halfords mot?

Keith

Premier wrote: »

Any reason you are not following MSE Martin's advice? :huh:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

Because it is wrong?

There is no need to go to a Council MOT place.

Fair enough they won't fail you when the book says they shouldn't. But what do you do when the books says they should? Where do you go?

You'll end up at a garage that does repairs. If they are dodgy, they'll still advise for unneeded repairs and if they aren't they won't.

A decent garage will correct your minor fails without issuing the fail sheet, find them instead of your local council place.

AHAR

roses_babe wrote: »

has anyone taken their car there?

I assume as I'd previously used them for a service they sent me a 50% off MOT voucher last year so I took the rotbox in for its test and passed with an advisory notice for the rear wheel arch and inner front wing corrosion. Anyone else had a corrosion advisory notice on a <10 year old car?!
It's actually quite liberating driving a car which is cosmetically a mess and not caring what happens to it. If I ever decide what I want to replace it with I'll have to start worrying about dents and scratches again.

Road_Hog

roses_babe wrote: »

I didn't even know councils did mots will have a check to see if there is one near me

They do, they're main use is to MOT council vehicles but they will do private vehicles, but they don't advertise it. You can't just turn up, you need to book an appointment in advance. They won't do any repair work, you will need to take it to another garage if it fails, but the advantage is, that there is no incentive for them to find faults so that they can get the repair work. It is simply a case of pass or fail.

Road_Hog

roses_babe wrote: »

I got my mot due next week I was going to take it to halfords but have been reading mixed reviews has anyone taken their car there?

I would advise people not to touch them with a bargepole. However, if you have a newish car that has been serviced by a main dealer and is in good condition and very unlikely to fail - and you know the ins and outs of the car, then getting the half price MOTs is a good deal.

I had my half price MOT at a Nationwide Auto centre (which at the time had just been bought out by Halfrauds) last February and it went through with recommendations on the wipers and front disks. The wipers, yes okay, the disks, no way, they were having a laugh.

But I'm just about to take it in again for this year's MOT, and I'll report back on what they try to get away with his time. Obviously I will be going through the majority of the MOT checklist (no, I don't have an exhaust gas analyser, so I'll skip that one) on the car, prior to taking it in.

waynedance

scotsbob wrote: »

I always take my car to the council depot. There is no incentive for them to find any "faults"

The reason more people don't is because the councils charge the full MOT price and people are attracted to the 50% off or "MOT for only £20" not realising that this is a loss leader for the garage to make money out of finding loads of "faults"

My garage charges £35 for an mot and we certainty do not make up fails.

Matt1977

As a naive 17 year old I took my 15 year old Mini in for an MOT @ Halfords way back in 1995. As typical with Minis, the sills go and it needed welding. Halfords didn't do any welding. So I had to get the jobs done elsewhere and re-MOT'd.

What a waste of £30 that was! :doh:

worried_jim

Matt1977 wrote: »

As a naive 17 year old I took my 15 year old Mini in for an MOT @ Halfords way back in 1995. As typical with Minis, the sills go and it needed welding. Halfords didn't do any welding. So I had to get the jobs done elsewhere and re-MOT'd.

What a waste of £30 that was! :doh:

Erm, no it wasn't. as long as you take your car back within (I think it is 7 working days) the retest is free, if you paid for another MOT eslewhere it may have been money wasted.

SHIPSHAPE

I took advantage of the £27.50 Halfords MOT last year and, after doing the basic checks one should do before an MOT ie bulbs, wipers etc, it passed.

Forgive me but surely a car will pass an MOT if it reaches the standard needed?

I'm not one for conspiracy theories although I never use Halfords for buying stuff in, they're just too expensive.

Stigy

If nothing else Halfords aren't a fast fit centre (used to be Nationwide Autocentre, before that they used the RAC's name, and have used the AA's at one time too...Oh and were Lex Autocentre from the beggining....), so tend to have more technical knowledge than Kwik Fit and ATS etc. Having said that, I had an MoT done at Kwik Fit last year and they were okay and didn't even attempt to rip me off!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Keith wrote: »

Because it is wrong?

There is no need to go to a Council MOT place.

Fair enough they won't fail you when the book says they shouldn't. But what do you do when the books says they should? Where do you go?

You'll end up at a garage that does repairs. If they are dodgy, they'll still advise for unneeded repairs and if they aren't they won't.

A decent garage will correct your minor fails without issuing the fail sheet, find them instead of your local council place.

an MOT tester is not allowed to correct anything, minor or not, they have to test the vehicle AS PRESENTD TO THEM. given that most testers will adjust light beam hight and repalce a number plate bulb, or side light just for the sake of 50p parts causing a fail is pointless for them to fail it on just that, but if you notice if the vehicle has failed anyway they wont touch it. fail it and note it down on the fail sheet.

use the coucil run test stations you pay £50-55. but at least you know their not going to pick and find faults because its not their interest to do so. if asked they will recommend a local indy garage to you or a motor factor to purchase from to get the parts and have them fitted DIY or even scrappy parts.

ive used a coucil run test station twice, and car has not failed.