SportKa MOT advisories question - oil leak

AliceBanned

The wheel is not buckled (as claimed by the garage I will never go to again) it has a dent and can be fixed for £45 plus VAT.


The man at the alloy repair place said that some of the garages 'take advantage of ladies' and it made me feel worse. Actually they didn't quite take advantage on this occasion did they?!


He said in any case even with a new wheel it shouldn't be £500 on a Ka! Effectively I've paid £119 for a new tyre and their faffing about. They have often said things like 'we've spent longer on it but have not charged you for that'. Yeah pull the other one.


No wonder I was so angry at the weekend - I was being taken for a fool.




I now wonder about the other two times I've taken it in there this year.


Defo council MOT repair centre next time. :mad:

BeenThroughItAll

AliceBanned wrote: »

Defo council MOT repair centre next time. :mad:

Don't put all your trust in the 'Council MOT won't rip you off' story. Plenty of councils, my local one included, do offer repair and maintenance services to members of the public. Some of the 'in-house' council workshops have been hived-off to the private sector as well, so there are plenty who do have a vested interest in you getting them to do repairs.


I've also found Council centres seem to try to make it as awkward/inconvenient as possible for private users to book their vehicles in; whilst they may be obligated to do so, MOTing a private car takes up space they could be using for something else Council-related.


You may get lucky, but I've found that a decent independent MOT centre, who you trust, will be just as good as a Council test centre.


The rules I always tell my colleagues to follow are - never leave your test till the last minute, keep on top of regular maintenance so the car is basically looked after and looks it, and make it clear on the day that you will not be leaving the car with the test centre for work to be done until you've had the opportunity to obtain several quotations.

AliceBanned

Thanks that's helpful to know, but I have taken my car to one in Bedfordshire near where I used to live (not far from where I live now but far enough for me to have stopped) 3x before and it only failed on a bulb.. also I had no problem booking it in and the service was really friendly and helpful.


Having said that I will still need a garage for some repairs so will be on the lookout for a new one and if they do MOTs as well I may risk it.


I only stopped going to the council one because an acquaintance who drives a Lexus that he got for free from a relative recommended this one. He is not on quite the same budget as me but likes to believe he gets a good service there (and maybe he does, who knows?).

AliceBanned

I've learnt an expensive lesson about getting quotations - and about assertiveness. I think some of the garages bank on people feeling a bit too awkward to take the car back out for quotes/second opinions. I should have done that with the recent MOT but now I know.

AliceBanned

If councils were being ripped off around the country by this kind of thing (hypothetically:D) how would they find the money to maintain the roads? This would impact badly on all other road users.

AliceBanned

I just checked the online map of fault reports on the county council's website. (Haven't heard back yet). This one is described as 'closed' so I am assuming I won't get compensation; that they will have looked at the potholes and said none of them are a problem.


I will probably contest it if that is the case, or may just decide to leave it. At least I know now how and where to get damaged wheels cheaply fixed but I don't want to be getting through too many tyres..

AliceBanned

One of my headlights went off. I bought a new bulb and unplugged the old one - trying to change it myself but on a Ka it is a nightmare. I am on phone to breakdown cover in case they will come but I doubt it.


If I unplugged one of the bulbs would all the lights have gone off at the front, as that is what has happened? When I last took it for MOT one of the faults was found on the light switch stick or something. Just had enough now. Nearly cut my hand up trying to do it.

AliceBanned

I am taking it to my local Halfords tonight. They are open until 8pm. Hope they can help!!:(

jackr5

I remember trying to do the headlight bulb on my sister's KA - I failed completely as I don't have the hands of a 1 year old child.

Rubidium

AliceBanned wrote: »

One of my headlights went off. I bought a new bulb and unplugged the old one - trying to change it myself but on a Ka it is a nightmare. I am on phone to breakdown cover in case they will come but I doubt it.


If I unplugged one of the bulbs would all the lights have gone off at the front, as that is what has happened? When I last took it for MOT one of the faults was found on the light switch stick or something. Just had enough now. Nearly cut my hand up trying to do it.

Removing any of the bulbs will not cause all of the lights to not work.

There are separate fuses for main beam and dip beam, left and right and also main beam and a dip beam relays.

If they are all off, the common point is the stalk switch which you have said may have been faulty previously, so that is the most likely problem now.