Mot

pablo1827

Had a voucher for free MOT for garage i do not normally use. It gets a bit of a reputation for failing for headlight adjustment and emisssion tests.Anyway lo and behold it failed (ford focus) on the above plus N/S and O/S front lower suspension arm rubber bushes.Been told by them that they would have to replace whole wishbone on both sides at a cost of £95 each side plus vat and Labour.Is this excessive or can you just replace the bushes.Thinking of just going to my normal garage and having the MOT done again and would rather they did not know that I had already had it tested.Will it come up on the testing computer that it has failed or not.Obviously if it needs the work fair enough but I just get the feeling that they are trying it on because its a free MOT.

waynedance

The arms are expensive if labour is on top, I would go to your normal garage they will not know you have been elsewhere.

Surprised you went to this other garage knowing what you already did???

oh some garages are starting to change only the split rubbers, became a fail this year.

mgdavid

waynedance wrote: »

........ I would go to your normal garage they will not know you have been elsewhere. .........

Why won't the other garage know? - given that all MOTs have been recorded on the VOSA system for 5 yeears and show up immediately.

pablo1827

Thanks for the info Waynedance.Thought the car would probably pass and with a free MOT I could have been laughing.Have booked it in to my normal garage tomorrow so we shall see.

pablo1827

mgdavid wrote: »

Why won't the other garage know? - given that all MOTs have been recorded on the VOSA system for 5 yeears and show up immediately.

Thats what I thought,will just go anyway and come clean to them.

Joe_Horner

pablo1827 wrote: »

Thats what I thought,will just go anyway and come clean to them.

They don't get shown the MOT history by default when they log a car in for test and, frankly, they won't care less about it - especially if they're doing the job right. What someone else thought about it a week or two ago makes no difference to its condition on the day.

If you do want to admit being unfaithful to them, then they're likely to be pleased that you've tried the other place's "free mot" offer and didn't think much of it

Premier_2

pablo1827 wrote: »

Had a voucher for free MOT for garage i do not normally use. It gets a bit of a reputation for failing for headlight adjustment and emisssion tests.Anyway lo and behold it failed (ford focus) on the above plus N/S and O/S front lower suspension arm rubber bushes.Been told by them that they would have to replace whole wishbone on both sides at a cost of £95 each side plus vat and Labour.Is this excessive or can you just replace the bushes.Thinking of just going to my normal garage and having the MOT done again and would rather they did not know that I had already had it tested.Will it come up on the testing computer that it has failed or not.Obviously if it needs the work fair enough but I just get the feeling that they are trying it on because its a free MOT.

That's very expensive - an indy garage should be able to replace both arms for about £120 all inclusive.

You can't just replace the bushes - they are part of the lower arm assy.

If the bushes require replacement, taking the car elsewhere won't help - the bushes will still need replacing and are easy to spot once the vehicle is on the ramp.

waynedance

mgdavid wrote: »

Why won't the other garage know? - given that all MOTs have been recorded on the VOSA system for 5 yeears and show up immediately.

I work at an mot test station:rotfl:.

s_b

waynedance wrote: »

The arms are expensive if labour is on top, I would go to your normal garage they will not know you have been elsewhere.

Surprised you went to this other garage knowing what you already did???

oh some garages are starting to change only the split rubbers, became a fail this year.

im guessing balljoint rubbers too
mecatech sell them in boxes of 12

Notmyrealname

TBH, the cost of a complete arm compared to getting the bushes makes it not really cost effective just to change the bushes. It takes longer to change bushes than to change a complete arm so what you save on parts costs in labour and unlike getting a complete arm you've still got a balljoint with however many tens of thousands of miles wear.

pablo1827

Just a quick update.Took my car to my normal MOT garage and told him the whole story (free mot etc).He phoned me back to say the car was ready and had passed.Nothing wrong with suspension arms or bushes,emmission test fine and headlights ok.Now this is not a pal doing me a favour as they are a strict mot garage and in the past i have had to dish out a few bob to them for mots.So what should I do now?mark it up to experiance and never darken their doorstep again or take it further and demand answers.