Help! Garage still have my car & I think I am about to be taken to the cleaners......

anaisby

I have an R reg Rover 400, it has been a great car and I have hardly had any problems with it. I dropped it off at a local garage yesterday to get an MOT and they have still not managed to get it through its MOT, they are not sure if I will even get it back Monday! I have 3 children to get to school on Monday, my Son is disabled so this is quite an ordeal for me.
Considering I hadnt had many problems with the car, all of a sudden they are coming up with a lot. I do not know enough about cars to ask all of the right questions and I am now afraid that they are going to give me a huge bill. I have only approved one repair to the car which is a water lid or top to the engine which they said was missing and which caused the mot to be abandoned. Now they are saying that the car has to stand idle for 40 minutes to pass its emmissions test and it keeps overheating so they are having trouble getting it through. I have only had overheating problems in long traffic jams, no problems with overheating after driving for 40 minutes though. Can anyone give me some advice on how to handle the garage on Monday morning? What to do if I suspect they are trying to overcharge me? Also, if anyone knows anything about MOTs and whether what they have told me about abandoning the test or running the car for 40 minutes is true or not would be appreciated. I have used this garage in the past, but when I took it yesterday there was a different man in charge, they may have sold to new owners. Any advice for a worried mum of 3 would be appreciated.
AN.

julesgr

I have NEVER taken any of my cars to a commercial garage for MOT's except a company car but i didn't have a choice with that one. I have always used my local council MOT station as they have no vested interest in repairs. I generally find any problems they tell me about can be sorted for minimal cost because you go to a garage telling them what needs to be done.

alwaysonthego_2

I personally would get a friend to recommend a new garage, that they use for a second opinion and if you have any male friends that could take it for you, mechanics are less likely to rip a bloke off.

debsy42

Don't know if what happened to me is of any help but here goes. When I took my car for its MOT it failed on one thing but passed the emissions test no problem.

When I took it back for the retest it wouldn't pass the emissions test for love nor money. The chap was there ages (about 45 minutes) waiting for my car to behave and be in the green zone (something like 0.3), it was constantly in the red (5 and above).

Eventually it did go green and I got my certificate so I can believe what they are saying to you (I have a MGF btw)

bazza1603

Hi,

My mate works at a garage, and it took him 20 minutes to get his own Corsa warm enough to get it through the MOT. Rover 1400 / 1800 do have cooling problems normally indicating head gasket faults.

They may be telling the truth......

Good Luck

Baz

Yogibear

if you take your car to a garage for a MOT and it fails you don`t have to leave it with them to fix it ask them what the quote is if its a lot of money refuse maybe it will not help before Monday but if you could get someone to recommend a garage,where do you live? maybe somebody in here could help if they lived near you.

vansboy

At a guess, your radiator expansion tank cap was missing - the round metal lid, about 2 inches in accross is what you mentioned being missing. Have you had to top up this plastic container, that fills up your radiator, recently & maybe forgot to put it back on, or perhaps not on tight enouigh & it's got lost?

Anyway, shouldn't have expected them to do the test without it, not ABANDON, just not even start doing it!!

As Baz mentions, sometimes it does take a while to reach the correct engine temperature for the emission test to be done right.

Also the head gasket fault - often enough to make you scrap the car, due to it being an expensive repair, is common on this engine. The garage would make you aware of this fault, as it'd be pretty obvious to them, even if you'd not had any of the following problems...

overheating
engine turning over lots & lots of times before starting
loss of water from radiator expansion tank
yellow mayonaisse looking substance in the oil filler cap, in the engine itself
oil level in the engine, reading very high on the dipstick (means that if you've not overfilled it, water has got into it, from the cooling ststem

Not wishing to appear patronising, with these points as identified, but just trying to put them into simplistic terms.

Let us know how you get on!!

VB

anaisby

Hi,
Wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who replied, especially vansboy. I do feel an awful lot better. I will let you know how I get on tomorrow.
Thanks again.
AN

Hintza

I think the garage are trying their best ,,,if they are trying to warm it up for 40 minutes, that is really really trying to push it through, way beyond the call of duty.

Sounds like head gasket plus emissions might be time to start thinking of a new car even if they get it through.

Ask them what the bill stands at so far and ask what they think you should do.

Shifting to another garage you will probably have to start all over again with associated costs.

Be careful here, this could start to get very expensive.

pippamannequin

Im not sure what you mean?
Whenever my cars or my hubby's cars (between us we have 4 cars and a van) have had MOT's if they didnt pass then the garage has always rung us up and told us they didnt and why, then we have the opportunity to shop around for whatever it is the cars have failed on.

I dont understand why you weren't just told the car failed and for what reasons and then allowed to shop around? Surely you should have had this opportunity ?
Or did you ask them to give your car an MOT and then If it DIDNT pass do the work required?
Otherwise you haven't given them permission in which case you're not liable , or am i missing something?

Astaroth

It would depend on what you agreed with the garage as to if you asked them to get it through the MOT or asked them to inform you of any work needed before comencing to do it.

Generally I would say that minor repairs/ investigation work would be considered reasonable without explicit instructions not to do anything more than the MOT.... if not you could get a call saying that it failed on emissions but they dont know why... do you authorise investigation costs... then another call to say it is the lamba sensor thats gone do you authorise repairs costs etc etc