Halfords Ambiguous MOT failure

anotheruser

mrmechanic wrote: »

It was stated how much on the post just before mine, so not according to me, Fact.
And you don't like people who state fact, your choice.
Maybe other people want to know the facts, not just what someone heard the cost was in the pub.

Fact... based on an internet forum where anyone can pretend to know the facts?
Pull the other one!

MOT prices are all over the place dependant upon your location in the country. I know one out of town place that does them for £35, yet on the other side of town they charge £40. Fact.

Lum wrote: »

Failing a car on a stupid thing like that causes a huge inconvenience for the owner (e.g. if they needed to tax it that day, or need to go back to work) and takes up the tester's time doing the free retest.

This is true and I agree completely.
Although I also don't see the point in having a test if you can drive off and next day something happens, which would fail a MOT test and be driving fine for 12 months!
We should be more like America, fines for people who have dodgy cars... the amount I see without a full set of working lights these days is amazing! But then we would need to actively push those fines, otherwise people simply wouldn't have respect for the police.

arcon5

anotheruser wrote: »

MOT prices are all over the place dependant upon your location in the country. I know one out of town place that does them for £35, yet on the other side of town they charge £40. Fact.

What garages charge varies, yes. But isn't the point that the poster saying £20 for each test goes to VOSA is wrong? And I don't know if it's right or not, but I highly doubt it is correct - otherwise you'd be asking why the likes of weonlymot are still in business, one of their branches for example currently charging £32, therefore £12 net before labour. Just wouldn't work, especially when you factor in those that get the test for free and don't return.

arcon5

anotheruser wrote: »

This is true and I agree completely.
Although I also don't see the point in having a test if you can drive off and next day something happens, which would fail a MOT test and be driving fine for 12 months!
We should be more like America, fines for people who have dodgy cars... the amount I see without a full set of working lights these days is amazing! But then we would need to actively push those fines, otherwise people simply wouldn't have respect for the police.

Because otherwise the roads would be filled with rust buckets with massive braking inefficiencies with limited capability of holding on to the road.

If we started pushing fines for things like light bulbs then not only would people loose respect for the police, the courts would be full of people defending the fine on the grounds they cannot control when bulbs go!
When you have a bulb go, how do you find out? I'm sure at some point even the high and mighty like yourself has been on the road with a dead light!

Lum

anotheruser wrote: »

We should be more like America, fines for people who have dodgy cars... the amount I see without a full set of working lights these days is amazing! But then we would need to actively push those fines, otherwise people simply wouldn't have respect for the police.

Problem with that is the same thing.. bulbs can go at any time. No-one can reasonably be expected to know if a tail light goes pop while they're driving, and even if they do become aware it's not always safe or practical to stop.

A more sensible approach may be to pull people over and tell them to fix it, then fine the people who don't bother, though then you have the problem of how do you test for it. In some countries this is in the form of a paid-for inspection and so becomes a method by which police can harrass and effectively fine people who they dislike.

mrmechanic

anotheruser wrote: »

Fact... based on an internet forum where anyone can pretend to know the facts?
Pull the other one!

MOT prices are all over the place dependant upon your location in the country. I know one out of town place that does them for £35, yet on the other side of town they charge £40. Fact.

Why don't you stick to the point when you are wrong.
We are talking about MOT station costs per test slot, NOT cost of an Mot at various locations.

fivetide

mrmechanic wrote: »

Why don't you stick to the point when you are wrong.
We are talking about MOT station costs per test slot, NOT cost of an Mot at various locations.

Devil's Advocate here and on the topic. If £20 isn't even close and we are, as you say, talking about the cost per slot to the MOT station, how much actually does it cost them or what is VOSA's fee?


I think anotheruser's initial issue was you were very direct in your response to patman99 but didn't actually say what the fee is (just what it isn't and that apparently it is no where near £20)


I'd actually be interested to know as a place near us has done a bike MOT for £10

patman99

The £20 was what my MOT tester told me VOSA charged per certificate (back when they actually produced a proper certificate rather than the 'easy-fakeable' ones they do now

I cannot believe that a Govt. department is giving something away for free. VOSA must have lost the plot.

mrmechanic

fivetide wrote: »

Devil's Advocate here and on the topic. If £20 isn't even close and we are, as you say, talking about the cost per slot to the MOT station, how much actually does it cost them or what is VOSA's fee?


I think anotheruser's initial issue was you were very direct in your response to patman99 but didn't actually say what the fee is (just what it isn't and that apparently it is no where near £20)


I'd actually be interested to know as a place near us has done a bike MOT for £10

mrmot wrote: »

, the testing station does pay £2 or so to the computerisation provider for each pass that is issued.

Posted back in post number 14.
My reply wasn't meant to be blunt, only pointing out that wherever they got their info from that it was nowhere near being correct.
Actual cost to mot if i remember correctly is around £2.54 per Pass issued. Bought in slots of 100 costing around £254

mrmechanic

patman99 wrote: »

The £20 was what my MOT tester told me VOSA charged per certificate (back when they actually produced a proper certificate rather than the 'easy-fakeable' ones they do now

I cannot believe that a Govt. department is giving something away for free. VOSA must have lost the plot.

More than likely didn't want you to know the actual cost to the station per test certificate
When the mot test books were used they were bought in books of 100 certificates round about £100 a book

Joe_Horner

fivetide wrote: »

Devil's Advocate here and on the topic. If £20 isn't even close and we are, as you say, talking about the cost per slot to the MOT station, how much actually does it cost them or what is VOSA's fee?


I think anotheruser's initial issue was you were very direct in your response to patman99 but didn't actually say what the fee is (just what it isn't and that apparently it is no where near £20)


I'd actually be interested to know as a place near us has done a bike MOT for £10

The info's out there if you look hard enough

There may have been another increase since, but in April 2010 the slot fee increased to £205 per hundred slots, so £2.05 per test:

http://www.motuk.co.uk/images/Special%20Notice%2002-10.pdf