MOTs Cost Cutting MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion Area

MC89

Took my 10 year old Astra to the council's MOT centre on Newington Road, Newcastle (upon Tyne), this morning.

Passed with 3 advisories which the tester talked me through. Cost me £39 and I'll definitely be using them again next year!

kerri_gt

Hi there, I'm looking for some advise on an MOT I had done, not my usual garage and via a Groupon deal - already kicking myself about it now.

Had three fail points:

• Offside anti roll bar linkage
• Nearside front coil
• Offside front track rod end ball joint

The garage isn't convenient to me and they have quoted £160 for parts alone, yet when I look these up online via Euro Car Parts, it seems to come to c.£100 (incl VAT) - that's choosing the most expensive parts based on the MOT description.

Frankly I thinking of forgetting the aggro and just going back to my usual garage.

Does anyone in the know think the quote I've been given is high? (I guess I'm suspicious that they are looking to make up money from the Groupon I bought)

sharoncoslee

Just to point out, I tried to book an MOT through council testing facility in Glasgow 21/5/13 and was told they have a 16 week waiting list. :eek:

roddydogs

How much did Groupon Charge?

lordra

Any MOT centers for Motorcycles in Worcester, WR1 postcode? Maybe a 10 mile radius?

brjattwood

I got my car tested at the Paignton Torre Council depot. It failed on a few faulty lights which was no big deal but also failed on having a corroded break pipe.

The test cost £54.00

I fixed the lights myself but it was over 10 days later so took it to my local kwik fit after searching for a voucher code. I didn't mention the original test.

The result was the car passed with no advisories. The test cost £25.00

I know kwik fit have had a lot of bad press over the years. I read recently that they were bought by a Japanese company and have changed their ethos. Our recent experiences with them seem to confirm this. They didn't try and sell me a new tyre or anything!

The lesson learned is that if your car is in good condition and you are fairly sure that it will pass why not check for the best MOT price.

zipman23

I took my car in to the garage I've used a few times at 8am today for its MOT (which expired August 8th...my calender says 18th) :eek: so I've officially been a law breakerfor 4 days and not realised

It needed rear brake pads, a new tyre and I've had a parking brake fault for a few weeks where the brake caliper was sticking so that needed replacing. I knew about these problems so it wasnt so much of a shock. Paid £320 but left in a bit of a hurry as it was after 5pm by this point and I just wanted to get home. On my way home I realised I hadnt been given the MOT certificate so went back before it closed only to be told no MOT had been carried out even tho its on my invoice and thats the reason it was booked in for. Has this happened to anyone before? Gotta go back tomorrow morning now. Massively p'd off especially if I've now gotta fork out another 50 odd quid for something which should have been done!

bouncyboy

Do the council MOT centres, MOT motorbikes ?

moshimoshi

Labman20 wrote: »

It's worth pointing out that going to a council run test centre doesn't automatically mean it will be cheaper and more likely to pass. My sister recently took her 12 year old Fiesta to Cambridge City Council. It failed on several points, the main one being some welding needed to be done to the sils. There were also a few other failure points, handbrake was one of them. They quoted over £600 for the repairs, Yes, they do offer repairs. :eek:
She took it to a local guy in her village who charged her just over £300 for all the repair work and a retest, which btw the handbrake passed without quibble.:T
I think the MSE team need to revisit this area of advice as it is not as clear cut as it may seem and things may have changed.

The Council place in Cambridge was a well-kept secret until recently when I noticed a few adverts, so I decided to try them. Took my rover along, 61k, no problems, runs very nicely.

There's a lot that's good about their set-up but it wasn't a great experience overall.

Had the car for 2 weeks on an emission fail which they didn't seem to resolve in the sense of understanding what the problem was. In the end it passed; they replaced the cat twice, once at the beginning and then right at the end having in the interim tried everything else they could think of. Even worse, the final estimate was dwarfed by the actual bill - £800. So that was a heart-stopper.

Obviously at that point you consider letting them keep the car! However, other than a battery reseating, which hardly figured in the invoice, there weren't any issues, so decided to keep it, but as they must have realised for the cost could have bought it 2 or 3 times.

A final point, they offer MOTs and servicing, but I don't they're desperate for the latter. They quote individually, and after an exchange of emails they came back with, funnily enough, the approximate value of the car 2nd-hand (or car in below average condition 2nd-hand as you can find it on autotrader or somewhere). Didn't seem very enticing.

[Deleted User]

moshimoshi wrote: »

A final point, they offer MOTs and servicing,

WHAT?:eek: That defeats the whole point of using the council!:(