Please urgent help with 'illegal' car sold by garage

mad_rich

rigsby1967 wrote: »

Coolant very low....im sure this is part of MOT.
Thank you for the link mad-rich

I'm pretty sure it's not. Here's the MoT manual. It doesn't mention coolant.

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/index.htm

Anyway, this one you can fix yourself by adding more coolant. It may be evidence of a bigger problem, or it may be evidence that nobody has bothered to check the coolant.

To be honest, if the garage was trying to pull the wool over your eyes, I imagine the first thing they would have done would be to top up all the fluids.

Be careful if you do contact VOSA to say you think it should have failed. If they agree with you and take your MoT certificate away, you will need to get the faults fixed one way or another.

It will be good leverage to argue with the garage, but you still have to argue with them.

GJ_WRX

Best option is to get it re-tested sharpish then if it fails use this as amo when confronting the dealer. Although the issue will be with the MOT station that tested it for them.

By the sounds of it this dealer isn't the best so may well just refuse to do anything.

I did a very similar thing when I was 18 buying a Citroen BX which by themorning after I bought it had leaked all its hydraulic fluid everywhereresulting in no suspension, brakes or steering. I called the garage and justranted until they agreed to come and collect and refund me. Not the mostdignified of routes but it worked.

diesel_dog

Give the garage two choices.

They either refund in full, or fix all the problems (presuming you have a written list from the other garage that looked at it?) in an agreed time frame. You will need to give them the opportunity to rectify any problems first.

Now would be a good time for you to get involved, with a cool head - I know that won't be easy but you'll need to.

Pop in and speak to them and see what they have to say. Don't expect them to give in at first and play hard ball. Let them have there say but also know your rights and present them in a calm factual manner. Ideally, if you have voice recorder on your phone, then use that .....

ILW

Was it Kwik Fit or similar that told her about all these "faults"?

arcon5

Portly_Pig wrote: »

Dangerous condition for the insecure battery if it's just say on the tray.

How many random stop & check the batteries secure checks do you think take place in the UK?

And how many officers have you ever know to get under a car to inspect things like exhaust sections and disc condition?

MEM62

Unfortunately, if the garage are the type of business that are prepared to sell a car in that condition they are probably prepared to argue about any refunds as it will be a regular part of their business practice. (Shoddy garages rarely sell dodgy cars in isolation)

The advice on earlier threads gives you some options and, if the car is that bad, you might also involve Trading Standards. Your best bet for some compensation from the garage is to be as big a pain / inconvenience as you can be but your daughter may just have to clock this one up to experience. She might even listen to you next time!

Joe_Horner

rigsby1967 wrote: »

Garage got a MOT the day daughter picked it up.
Daughter took car to a garage on Saturday, she was told if the police pulled her over she would have the car taken away and she'd get done for it, the problems are as follows....

Front break disks and pads need replacing
tyres at mimimal level
Battery not clipped in
CV not sealed properly
gear box seal leaking
coolant leak
fog light cable cut
mid/rear exhaust need replacing
front washer not conected
positive cable on battery melted
coolant level very low
bonnet clip broken and held down by cable ties.

Out of those, the following are MOT fails:

Battery not clipped in
CV not sealed
Fog light cable cut (if it's the rear fog and it hasn't been re-wired)
Bonnet clip broken

These might be, or might not, depending on exactly what they mean:

Front disks and pads (fairly subjective unless the pads have less than 1.5mm in which case a fail)

Tyres (on the limit is a pass, below the limit is a fail)

Mid / rear exhaust (depends how bad)

Front washer - is that screen or headlamp washers? If it's headlamp, are they normal lights or HID? HID must have working washers.

Battery +ve cable melted depending on how bad it is.


The rest are not MOT issues, although a good tester would have advised most of them (especially the oil / coolant leaks). Things like brakes and exhaust should also have been advised if they're close to the limit. A tester isn't required to give advisories but it works in your favour if they haven't because VOSA tend to take the attitude that if they didn't advise they probably didn't look at them.

The best way to approach this is to NOT GET ANYTHING DONE by the garage that's looked at the car.

Call VOSA on 0300 123 9000 and tell them that you want to appeal against a test pass. They'll re-test the car for free because it;s an "inverted" appeal and their word will be final. If the garage IS getting MOTs pushed through incorrectly then VOSA will come down like a ton of bricks on them.

If you pay for a test elsewhere then (a) you'll be paying, (b) some things are a question of tester discretion and (c) there will be no comeback on the original testing station.

vaio

Joe_Horner wrote: »

........The best way to approach this is to NOT GET ANYTHING DONE by the garage that's looked at the car.

Call VOSA on 0300 123 9000 and tell them that you want to appeal against a test pass. They'll re-test the car for free because it;s an "inverted" appeal and their word will be final. If the garage IS getting MOTs pushed through incorrectly then VOSA will come down like a ton of bricks on them.

If you pay for a test elsewhere then (a) you'll be paying, (b) some things are a question of tester discretion and (c) there will be no comeback on the original testing station.

On the other hand, VOSA could be a good bargaining point with the garage along the lines of refund me now or VOSA get involved. Any dodgy garage would much rather refund and sell it on to a different dumb punter than risk getting their "tame" MOT station into trouble

Joe_Horner

vaio wrote: »

On the other hand, VOSA could be a good bargaining point with the garage along the lines of refund me now or VOSA get involved. Any dodgy garage would much rather refund and sell it on to a different dumb punter than risk getting their "tame" MOT station into trouble

True, but a successful inverted appeal gives cast-iron grounds for a refund anyway. So having got the appeal, the stick to wave is Trading Standard / court.

By not involving VOSA, as you say, they just get to pass it off to the next unfortunate person who knows nothing about cars and thinks it looks "shiny with an almost full MOT". That's how the dodgy places get to stay in business.

Bottom line is that this sort of situation is exactly where people can make a small but real difference in stopping the cowboys for very little effort. If the MOT station and the dealer are linked, in a way that the test station has "an interest" in selling the car, then a single incorrect pass can be enough to shut the station down - meaning no more dodgy cars from that dealer.

Which is a good result for everyone (except the cowboys).

diesel_dog

We can keep speculating and throwing in tuppence, then contradicting each other all day long but an update from the OP would be better