MOT Failure - was I ripped off?

jimbo_the_jetset

anntargett wrote: »

Thank you all for your helpful comments - the garage has now phoned and asked for the payment of £220.00. The person who phoned earlier was a different person to the person who told me my car had failed it's MOT. I disputed the bill as the service was £175, the brake fluid was £45-10% as a gold card holder (£41.50) and I had given them a £20 money off voucher so the £220 changed to £196.50.
Ann:)

You got a service, brake fluid change and MOT for £196.50. Not bad going if you ask me. Very MSE using discount + voucher.

Seems to me that the brake fluid change was identified as part of the service not MOT, but hey it was needed anyway so at least all is 100% safe now.

Might be worth a cheeky comment when you pick it up about the poor communication, they might give you a bit more off or some money off the next service?

fivetide

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Seriously? I'd be damned annoyed if they didn't. At the very least they should be checking the level.

There seems to be a whole lot of stupid in this thread.

Wind your neck in sunshine.

I agree with much of what you've said however, as you've already accepted, a lot of manufacturers will specify checks at a certain time period. Checking the level (visually) is one thing. Actually checking the fluid with a boil test or other is completely different.

If I have FSH on a three year old car like the OP I'd have expected it to be done at 2 years old (or properly checked).

Likewise if I book in for an interim service (oil change) I'd find it strange if they went to such lengths to find something else to do.

However, if the £175 service booked in for has "check brake fluid quality" on the tick sheet provided by the dealer then they have no real issue. If it says "visually inspect level" then that's different and they've gone over and above the schedule.

5t.

mkirkby

s_b wrote: »

you cannot do a purge of brake fluid for £30 are you serious

a lot of garages use the machine with the lights which is a multimeter under its skin

talk sense dont talk rubbish keep to selling flowers pal

This guy is a main dealer's dream come true.....exactly why they can keep getting away with their charges.

I guess this means that during the 20mins it took me alone on my drive I was in some sort of time warp and it actually took a good few hours..

And maybe someone can explain why a multimeter would be used in a brake fluid change? Thought not

Maybe they also tell him the moon is made of cheese.

GolfBravo

My 2 cents worth:
- brake fluid change at 3 years is a must (2 years is SOP)
- cars that don't get driven much accumulate water in brake fluid quite rapidly (eg. brand new cars sitting at dealerships for months frequently need new brake fluid before delivery).
- a mechanic that knows what that particular car's brakes should feel like would pick spongy brake quite easily, no special tools required for that. Also you can easily spot contaminated brake fluid just by looking at it in the reservoir, no rocket science there.
- you don't need to take wheels off for brake fluid change, that's what hoists are for
- £40? About a normal rate, it's a 20 minute job (about £10 worth of materials used)

Ripped off? No (unless your car already had a brake fluid change 12 months ago).

mikey72

GolfBravo wrote: »

........- £40? About a normal rate, it's a 20 minute job (about £10 worth of materials used)
............

They'll pay about twenty quid for 5L of brake fluid, so it's only a few quid for the material.

colino

It seems a few of you are blindfolded on this issue. Some brake fluid is hygroscopic and for convenience there are two main types of testers, the cheapo one you dip in the reservoir and the more accurate tool that takes a sample and checks its boiling point. In truth drivers will very, very rarely experience the problems of having water in the brake fluid. Coming down a mountain road in a heavy 4x4 with a trailer will just about heat up the brakes enough for the heat transfer to "boil" the brake fluid. Then and only then will you get the pedal to the floor horror when the water in the fluid boils, turns to vapour and the hydraulics no longer work! Brakes cold or at normal working temp. do not feel spongey because of water in the system, the water (which makes up the main ingredient of a lot of brake fluids) works just fine as a hydraulic fluid.
Changing the fluid (whether because of water ingress or contamination, usually from deteriorating flexible hoses or seals) is more than emptying the reservoir with a turkey baster (I've seen it with my own eyes in a council workshop) and topping up with fresh fluid: Nor is it cracking open a bleed nipple and topping up the reservoir until it looks new.
If its done properly the whole system is purged with fresh fluid and each line (each bleed nipple) is used to make sure all of the old fluid is gone. Coupled with a lot of cars being a pain and needing pressure bled, half an hour is fast for this job, 45 minutes more realistic and if you have a problem - seized bleed nipples or crazy systems that seem designed to have airlocks - there goes your profit on the whole day.
In short, anyone having their brake fluid changed for less than an hours labour plus materials is either very fortunate or gullible.

davewynd

anntargett wrote: »

Regarding the fail sheet I haven't got it at the moment as they still have my car - they phoned me and told me about the contamination and said it would pass if the brake fluid was changed so I agreed to them doing it.

Testing the brake fluid is not part of the MOT test. I am a MOT tester and I recommend reporting this garage to VOSA they are very helpfull. If you ask the garage for an appeal form for the MOT I think you will get your money back for the brake fluid change.

Joe_Horner

Trying to steer clear of the more heated discussions above, and in answer to the OP's original question:

No, you haven't been (technically) ripped off ASSUMING they actually changed the fluid for that price.

Regardless of whether or not it's actually needed (as Colino's rightly pointed out, probably not in most cases) the general industry standard is to change the stuff every 2 years regardless of how it tests. Incidentally, the ONLY meaningful test is to sample and check the boiling point, but that'll take almost as long as it takes to change the stuff anyway

So, they've flagged up something that they probably should have done a year ago anyway from the standard service schedule and done it at a fair price.

On the other hand, regardless of whether or not "there must have been a misunderstanding", you seem to have heard them telling you that this recommended (but probably not essential) job would (or had) cause an MOT fail. Unless your hearing is falty, that's a downright lie and an abuse of their position as an approved MOT centre.

There's nothing they'll be able to do about it in your case but it would be worth contacting VOSA - just ask if it's true what you've been told that you need a brake fluid change to pass. Even without evidence they'll be happy to know about this sort of scare marketing because it's part of what gives the whole scheme a bad name!

pendulum

Notmyrealname wrote: »

And you don't use a multimeter to check brake fluid....

He didn't say you did, he said "multimeter type" test e.g. an electrical tool similar to a multimeter, but not the same as a multimeter.

I do also wish you'd show sb a little bit more respect, he posts useful down to earth advice and I'd miss him if he stopped posting a lot more than I'd miss you!

waynedance

Anyway back to ops question no you was not ripped off.