MOTs Cost Cutting MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion Area

Moneymatta

Get your MOT at the same time as a service, this reduces the incentive for the garage to fail you.
Also make sure the Road Tax is out of sequence with the MOT. If the MOT is due at the same time the garage knows you cannot get a disc without a MOT pass. To do this get a six month tax disc just once.

Brian_Fantana_2

If you have gone directly to an Vehicle Test Station (VTS)/MOT garage then they should not be charged VAT as the MOT is a statutory test.
If you have gone to a business that presents' your car on your behalf then they can charge VAT on an MOT, however they are not obliged to hand over an MOT advisory notice if one has been issued.

There is an official Government website where you can check the MOT history of any vehicle (excluding HGV and PSV 9+seats) providing you have the document reference number off the V5C of the vehicle OR the MOT test number of the most recently issued certificate (this is more reliable)

More importantly the MOT inspection manuals (the manual a MOT tester HAS to refer to!!) are here to view.
As I can't post a link to the site just google: "MOT info gov".
These are very useful as you can see how a tester SHOULD carry out a test and what are valid "reason for rejections" ie fails!
Also be mindful that passing an MOT does not mean you are:
Road legal (not everything is tested, eg tinted windows) OR
the vehicle is good for a year.
Best way to view an MOT is a minimum annual road safety check.
As a MOT tester is not allowed to remove ANY components (that need tools to do so) when checking a vehicle a service is always going to be far more thorough, but what needs replacing is then what the service provider recommends.
An MOT cannot take place at the exact same time as a service, as a rule you should have it done before to minimise the chance of a fail, HOWEVER you can argue there are reasons to have one done after an MOT.
Personally I only ever go to an MOT garage who has been recommend to me by a friend or colleague, or one I have used before.

senior_spider

Anyone know of any in the Bolton area

tazulike

I Live in grantham mot max is the best here no retest fee if it dont pass you dont pay. you can check them on line and book on line.they do some specials as well.

lemonjelly

Went to the Birmingham council test centre last week. V friendly staff. £54. He advised that there has been a real spike in demand for private MOT's - for the first time they've had to introduce a diary to manage!

Baljaffray

Booked my car in my local council MOT center for the first time,as Iam fed up paying hundreds of pounds at our usual dealer, made sure we checked everything on the list provided by this site,and it passed. Cost was £54.

curriej99

pink_pirate wrote: »

Please note that the entry in the Gov mot centers for East Sussex is Colaf, and should read "COLAS" and they are in Ringmer East Sussex. Happy Mot'ing !!!

I used this test Centre last week and they failed our little runaround on loads of different points and charged us 45 quid for the privelige. I then took it to a different test centre in Portslade which also does repair work (Portslade MOT Test and Service centre) and the guy there could not believe how fussy the Colas guy had been. Half of the corrosion points mentioned as failures on the Colas MOT form simply were not true. He also failed me on two tyres, which were absolutely fine and didn't need replacing. I got a few bits of welding done and I was back on the road for 270 quid. I would not recommend Colas at all. I think the guy there must have just split up with his missus or something. Be warned...

zipman23

I've used Gateshead Council for the second year running. Cost is £54 and it has failed both times.

The first time I was told that my track rod end were both worn which was fair enough but they also failed the car saying that the rear springs were not correctly located. The bloke who "repaired" the car said that they were being very fussy as he only moved the springs a few millimetres!

This year it failed on 5 things with 2 advisory warnings.

* Both headlights were out of alignment (which is weird because I only changed one of them and it didnt fail the year before on this).

* One washer jet was slightly blocked.

* Reg plate light was out.

* The best one was that the rear centre seatbelt stalk/holder was 'missing' as they put it. Actually, I have a blanket on the back seat for the dog and it had only been tucked in but he said he wasn't allowed to check if it was actually there.

The two advisorys were indicator lights being slightly discoloured. My mate laughed when I told him this.

They managed to nit-pick and find all of this but managed to miss a baldy front tyre!!

My mate did my service and all of my repairs and has said that he will take my car for its MOT next year and get it done at the garage he goes to for £40. Also, his cousin is a mechanic and is taking his MOT test soon so at least I've got a backup. Don't think I'll be going back to Gateshead Council again.

malcolm000

For the first time in years - 11 year old car passed the MOT with no problems:j. Used Cardiff council run MOT centre (£45) on Clare Road (029 20343581). Had no problems booking it in and the examiner was courteous, professional and good humoured!:T
Confirms past suspicions when testing at local garages, MOT failed on debatable faults (suspension, rust, etc) just to generate extra business for the garage:mad:.
Only occasions the car did pass was when booked in for a joint MOT/service :rolleyes: and even then, whether for correcting MOT faults or MOT/service bill averaged £350 .
(If it had failed I'm sure it would have been feasible to find a local garage, willing to fix the MOT failure, and return for a partial re-test within the stipulated 10 working days)

bruceloon

I just got my car mot'd at nationwide Liverpool, had it checked over beforehand and it passed. It cost me £4 as I had swapped £12.50 in tesco vouchers for £50 in rewards.