Illegal modifications?

money_maker_2

Hi All,

I brought a car almost a year ago from a second hand car dealer. It's highly modified, but we were assured at the time of purchase that it was all legal. They got it MOT'ed for me and it passed.

Almost a year is up and I came to MOT it today and it was failed straight away due to a strip on the windscreen that says Subaru. This is apparently illegal.

We are now taking it to the same MOT center who passed it last year to see if they will pass it. If they do then good. But I'm still worried I own/drive an illegal car. How can it pass one year and fail the next? I thought all MOT places had the same standards and requirments?

If you were me in this position, what would you do?
I have no idea how to proceed. I'm very worried.

Any advice/help would be much appreciated.

Hasbeen

Car should fail MOT if certain items encroach into swept area of windscreen.

If you have already made appointment at original testing station then as you say, see what happens.

It is sometimes, how individual test examiners interpret the legislation or their understanding of it.

If it worries you, can you not remove the logo, i am assuming it is the Subaru sticker that some owners have along top of windscreen?

Some owners for certain reasons, have a set of slightly smaller wiper blades that they put on at MOT times

TrickyWicky

Different MOT test centres interpret things differently. Even VOSA when you query something about MOTs will admit as much.

I had a MOT place fail our car on emissions. Went down the road to the next one who passed it literally 20 minutes later. Rang vosa and they weren't really bothered about it to be honest and even admitted there can be wild differences between the calibration of the emissions test equipment.

Anything that relies on the testers visual sight is always going to be pretty much down to the tester.

Notmyrealname

money_maker wrote: »

If you were me in this position, what would you do?
I have no idea how to proceed. I'm very worried.

Any advice/help would be much appreciated.

I'd just remove the sticker and replace it with a smaller one, if at all. After all, if you're stopped by Traffic Police or VOSA, they'd hand you out a vehicle rectification notice for it anyway as it isn't just illegal when it goes for MOT.

The law is that if anything obscures the view on the swept area of the wiper blades it is illegal and also a MOT fail. Your satnav if stuck to the inside of the screen would be a MOT fail if it was placed in that area.

A MOT done by someone for a dealer usually isn't worth the paper its printed on.

mattyprice4004

Not to mention having SUBARU slapped across the windscreen just makes the car look an awful chavvy mess, all the Corsas around here have it.

They also seem to think its 'cool' to have a list of car parts manufacturers down the side, or a huge version of the carmakers logo along the side.
Not to mention a fart cannon exhaust that can be heard from 7 postcodes away...

Maybe I'm getting old?

money_maker_2

Notmyrealname wrote: »

I'd just remove the sticker and replace it with a smaller one, if at all. After all, if you're stopped by Traffic Police or VOSA, they'd hand you out a vehicle rectification notice for it anyway as it isn't just illegal when it goes for MOT.

The law is that if anything obscures the view on the swept area of the wiper blades it is illegal and also a MOT fail. Your satnav if stuck to the inside of the screen would be a MOT fail if it was placed in that area.

A MOT done by someone for a dealer usually isn't worth the paper its printed on.

I will have to check if it comes within the swept area. I don't think it does though as its got slightly smaller window wipers.

money_maker_2

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Not to mention having SUBARU slapped across the windscreen just makes the car look an awful chavvy mess, all the Corsas around here have it.

They also seem to think its 'cool' to have a list of car parts manufacturers down the side, or a huge version of the carmakers logo along the side.
Not to mention a fart cannon exhaust that can be heard from 7 postcodes away...

Maybe I'm getting old?

lol you should see the car . It's not chavvy cheap mods that you get on crappy corsas but it is ridiculously modded as it was a rally race car owned by Subaru so had to be flashy. If I knew how to post pictures on here I would.

I guess I could get the strip taken off, but I don't really want to have to pay to have it done properly (im a girl and would not be able to do it myself at all)

money_maker_2

Hasbeen wrote: »

Car should fail MOT if certain items encroach into swept area of windscreen.

If you have already made appointment at original testing station then as you say, see what happens.

It is sometimes, how individual test examiners interpret the legislation or their understanding of it.

If it worries you, can you not remove the logo, i am assuming it is the Subaru sticker that some owners have along top of windscreen?

Some owners for certain reasons, have a set of slightly smaller wiper blades that they put on at MOT times

Thanks for your post. It was very informative. The blades are custom as well and slightly smaller (prob so they don't go over the logo strip)

money_maker_2

Thanks for all the comments. Any idea how much of a chance I will have, if I try to get the dealer to remove it for me? If I kick up a stink might they just remove it free of charge out of courtesy?

I will never be buying another modded car like it again. It was just a treat for my OH as hes always wanted one and it showed up. Lesson learnt though- know what it and whats not illegal when buying a car.
Makes me wonder if any of my other mods are illegal:(

Hasbeen

The original seller/dealer may remove it free of charge, worth asking as car failed MOT on this.

But agree with you if car has highly modified look "Rally Car" then it will not look as good with sticker taken off. But if you have to take it off you can probably get a smaller depth/legal one to replace it with.

I would, as your wipers do not encroach onto sticker, go back to original MOT station if possible with old certificate in hand and say you MOTed this last year, Can you MOT it again for this year.

Some info below

Clicky

Clicky

mikey72

If it is in the swept area, put on smaller £2 wipers from Wilkinsons for the MOT, then swap them back again.