MOT for £20, whats the catch?

healingtouch

In the local (portsmouth) paper yesterday there was an advert saying you could get a £20 MOT if you used the voucher and if repairs are carried out by them. Should i be wary of such an offer. How do i know that they wont rip me off with over-priced repairs. I am thinking there has to be a catch to get an MOT for £20. What do people think? Any advice on sorts of questions i need to ask them before going ahead with it.

HT

K9cuddles

I've always herd that cheap MOT = high repair bills! They will be really nit picky and do anything to gain there money back through labour on fixing bits... but not sure if that's an urban myth! Still swerve them unless there dealership ones!!

balsingh

They may also charge for a re-test if the car fails. Most places re-test for free within 7 days.

ariba10

I only use MOT stations that do not do repairs. The one I normaly use is tough but fair.
I take comfort in the fact that they are not looking for work.

healingtouch

Thanks for your comment. Was wondering if i take car to garage that doesn't do repairs and it fails, do i have to pay for retest?

HT

blue_haddock

It all depends on individual garages policy so can't give you a definate answer on free re-tests. Have you tried the local council maintenance yard? they usually have an MOT bay for their own vehicles and will let the public have their cars tested there, they have no reason to find any work on your vehicle so you get an honest MOT test.

kenshaz

see Martins article on MOT,ie council depts,bus garages etc

Wig

balsingh wrote:

They may also charge for a re-test if the car fails. Most places re-test for free within 7 days.

Not any more they don't.


OP,

It doesn't matter where you go you always run the risk of having a dodgy garage owner.

There has been no independant research into whether you get honest MOTs from garage/price x as compared with garage/price y including councils. I have a lot of experience with my council and MOT testing cars and I can tell you they are VERY strict (my council, can't speak for others), much more so than commercial garages. I have proved this on more than one occasion where I MOT'd the car at a place doing tests for 20quid then took it to the council place (a couple of days later) and they failed it on a number of things the 20 quid place was not bothered about.

You have no way of knowing what standard of service you are going to get so just choose one and go for it. Don't waste time on things you have no control over.

healingtouch

thaks for replies and advice to check out council etc. Have been looking at the MOT thread for about a week and lots of other areas seem to be able to use council facilites for MOT testing but my council know nothing about it and were very unhelpful.

chas1937

local garage here used to charge £19.99 till last year but its now £24.99 and have been using it for last 7 years and they dont go out of way looking for work although they do let you know if there is a fault.My sons Bmw went in and although I knew he needed new front discs they did spot it and were fair in their charge to supply and fit.Going to BMW dealer would have been lot dearer and it was genuine discs that were fitted