Bought 2nd car from dealer with, what appears to be, a dodgy MOT certificate

laisbojar83

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some guidance please. A couple of weeks ago we purchased a part exchange car from a dealer. The car came with brand new 12mth MOT certificate. Just out of curiosity I pulled the MOT history from the gov website and then noticed the car had failed an mot test a few days prior to us buying the car on quite a few things, including emissions. The MOT cetificate provided by the dealer had no advisory issues, nothing. The car passed the MOT with flying colours.

After doingt his check I noticed a burning smell whenever driving the car. So decided to take the car for another MOT and to my, not so much, surprise. The car failed and the list of issues is exactly the same that made the car fail in the first place.

I contacted the dealer who then gave the excuse that the car was bought with no warranty, sold as seen and that I should have made sure eveything was ok. I then told him I knew my rights and what he said was not right and that in fact the car he sold to me was not roadworthy and I had a copy of the original advert where he states the car is fully serviced and with no issues. I told him it was a criminal offence and immediately he changed his instance. He offered to fix the issues if we return the car to him.

My question is, could I get the car fixed somewhere else and then request he pays for it? I am not sure I trust him to get anything done after all that has come to light.

Should I report his business and also the testing station which issued the mot certificate?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and I am sorry for the long post.

L x

harveybobbles

If you believe the car has a false MOT - STOP DRIVING IT NOW and contact VOSA.

Do this before doing anything else.

laisbojar83

Hi harvey,

I have stopped driving it. I am so upset as I have driving around with my 3 children in the car and one of the things the mot failed on is exhaust emissions carbon monoxide excessive on idle and 2nd idle!

I dont understand anything about cars but whenever I hear cwrbon monoxide I know it is not good!

Who should I report the dealer and the testing station to? It is VOSA for both of them?

I am worried that he might have done the same to other people and only God knows how many people he might have put at risk!

Thanks againf or your reply.

L x

Nodding_Donkey

Personally I'd offer the car for sale to the garage that MOT'd it.

At a premium obviously :silenced:

salubrious

Vosa or dvsa as they are called now, will only deal with the MoT issue.

Since this car has been to 3 different testing stations, this won't be a straight forward appeal situation - You can for sure take this route, but dvsa will only be interested in the testing stations involved, and not you or how you can get your car fixed.

marlot

laisbojar83 wrote: »

...I have driving around with my 3 children in the car and one of the things the mot failed on is exhaust emissions carbon monoxide excessive on idle and 2nd idle!
...

The CO is going out of the exhaust pipe, so the least of your worries.

forgotmyname

Contacting the MOT station maybe a quick way to get all your money back and quickly. I know one that bought a vehicle to stop the buyer taking matters further. They passed it when it had suspension/bodywork issues, Poorly repaired split under the wheelarch/bulkhead that meant the wheel alignment was out by some fair margin.
What they didnt expect was that the guy would sell it soon after.

If its found they pass vehicles that should have failed then they risk to lose everything.

Joe_Horner

What has it failed on? As Marlot says, high carbon monoxide isn't a safety problem but some of the others might be.

If you're not using the car then phone DVSA (the agency formerly known as VOSA) on 0300 123 9000 and tell them that you'd like to make an inverted appeal (ie: appeal against an MOT pass). DON'T get anything repaired on the car before doing this!

They'll be able to tell you how to proceed and may even be able to get things rolling for you - you used to have to contact the local office but they now seem to have a central phone line.

Don't hang around before deciding though - you only have 28 days from the date of the original test to lodge an appeal, although they'll sometimes look at inverted appeals after that time if they thing there's good reason to.

Basically what happens is that they'll re-test the car for free (even if they pass it) and, if they find problems, the testing station that passed it will be in some form of trouble ranging from a slapped wrist to loss of their testing licence.

They'll also find themselves more likely to be subjected to spot checks, which makes the chance of them dishing out "friendly" MOTs for local dealers far less likely in future.

Please ignore people who say not to bother because they "won't help you sort it / they're only interested in the scheme". That's like walking past a mugging because it won't benefit you to stop it.

DVSA only have limited resources for enforcing standards and it's much better if they can taret those resources where they're needed. Appeals are one of the best ways for them to identify problems.

Having a successful appeal against the pass is also very good evidence of the car being sold in unroadworthy condition if you end up having to go to court over it.

laisbojar83

Hi everyone and thanks for your replies.

The car failed on the following: nearside headlamp too low, nearside front position lamp not working, battery insecure, front break pipe excessively corroded, exhaust emission carbon monoxide content excessive on idle and 2nd idle, exhaust emission hydrocarbon content excessive after 2nd fast idle and exhaust emission lambda readings outside limits after 2nd fast idle.

Nothig has been repaired as advised by the mechanic. He also said if the emissions issue is the engine burning too much oil it will never pass an MOT unless the engine is replaced.

I am not too worried about the other issues as the can be easily fixed. My question is could the car have failed on emissions on the 7th june, passed on the 16th and the fail on exactly the same on the 28th?

I contacted the dealer who tried to put the onus on me, saying the car was sold as seen and I should have checked it properly. I then quoted SOGA and that I intended to contact VOSA regarding the testing station and would seek legal advise if we could not solve the matter. He immediately changed his attitude and requested we take the car back on Monday so we can find a "solution". I am thinking of just returning the car and requesting a refund.

I will update on Monday. Should I take a report from the mechanic with me to show to the dealer (if it will help me get it sorted quicker)?

Thanks again everyone.

L x

laisbojar83

Joe_Horner wrote: »

What has it failed on? As Marlot says, high carbon monoxide isn't a safety problem but some of the others might be.

If you're not using the car then phone DVSA (the agency formerly known as VOSA) on 0300 123 9000 and tell them that you'd like to make an inverted appeal (ie: appeal against an MOT pass). DON'T get anything repaired on the car before doing this!

They'll be able to tell you how to proceed and may even be able to get things rolling for you - you used to have to contact the local office but they now seem to have a central phone line.

Don't hang around before deciding though - you only have 28 days from the date of the original test to lodge an appeal, although they'll sometimes look at inverted appeals after that time if they thing there's good reason to.

Basically what happens is that they'll re-test the car for free (even if they pass it) and, if they find problems, the testing station that passed it will be in some form of trouble ranging from a slapped wrist to loss of their testing licence.

They'll also find themselves more likely to be subjected to spot checks, which makes the chance of them dishing out "friendly" MOTs for local dealers far less likely in future.

Please ignore people who say not to bother because they "won't help you sort it / they're only interested in the scheme". That's like walking past a mugging because it won't benefit you to stop it.

DVSA only have limited resources for enforcing standards and it's much better if they can taret those resources where they're needed. Appeals are one of the best ways for them to identify problems.

Having a successful appeal against the pass is also very good evidence of the car being sold in unroadworthy condition if you end up having to go to court over it.

Thank you Joe. I fully intend to make sure the testing station gets, at least, a wake up call! If I can do something to prevent other people from being in my position, I will. I count my lucky stars, the issues with this car are not of a serious safety matter. Someone else may not be so lucky in the near future.

L x

CKhalvashi

laisbojar83 wrote: »

I will update on Monday. Should I take a report from the mechanic with me to show to the dealer (if it will help me get it sorted quicker)?

Thanks again everyone.

L x

I'd take a copy of, rather than the original, but yes that should do the job of making life easier and quicker.