MOT passed "illegally" - can I claim back?

rs81

Hi all,

I purchased a car back in March of this year. It's an 02 plate, registered from new. Just taken it for its MOT this week, and the tester failed it on the fact that the fog light was on the nearside of the car, rather than the centre/offside as per the regulations - apparently the car must have been an import. Strangely though, the previous 4 MOTs (at a different testing station) appear to have passed the vehicle despite the light being in the wrong place!

I've now paid for the work to be done in order to get it through this test, but I was wondering if anyone knew if I had any recourse against the other testing stations, and if it was possible to claim any financial compensation from them, as they passed the vehicle incorrectly?

Thanks,

RS

diable

What car is it for a start and are you sure that it was an import?

Just checked and it does indeed seem to be that the previous testers passed the car with the fog light in the wrong position.

Did you purchase the car from a garage?

MX5huggy

Do you have proof that the light was wrong when it passed these tests? Anybody could change it between it being tested an then selling it to you.

Some people do all sorts of dodgy things to get an MOT and then change things back after.

rs81

It's a Peugeot 307 - I'm not sure for definite it's an import, but the V5 says "Was registered and/or used. Declared manufactured 2002" - is there anywhere else I'm missing? I can't see anything obvious

It was purchased from a small car dealer - I don't really have proof as I wasn't aware of the regulation, and therefore that it was a problem until the test yesterday...! The MOT/garage I've been to for this test is a member of the good garage scheme, it doesn't look like the previous test is though.

flang

I dont see what the problem is here.
You could take any car to any different garage and one garage may fail on an item whilst the other may pass the item with only an advisory.
Get over it

maninthestreet

Is this a LHD or RHD drive car?

rs81

maninthestreet - it's a RH drive car which is what confused me a bit about the import!

flang - thanks for being so..erm, blunt with me I'm not that au fait with the MOT process - I take the car and get it done once a year :-) from what I'd read today about the various parts of the MOT (after being informed), it seemed that it was almost a pass/fail on this item, rather than a pass/advise; that's what confused me about it.

RS

Premier_2

flang wrote: »

I dont see what the problem is here.
You could take any car to any different garage and one garage may fail on an item whilst the other may pass the item with only an advisory.
Get over it

An MOT station shouldn't pass a vehicle with the rear fog light on the wrong side, especially as an advisory as that acknowledges that the tester was aware of the defect.

They could however pass it (wrongly) as testers are only human and may not notice the defect.

Premier_2

rs81 wrote: »

maninthestreet - it's a RH drive car which is what confused me a bit about the import!...

It could be an ex-forces members car; someone who was stationed in a country where they drive on the right e.g. Germany.

goldspanners

rs81 wrote: »

I've now paid for the work to be done in order to get it through this test, but I was wondering if anyone knew if I had any recourse against the other testing stations, and if it was possible to claim any financial compensation from them, as they passed the vehicle incorrectly?

how on earth could you claim the previous MOT garage from the previous 4 years? you didnt take the car to them as you said you only owned it from march this year. so how do you know what fog light was fitted then? maybe previous owner changed this for some strange reason.
why compo? how much do you feel this other garage owe you that you ve never dealt with before?

jeannieblue

VOSA are tightening and tightening more and more on the regulations and God forbid any MOT tester that doesn't pick up on the tiniest of things.

You obviously went to a good MOT station for your test - it means they are 'on the ball'. With regards to previous tests? They got away with it, were too casual etc.

Its a bit like the number plates.......... last year and years before, personalised plates that were incorrectly spaced etc., some MOT places (wrongly) would pass them. I think that this year, VOSA have spelt it out a lttle more clearly, and any MOT tester passing a car when it should be a fail could lose their license. All MOT test centres know now that a VOSA guy could be sitting just a street or less or more away, with his laptop, logged on to their system without them even knowing about it.

BB is watching.............. :eek: