Crazy New MOT system

tomstickland

Reminds me of the number plate laws. ie: can't get number plates made without documtents. Well, one of the local panel shops will make plates anyway, they then stick a "not for road use" sticker on it. Job jobbed.

larmy16

MrSmartprice wrote:

The even more annoying thing is that these people are so easy to spot that if there were any traffic police left they could get them as easily as shooting fish in a barrel!

How right you are Mr Smarprice. There is a vehicle constantly parked near my home with a tax disc that has expired early this year. I reported it online but nothing has been done. Trouble is you have to be careful that people don't find out you have done these things, I don't want to get my head kicked in. It does annoy me though as I think if I did the same, they would be down on me like a ton of bricks.

Also if this lad has an accident, he is unlikely to have insurance either, cos you have to have that to get a tax disc don't you? :mad:

MrSmartprice

No MOT = No Tax = No Insurance.

How do they get away with it? Easy, they buy a cheap car for cash and just drive it! No paperwork, and certainly not registered with Swansea. No comebacks whatsoever, as they are so unlikely to get stopped. As I said in the previous post, you can see them a mile off. It shows total contempt for the law.

In many cases it also means no licence. Eastern Europeans are particularly frequent culprits of this type of crime. They simply carry on what they have done in their own countries.

redux

1jacks64 wrote:

I understand all the safety issues with MOT's and how they are really good and all that. However, this new system is a ral nuisance. Apparantly you now have to have the repairs done by the garage, the garage we used to use has cut the days before having the free retest from 14days to 7 days and not only this but you have to leave the car with them overnight for however many days it takes to do any repairs.

Isn't this new computer system a charter for garages to rip-off customers by having it compulsory for them to do the repairs or you pay for another test?

No. You don't have to have the repairs done by the garage, and their decision to modify their offer to absorb the retest fee themselves is a promotional condition up to them, not the government (though the government may well have altered the time stipulation on reduced fees - I don't know).

This has been the case for years, as far as I'm aware. As has the possibility that if the car is bad enough it can be declared unsafe, and not used on the road until repaired.

albertross wrote:

I had to wait 4 hours for a slot on "the ramp", even though the MOT was done in the first hour. The garage just parks the car on the ramp for an hour, does no work, then prints the certificate out - it's ludicrous. (Reminds me of the other workaround to Government red-tape - "You can only book a doctors appointment on the day, so that we can meet government targets to see a patient in 24 hours".).

This is not bureaucratic farce, as the next poster says - it sounds more like an organisational issue in that company.

The tests are booked on the computer to a specific time, but can be altered. When I was late, they brought one forward, and rebooked mine an hour later. So no complaints by me of imagined inconveniences.

Likewise for doctor's appointments - change your doctor not the government.

Wig

The computer system has given all garages an excuse (nothing more) to re-assess their working practices. If one garage down the road changes prices the word soon spreads to the next garage and the next and the next.

There is nothing about the computer system which makes it impossible for a garage to offer a free re-test, and nothing for the re-test to have to be same day next day 7 days or 14 days. It is 100% up to the garage whether or not to offer a free re-test and what duration they are willing to give for that re-test.

If all the garages are changing their policies it means more money for them and we are still left with the choice of who to take our cars to.

I recently had mine tested, the first garage wanted the full price for the test..something like 45 quid and the retest as according to the conditions was the standard re-test price ....maybe 35 quid upto certain amount of days. The garage down the road was 20 pounds test and free retest 1 day, I missed the free retest due to having to order parts so I paid 20 pounds for my re-test, but on the day I went back the garage had heard the news from the other garage and had adjusted his prices to 20 pounds test and 20 pounds re-test whenever that may be.

None of this stops your right to a free re-test if your car fails on certain small items and you get back within 24 hours, OR a reduced price re-test within certain number of days. All this is spelled out on the MOT Terms and conditions displayed in the garage waiting room, and no doubt on some gov website somewhere.

If your car fails a test there is NOTHING compelling you to get work done at the garage who failed you. If you think you are being ripped off like that example given above. Get it tested somewhere else and report the other tester to the testing agency and trading standards.

Wig

daveboy wrote:

I think the new MOT system came in at some point earlier this year...it is something I've been looking at as I currently have an old style certificate but mine expires on 30th January 2006.

£44.15!!

The only gain I can see from this, is that with a new style certificate you can then apply for your tax disc (mine expires end of January....don't like January as my car hits me big style in the pocket) online. Meaning no queues with the down and outs getting their dole money at the Post Office.

Insurance on 6th February too.

The Labour government finally did something I approve of!

What do you mean apply for your tax disc? How do you apply without going to the post office and do you not still need to show insurance?

redux

albertross, only one paragraph of that rant has any relevance to the thread - I apologise to everyone else for the half sentence that inspired it.

As daveboy suggested, it is now possible to apply online for a tax disc [presumably also for SORN], so this has made things rather less inconvenient and bureaucratic for those that choose this method.

As for rants about inconveniencing law-abiding citizens, the Police will have access to databases that tell them if a certain car is MOT tested, licenced and insured; and the DVLA are chasing up cars that are not recorded; instead of complaining, why not accept that this has made things a good deal more difficult for offenders, and some aspects easier for the rest of us.


Wig - I haven't done it yet, but you apply and pay online with information from the MOT form (another advantage of the car being logged on the computer); the insurance will presumably be looked up online automatically ...

Wig

You can let your tax disc expire, you then have until the end of the first month to get it taxed, the tax is obviously then valid from the start of that month. The crap bit is although you can do this and not get fined by the DVLA, if plod see your car on the road you could easily find yourself with a ticket, pretty stupid to issue a ticket under these circumstances, it should be a delayed notice, if the car is taxed within that first month after expiry no fine will take place, if it is not then the fine/ticket will become valid and processed.....but I often come up with ideas that are too sensible for this mad world.

murphwiz

The MOT rules regarding retests have not changed at all.

Just that with computerisation now in effect, the tester can no longer do a quick scout round retest and bend the rules as before.
Look on the back of the VT30, that will tell you exactly what in law, is permissiable as far as a statute free retest is, any other failed items other than that list consititute a FULL chargeable test, this has ALWAYS been the case, computer will not allow you to bend the rules anymore, all times are logged etc, start pulling 10minute retests and you'll soon get a visit from vosa.

Any free retests and reduced fee tests are purely at the discretion of the garage concerned, only rule regarding charges is the test fee vosa set is the MAXIMUM allowable charge, you can anything at all undr that price.

You do not have to have your car repaired at the garage that failed it, you can have it repaired any place you like, although most will wqaive any retest fees if they do work there and then, as if car does not leave the premises, a fast track retest can be carried out, saving garage time and money.

Wig

Re DVLA tax disc,

It is definitely up to the end of the first month after expiry, they don't do any checks during this period. That is from the horses mouth on the helpline. And my dad was late paying for his within the first month.

Re MOT free retest,
In all my years of free retests they have always been full tests not rush jobs.