MOT Complaint

masterlumps

thank you it does in fact list our centre on there, despite me asking in 3 different people form our council who all said no

hartcjhart

Moody_Mare wrote: »

This garage does not do repairs just MOT's tyres ect

noe another quick fit??

Moody_Mare

Just to make things a bit clearer;
Outer & inner sills were replaced 2 years ago with double thickness plating, properly welded & undersealed. (original sills lasted 17 years)
suspension mountings were done at same time in same way.
corrosion to brake valve is surface rust.
exhaust has a leaky joint. (black marks on the joint)

now even clearer;
I was watching the tester with an eagle eye, reason being he had tried to fail car 5 years ago due to worn rear wheel bearings, when confronted that they were like that new, he said to replace them, (red faced @ time) went elsewere: passed ok. bearings are still ok as he never mentioned them !!!
vendetta excuse ? (the car is very recogniseable)
the only reason taken to that station was the only one who had space to test before MOT ran out (I should have known better)

The car is not a rust bucket. It is well maitained, as underseal is fading away it looks rusty underneath but I can assure anybody it is SOLID.... oops forgot to mention last MOT was done in the presence of a VOSA inspector who ok'd it.

so I was most suprised when the failure list was so extensive on bodywork (as all the running gear is in excellent nick)

next MOT will show results !!!!!!!!

Moody_Mare

hartcjhart wrote: »

noe another quick fit??

No it is a private firm that just does this sort of work. Used to go to them years ago but they changed tester and everyone started having problems if their car was over 5 years old. They failed the Celica at that point yet when re MOT'd after not completing the work he insisted on it passed? They also failed our Landrover on excessively coroded rear axel, so we jet washed the ingrained mud off the axel more thouroughly than before and it passed!

Unfortunatly with an elderly relative in hospital in a bad way, this MOT was forgotten about and this was the only place that could take the car before expiry.

Bunter_2

I once had a "run-in" with an MOT tester. He failed my car on a couple of points. I took the car to my usual "trusty" garage to get the work carried out. After the work had been carried out I took it back for a re-test but he failed it again on the same points.

I returned to my own garage. The mechanics were livid. They checked the points again and were very satisfied with the work and so I took it back for a second re-test. I could not believe it when the tester started humming and haa-ing and looked as though he was going to fail it again. I let him know in no uncertain terms what the other garage mechanics had said and he reluctantly passed it.

So I have no doubt that some MOT testers are "picky" as you appear to have also discovered.

Can you be sure that the tester recognized either you or the car? MOT stations can get very easily spooked if they think their work is likely to come under scrutiny. So if the tester had your husband watching him do the inspection very closely, he may have felt obliged to "cover his back" by applying the rules very strictly.

As others have pointed out; if you are not an expert yourself; you have no means of challenging his professional opinion, however over zealous he may appear to be. Only another competent mechanic would be able to do this.

You do not have much recourse other than to avoid such places if you have no confidence in them; although I can see why you felt obliged to use them on this occasion even though you were apprehensive about them.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

ditto my father used to take his car to a private mot station (not owned by council), my father knew the mechanic well and his father, and my dads car would fail with a long list each year, my dad thinking they were friends more than just i know him and his dad trusted them and paid them for all the work being done and a retest. being an outsider to that situation my dad buying a car with mot on it then a year later a list of 20 fail points (had a pug 307 it was 4 years old when he bought it) i started to question my dad that every time he buys a car then mot is due its fails with a long list got to ask yourself why. he owned the car four years four fails from same garage. then looking back through reciepts we had for the car the garage gave us. every year it had front discs and pad, rear discs pad, front rear wiper blades, front side light left or right. a new mid or rear section exhaust, anti roll bar links, anti roll bar rubbers, worn/defective tyre. my bro owns a focus older than the pug and passes mot straight away no probs at a different centre. got to say if a garage thinks they have found a gullable muppet, then they will take the pi$$ out of their pocket!!

forgotmyname

Very solid? It had welding done 2 years ago, So it cannot have been that solid.

Anyway, It is quite possible the fail point may not have been on the new metal but on a joining piece
or near the weld.

Brake cylinder rusty, Been like it for 8 years. Its rust it will have got worse year after year.
Rust doesnt take holidays, It works 24/7 365.

Leaky exhaust should have failed, Poisionous gases can enter the car and kill you.

Seatbelt mounts can be checked by squeezing the sills, Or pulling the belt against the mounting.
Any movement will show up. Possibly the inner sill thats corroded not your newer outer sills?

Some testers do not know what is acceptable in some cars, Checking the bearings for play with the wheels
off the ground may look like they are badly worn. I cannot remember what cars do this. I used to know them all.
But with the wheels on the ground the play vanishes. All normal.

King_Nothing

Take it to a council centre, tell them to pay attention to what’s been stated on the failure sheet, and either corroborate or disprove their findings, if loads of their findings are disproved I'd say you have a good case to go to VOSA with to get the original garage investigated.

Still it is a 19 year old car, and there are bound to be things that can fail it, or at least advisories.

mcjordi

iirc any garage with a mot tester has to be open for anybody to go in and get a test.

not sure if they are allowed to remove underseal tho (im sure they are not ) my tester said remember if we cant see it we cant fail it

olly300

King_Nothing wrote: »

Take it to a council centre, tell them to pay attention to what’s been stated on the failure sheet, and either corroborate or disprove their findings, if loads of their findings are disproved I'd say you have a good case to go to VOSA with to get the original garage investigated.

I wouldn't do that I would get them to MOT test it blind.

Then mention you had another MOT test with these failures if they are different.

I did that with my old car, they went and looked at the car and the points raise and stated the advisories I got elsewhere were a load of rubbish.