National auto centre MOT TEST...problem

roswell

A good few years ago my car went for a cheap service at one of these establishments .. apparently i would be better off scrapping it since it was 4 years old at the time and due its second mot ... oh it was rusting to a heap exhaust rusted through .... rear shocks gone .... the list was amazing ... it went to its normal mot place passed with flying colours for the next 3 years its now 9 year old failed its first test this year for a broken rear spring .. 9 years and 90 000 + miles isnt bad for a spring in my books ... its never been back to that establishment because when they serviced it they put the wrong oil in the car burnt it all in a week :-)

roswell

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

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

1.6 is illegal 1.7 isnt shoudl have been asdvisory not a fail. do you get a speeding ticket for doing nearly 30 mph or over 30mph........

chasepd

I had a problem with what I thought was my brakes. Took it in to this company who looked at it, test drove it, then quoted me £250 for a repair.
As the car was old anyway, it wasn't worth spending lots of money on, so I decided to see how difficult it would be to replace all the brakes myself. When I went to take the wheel of to see the brake assembly behind it, I found that the wheel was loose as the nuts were not done up properly (had a new tyre put on 2 weeks before, but by different company).
So I tightened up all the nuts, went for a drive, and problem sorted!
Never trust anything they say now, but still use them for oil changes, nothing else.

masterlumps

sorry but only someone incredibly anal would put a car in for an MOT with 1.7 on the tyres

lets face it, it they may be legal, but !!!!!! you would need to replace them very very very soon anyway

what on earth would be the point in NOT having them done before the MOT? only reason i can think of is so you could moan if they failed them in oreder to make yourself feel good

mwbrown

Just had my car mot'd (for the 3rd year!) by halfords autocentre (the new name for nationwide autocentres!), and apart from a glitch on the first one (they charged me for a tyre (which i needed) but when i asked if there would be a retest fee was advised if the car was taken away from the garage then it would be a full test fee again (naive at the time - not had an mot done for about 15 years previous - always changed new car before mot was due for another new car - hence not needing an mot).

complained to headoffice and got a call with 48 hours from the manager advising that the person had misinformed me and that he would offer me a refund in the difference of the price of the tyre (about £20..) or he would offer me a service when i required it free of charge for the misunderstanding.... went for the free service....

The year after it sailed through the mot (apart from needing the oil topping up!)....

Today, sailed through the mot with a couple of advisories that one front tyre and one rear tyre would need replacing in the near future - not bad considering the tyres on the rear are the original and have coverered 47k....

so all in all good experience with our local centre and after the initial blip never had a problem.... (car is a 2006 Ford Fusion!).

And it only cost me £27 for the MOT again....
Mike

buckman

Good to see theres a post on these Garages as I have my own experiences too :

Took my Car in for an MOT at the half price offer last year (thinking they will do the old trick of Cheap MOT but it will need repairs)

Took it in, and it failed. Everything was fine, epsecially after looking at the MSE pre-MOT checks which I did, but it failed on Emissions, and I was given a quote for a new CO2 convertor and Lambda sensor totalling over £400!!

Anyway I thought there was no way around this and took it to a local garage I had used before, and they said they would test it on their computer and look at the Emissions

We did the whole test, and it was abosultely fine!

I then re-booked (with the newer garage) and again it passed a couple of days later.

I then emailed Autocentres asking for a refund, and they acknowledged this with a phone call.

They now want me to bring my test certificate back in, emissions test, and they want to re-do it to check it for themselves before I get a refund!

I've not called them back yet to book this in, as i havent had time to take it in and wait.

Should I do this? What if for some reason it fails on "their" equipment, even though I have my MOT pass?

I don't think I'll take my car again to these, as they are hoping you leave your car there for the repairs! AVOID THEM.

s_b

buckman am i reading this right ?you took it in last year and you want to go back now for a refund of some kind

buckman

No no no! sorry! that may have come out wrong... lol :rotfl:

No I took it in last year, and took advantage of the half price MOT, and nothing was needed so I gained from that one (knowing that they would want to do work on it to get their full fee) but I had it checked over prior.

Then I took it in about 2 weeks ago and had this latest debarcle

Sorry for the confusion

Mr_Stroudley

buckman wrote: »

Took it in, and it failed. Everything was fine, epsecially after looking at the MSE pre-MOT checks which I did, but it failed on Emissions, and I was given a quote for a new CO2 convertor and Lambda sensor totalling over £400!!

Buckman, an almost identical experience for me. 2003 Honda Civic, no problems at the same centre in previous years but now, as a Halfords Autocentre and with a new manager, it failed, on emissions! Immediately offered a £50 diagnosis, and warned that could be new Cat and/or Lambda probe. Declined offer (and hence possible free retest) and took car home as I felt very uneasy. On studying the printout there that increased as it gave zero for all 5 HC and CO readings! I've always had HC ppm's and believe that it is very unlikely to have zero. My Lambda readings on the Fast Idle check were 1.039 and 1.035 (limit 1.03). Does any of this match your results at all (especially the zero HC and CO)? I am now thinking of getting a completely new MOT elsewhere as you did. Personally I wouldn't go near them again, even if they are offering a full refund (it was Tesco Clubcard Tokens anyway, not sure they can be refunded). I think that you can appeal to VOSA, which will get them on its radar, and possibly get a refund for the further test. That is what I hope to do, anyway.

Biketrials08

0.1mm accuracy on your tyre guage? Mine has 1.6mm and then it's 2mm, fine you can infer the part inbetween but I wouldn't stake an MOT pass on it.