a nearly illegal tyre? Did the people who serviced it tell you this?

As for the tyre failing the MOT, if it was 1.7MM where you measured I am sure the failing of the MOT on it was probably justified as the tyre was clearly finished

Re the headlights, at the end of the day I doubt they made this up and tbh £13 is a small amount of money, your reaction on this seems completely OTT.

The CV boot was damaged and you have no proof who caused it, it was an MOT failure and they quoted you on this which you opted not to take.

Personally I think you totally overreacted and clearly dont know what your talking about thus making pretty shocking allegations.

Do I think their quote for the CV was high - yes, do I think they unreasonably failed your "perfect car" or tried to defraud you/damage your car? No

RichyRich

They certainly shouldn't have done any work on it during the test. If the headlights were too high, they should have failed it, advised you, and asked them if you wanted them to do the work.

Go to the National centre and ask for a VT17 form. Send this to VOSA as soon as possible along with the MOT Test Fee. They will then assess your car and advise you if it is or is not a fail.

As well as administering justice to these notorious shysters, it will also alert VOSA to their unlawful shenanigans.

Rowan1946

I could write a book on this particular company, blatent liers, well the store manager was,

My car failed on emmisions, brake light out, rear tail light out and cracked spring, whilst waiting the 3 weeks for the springs i got them to put a new Llambda probe in and retest as this was the only thing it failed on the year before, dropped car off at 8am went to work then called at 2pm to see if it was ready, they had not even looked at it, when i finished work i walked down at 4pm to see it just being driven in, so would have been solid cold, they changed the sensor then put on emmisions machine, no proper warm up, just the bare min temp and they failed it, yes this was a retest £26, then i asked about the lights, they said leave it with us, i did, i checked before i left and the lights werre still not working, when i came back the next day i was told by the branch manager they worked fine, no problems, went out to see the lights were still not working, i was in too much of a mood to go back in,, concerning the emissions i was advised i needed a new cat, hmm, only done 14k on this one which i got checked out to be fine so i did take the car back again for another emissions test and asked them to get it running hot as its a 2L Turbo and im sure after a good rag it has cleaner emissions, well, they got it upto 91C i think, bare min, normal motorway driving my gauge goes to 115 - 119C, even reving it outside the garage got it too these temps, so why couldnt they,,

Not going back to them,

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

joeraz wrote: »

I could write a book on this particular company, blatent liers, well the store manager was,

My car failed on emmisions, brake light out, rear tail light out and cracked spring, whilst waiting the 3 weeks for the springs i got them to put a new Llambda probe in and retest as this was the only thing it failed on the year before, dropped car off at 8am went to work then called at 2pm to see if it was ready, they had not even looked at it, when i finished work i walked down at 4pm to see it just being driven in, so would have been solid cold, they changed the sensor then put on emmisions machine, no proper warm up, just the bare min temp and they failed it, yes this was a retest £26, then i asked about the lights, they said leave it with us, i did, i checked before i left and the lights werre still not working, when i came back the next day i was told by the branch manager they worked fine, no problems, went out to see the lights were still not working, i was in too much of a mood to go back in,, concerning the emissions i was advised i needed a new cat, hmm, only done 14k on this one which i got checked out to be fine so i did take the car back again for another emissions test and asked them to get it running hot as its a 2L Turbo and im sure after a good rag it has cleaner emissions, well, they got it upto 91C i think, bare min, normal motorway driving my gauge goes to 115 - 119C, even reving it outside the garage got it too these temps, so why couldnt they,,

Not going back to them,

Brillant so there now meant to manipulate the test to suit you?

Your car was within the test conditions and failed, stop being an !!!!!!

Keith

RichyRich wrote: »

They certainly shouldn't have done any work on it during the test. If the headlights were too high, they should have failed it, advised you, and asked them if you wanted them to do the work.

Go to the National centre and ask for a VT17 form. Send this to VOSA as soon as possible along with the MOT Test Fee. They will then assess your car and advise you if it is or is not a fail.

As well as administering justice to these notorious shysters, it will also alert VOSA to their unlawful shenanigans.

This has to be done before the repairs are carried out so the OP can not complain to VOSA

gsmmad

Conor wrote: »

And your qualifications as a mechanic are? How do you know he's set both your headlights too high?

I'm sorry but I've seen no end of people who have been told they've got a good car and then go off on one when it is rightly failed during an MOT.

I do not need damn qualification to see the guy move them up. He said u dont want to pay for it then ill set them back to how they were and he changed both of them to too high instead of just the one side. He fixed it without my prior concent and then tried to charge me. £13 to move a screw driver right or left is a joke. So thats £26 quid for both headlights?

Conor i know for fact that my CV boot was fine before taking it in for an mot as it was checked when serviced. Also the mechanic who replaced it was shocked why they failed it and only when he totally got it off he found out it had a pin hole in it. Just enought for the person to fail me. All u need is a bit of grease and MOT is failed. I got the CV boot done at a very good price more than half the price quoted by this company.

For the tyre which has been replaced allready. We checked and measured the other tyre that we took off and it was just above limit.

gsmmad

I have been told by people who have been doing the job for many years that the CV boot was fine and the split ...is not a split. Its a pin hole. I HAVE SEEN THIS WITH MY OWN EYES!

The tyre was over the limit. IF IT WAS CLOSE OR NOT. DOES NOT MEAN IT SHOULD FAIL.

The headlights, only one had a problem but because i didnt pay up now both of them have problems. There was also a massive confusion over the headlights. Also my question is why were 2 people doing the test when only one was a qualified MOT tester?

I asked a simple question at the start of the tread can i do anything. I got the answer. Which was N0! WHat i do not understand is some of the peoples reactions where they are almost offended by my post and are defending there country or something!
Please people. I asked for help. Not your opinions. You have previous experience and have something to say, then i invite you. You are a profesional and want to help then please post. Anything else then please keep it in ur mind and write it down somewhere else. I do not care if u believe that the legal limit for tread debt should be 1.7. Please contact the goverment or something just stay of my thread.


I took a mot test at £26 quid as i thought my car was in good shape. Then i was served with a bill which was shocking. £110 quid for a CV boot. god knows what for a tyre. £13 quid for adjusting the hight of a headlight. I have fixed the CV boot for £50 quid. I have like 3 spare tyres at home, so i just replaced my tyre. Headlights are getting done for free tomorrow at a new MOT test centre.

I will go pay £45 for a new test rather than a retest and then i will post the result tomorrow. LinasPilibaitisisbatman this test centre minupilated the test for there advantage to hit some targets. You accept this or not its the god damn truth and go throught there reviews, you will see that they have 10 bad reviews for one good one.

This is a learnt lesson and i will just go local and pay double but i will not be dealing with people who are trying to create jobs just to hit targets. LinasPilibaitisisbatman do u work for national auto centre or something?

anewman

gsmmad wrote: »

I do not care if u believe that the legal limit for tread debt should be 1.7. Please contact the goverment or something just stay of my thread.

I think what the poster was getting at is that chances are you have selected one point on the tyre and made one measurement. The MOT tester will have taken measurements at a number of places across the central 3/4 tread and around the tyre. While one part is 1.7mm it is easily possible another part is 1.5mm which makes it a fail. At the end of the day the difference there is only 0.2mm which is all but a fifth of that tiny measurement of one millimetre.

oldagetraveller

joeraz wrote: »

My car failed on emmisions, brake light out, rear tail light out and cracked spring,

You took your car for an MOT without first doing a basic check yourself? Of course, these must have become defective on the way to the test centre because you check the function of all your lights daily?
The car had safety defects and was quite correctly failed, it was not road legal!