Garage say MOT is a FAKE!! UPDATE!!!!

SnowWhiterThanWhite

UPDATE
Finally had the damage to car repaired through local garage of my choice. They have checked the exhaust and have confirmed, as others have mentioned, that the Cat is present, within the manifold. They even ran it through the MOT emmissions test and all good. Am going to be sending a very strongly worded letter to ATS head office! And, will never, ever consider going to them in future.
The garage also said that the exhaust fitted makes no difference to the performance and have given a letter to this efect to me so that I can let the insurance company know.
Panic over...:j




My DS is a new driver, Corsa SXi 2006
Bought the car with new MOT in June
Someone backed into son whilst he was stationary in a car park and left a dent, the other driver has accepted full responsibility.
The problem is, he has taken his car to be assessed at the garage his insurance has directed him to who have told him that he must sort out his exhaust before he gets any work done otherwise they will report him to the insurance co for modding is car!

The exhaust, which we thought was standard with a push on trim, apparently isn't.
So, he was advised to take the car to ATS, who have said that the exhaust is completely illegal, there is no Catalytic converter and therefore the MOT must be fake! They are quoting him £570 to replace?
Should I go back to the garage that did the MOT and query this? Should I contact a MOT inspector?
Can't believe that this little 'bump' is going to end up costing £££ for something that wasn't even DS fault!
Can anyone advise?

BettiePage

Surely if the MOT was fake he wouldn't have been able to insure the car?

davetrousers

SnowWhiterThanWhite wrote: »

The exhaust, which we thought was standard with a push on trim, apparently isn't.
So, he was advised to take the car to ATS, who have said that the exhaust is completely illegal, there is no Catalytic converter and therefore the MOT must be fake!

I used to have an illegal exhaust on my motorbike, I simply swapped it back to the original for the MOT. Therefore the MOT wasn't fake.

The MOT is simply an assessment at the time of inspection.

Geodark

davetrousers wrote: »

I used to have an illegal exhaust on my motorbike, I simply swapped it back to the original for the MOT. Therefore the MOT wasn't fake.

The MOT is simply an assessment at the time of inspection.

Exactly this - lots of people swap straight through exhausts with a standard one just to get it through the MOT and then swap back. Doesnt mean the MOT is fake, just means that the car passed the MOT on the day it was tested.

SnowWhiterThanWhite

We picked the car up the same day the MOT was done, NO changes have been made to the exhaust whatsoever

StrongWork

Odd story.

Regardless, you can use this .gov website to check the (genuine) MoT status of your car: http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECSID-Internet-Status-Request.jsp

HTH

SnowWhiterThanWhite

StrongWork wrote: »

Odd story.

Regardless, you can use this .gov website to check the (genuine) MoT status of your car: http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECSID-Internet-Status-Request.jsp

HTH

Hi, the garage who had done the last 2 MOT's is local to me and as far as I know, well respected.

I have all previous MOT's together with the emissions test results. I think ATS are trying to say that the garage passed the MOT when they shouldn't have? Surely, no garage would take this risk??

societys_child

there is no Catalytic converter

Doesn't mean the MOT is fake.

SnowWhiterThanWhite

societys_child wrote: »

Doesn't mean the MOT is fake.

So, a car can pass an MOT without a cat converter?

Mankysteve

davetrousers wrote: »

I used to have an illegal exhaust on my motorbike, I simply swapped it back to the original for the MOT. Therefore the MOT wasn't fake.

The MOT is simply an assessment at the time of inspection.

This. The new exhaust place is trying to scare you into getting the work done with them straight away. Go find a decent local indie to do the work done maybe even a trip to a breakers yard for a 2nd hand cat..

Mankysteve

SnowWhiterThanWhite wrote: »

So, a car can pass an MOT without a cat converter?

A lots of moderns will run clean enough without the cat to pass an emmisions test. So it could be the original garage did the test it passed and they didn't notice the missing cat