Legal right if MOT'd incorrectly

factor29

Hi

Just looking for some advice. Had the mrs's car into the local 'orange coloured' garage for an mot.

It failed just under 2 weeks ago for front brakes which I've had done by another mechanic for 1/3 of their quote!!

Took it back in for its retest and they have found another issue on back brakes and wanted me to pay for it to be investigated. When I asked to see paperwork from last test to show me braking figures they found the mot tester had recorded the fault on his paperwork but not on the mot refusal.

They have said they will "sort it" but just wanted to check what my rights are depending on what there version of "sort it" means.
The cost may have influenced my decision to repair the car (not worth much) and I could have saved money getting both issues sorted.
Cheers

Foxy-Stoat_3

What is the issue with the rear brakes and how much to sort?

What car is it?

It would have to be a catastrophic fail with lots of expensive parts to replace for you to deem the car uneconomical to repair with this and the front brake repairs.

factor29

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

What is the issue with the rear brakes and how much to sort?

What car is it?

It would have to be a catastrophic fail with lots of expensive parts to replace for you to deem the car uneconomical to repair with this and the front brake repairs.

They didnt know, apparently had to take the wheel and brakes off to investigate.

Car is only a 2000 reg clio, so worth less than £400


Hoping they are going to look & sort seen as they missed off the MOT, just wondering what they have to do legally.

Would be a different story if they had missed the faulty brakes off and passed instead of failed.... or if I had got the repairs done in time, I could have booked it in for a partial retest and they may not have tested the rear (not sure what the process is so might be wrong).

They also said the MOT tester had been sacked in the previous 2 weeks since he did the first MOT :huh:

Quentin

Was he sacked for incompetence or some unrelated issue?


(If incompetence you might suggest they don't charge you for the second MOT, and do the third one cheaply if not FOC)

factor29

Quentin wrote: »

Was he sacked for incompetence or some unrelated issue?


(If incompetence you might suggest they don't charge you for the second MOT, and do the third one cheaply if not FOC)

They seemed a little quiet on that front and quickly changed there mind from wanting to charge me for investigation to wanting to "sort it".

The feeling I got was he was sacked for being useless, but that was just instinct

colino

Ask simply what is the reason for the MOT fail on the back brakes. It either passes on what can be physically checked or on the roller readings, nothing else is part of the MOT. Ask too when they last had a DVSA visit. Although there is a long gap between the fail and the retest, MOTs aren't best out of three.

factor29

colino wrote: »

Ask simply what is the reason for the MOT fail on the back brakes. It either passes on what can be physically checked or on the roller readings, nothing else is part of the MOT. Ask too when they last had a DVSA visit. Although there is a long gap between the fail and the retest, MOTs aren't best out of three.

They said it failed on the roller on one side, the reading was too low. But without getting to the brakes they didnt know what the issue was.

AdrianC

Your recourse is through VOSA, and is against the incorrect issue of an MOT pass or an incorrect fail. To do anything about it, you have to let VOSA inspect the _unrepaired_ vehicle.

Since they gave you a fail, but you're only arguing against the fail list, and they have now failed it on a further issue, then unless you're arguing there's nothing wrong with the back brakes, VOSA won't really be able to do anything.

Since they didn't do any repairs to the brakes, there's no recourse available there.

I'm quite surprised that the other mechanic worked on a vehicle with front brakes in an unroadworthy condition without at least checking the rears...

nobbysn*ts

AdrianC wrote: »

.....................I'm quite surprised that the other mechanic worked on a vehicle with front brakes in an unroadworthy condition without at least checking the rears...

Really? You'd take a car to be repaired, that failed the mot for the front brakes, but you'd fully expect to pay to have the back stripped down first, even they they'd just passed the mot? I wouldn't let them near them myself.

factor29

Good news anyway, just phoned for an update.

Brake fluid was leaking onto the drum, so drum & cylinder are being replaced, and MOT pass certificate sorted free of charge.

specialboy

Good result.....