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Service failed to detect several MOT fails

alanrowell
Posts: 5,379 Forumite


in Motoring
I put my car in for a service 5 weeks ago and at the same time asked for them to check the car as the MOT was due and I wanted to know if I should get a new car or soldier on for another year. During this they replaced brake pads, tyres, universal joint & seals. They didn't replace a bearing that was noisy but had no free play. £250 bill
Had the MOT done at the same place and it failed - excessively corroded brake pipes, broken coil on suspension, leak on braking system, part of the brake system hanging loose and the noisy bearing. Bill for at least £300 but they can't say precisely
Now apart from never darkening the doors of that particular main dealer ever again do I any other comeback for them not finding the problems pre-MOT
Had the MOT done at the same place and it failed - excessively corroded brake pipes, broken coil on suspension, leak on braking system, part of the brake system hanging loose and the noisy bearing. Bill for at least £300 but they can't say precisely
Now apart from never darkening the doors of that particular main dealer ever again do I any other comeback for them not finding the problems pre-MOT
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Comments
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A service and an MOT are different and involve checking different things.0
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Di you ask for a pre MOT test/inspection specifically?
Many garages which are MOT testing stations will do this, which is in effect, an MOT.
If they did this, some of the items you mention would have probably been apparent. But if not, then it will be down to 'at the time of the test and opinion of tester'.
either way, I'd have a polite word with Service Manager.
VB0 -
"at the same time asked for them to check the car as the MOT was due" seems fairly clear. And if the service missed any of those items, I'd be upset to say the least. Possibly some other posters on here are happy to roll over, but I'm with the op on this one.0
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As they were due so close together I would have had them done at the same time, MOT first.0
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alanrowell wrote: »[...]They didn't replace a bearing that was noisy but had no free play. £250 bill[...]
Had the MOT done at the same place and it failed - excessively corroded brake pipes, broken coil on suspension, leak on braking system, part of the brake system hanging loose and the noisy bearing.
The bearing depends a little on whether it's a front or rear wheel.
In a front bearing any roughness (indicated by noise) is a fail, so should have been done at the service if you'd asked them to get it ready for MOT.
In a rear wheel bearing excessive roughness (as indicated by noise) is a fail, and there could easily be a difference of judgement between the service department and the tester "on the day" about what constitutes excessive.
In both cases, bear in mind that the car had another month or so of use between times. A slightly noisy bearing can easily become a clear fail in that time.
Corroded brake pipes - should have been noticed at the service but, again, it's a "testers judgement" matter for what's excessively corroded. the manual does give a guide of 25% of the wall thickness, but that's virtually impossible to apply in practice because how do you measure 25% of the wall of a pipe when you can't see how thick they are and can't use anything except your Mk1 eyeball to measure the depth of any pitting?
Broke suspenison spring can happen at any time, without warning, and seems to be increasingly common on newer cars. Almost certainly wasn't a problem at the service.
Brake system leaks can also happen without warning. Any leaking seals weren't leaking at one point, then they were. It's not practical to inspect seals directly, so if they hadn't started to leak at the service they would have been assumed good.
Part of brake system hanging loose depends very much on what part and why it's hanging?
Overall, I'd say you've got plenty of reason to be annoyed with a fail list like that so soon after asking them to check, but very little that could be held up as evidence in anything more than an informal complaint.0 -
Why are you using a main dealer for servicing an older car? You are always being ripped off just by the extortionate labour charges.0
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But if they'd told you about the other work you probably wouldn't have had anything done.
Now you know why they are called 'stealers'0 -
You did everything the wrong way round.
Stage 1:- Arrange a date for service and MOT work within 30 days of MOT due date.
Stage 2:- Take car for MOT (to be done say the day before service)
Stage 3:- Decide whether it is worth having the work done.
Stage 4:- Take car to garage for Service and work
Stage 5:- Within 10 days of first MOT take it back for a retest.
The only thing you have to decide is whether to have the MOT station as your repair garage0 -
Two cars, one i service and maintain everything myself.
The other requires more specialist knowledge, so i use a make specific indie for annual full servicing and he MOT's it for me nearby at the same time.
I'd have been as annoyed as the OP here, i doubt there's anything that can be done practically except to give them a flea in the ear and let your friends know where not to go for servicing.0 -
No I don't find it acceptable that the servicing garage let the apprentice do the service and no one did a proper inspection, to at least highlight, potential, future problems.
Wheel bearings are problematic. One of my very low use cars started being noticeable on the NSF three years ago. It has passed, correctly, two subsequent MOTs as there is no discernible play on test.
I would complain to the servicing garage that you are concerned about the overall service as you feel a proper check was not made on your car and look for a rebate. Personally I've never seen a main dealer service that didn't have a host of potential and ghost faults recounted to the cowering owner after a simple service.0
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