Failed MOT on bulb / then passed.

davethetaller

A friend of mine took his Skoda for an MOT test the other day, asked them to fit a brake light bulb which he knew had blown, and waited for it to be sorted.

An hour later, he was beckoned to the counter to pay, and was told that, the car failed its MOT only on the bulb issue, so they had raised a fail certificate, fitted the bulb, then passed it. (Bulb inc. fitting £5).

They said that they fitted the bulb "after" the test, as it may have failed on something else.

My puzzle is, why did they not fit the bulb prior to the test, and just raise the paperwork for the pass certificate at the end, rather than raise the fail certificate, followed by the pass certificate?

Double paperwork for the same fee, or am I missing something?

Just curious.:)

Piggywiggy

Where my car goes they always give a thorough check over first before it goes to be tested then anything it fails on is repaired.

Westmead_Fan

davethetaller wrote: »

A friend of mine took his Skoda for an MOT test the other day, asked them to fit a brake light bulb which he knew had blown, and waited for it to be sorted.

An hour later, he was beckoned to the counter to pay, and was told that, the car failed its MOT only on the bulb issue, so they had raised a fail certificate, fitted the bulb, then passed it. (Bulb inc. fitting £5).

They said that they fitted the bulb "after" the test, as it may have failed on something else.

My puzzle is, why did they not fit the bulb prior to the test, and just raise the paperwork for the pass certificate at the end, rather than raise the fail certificate, followed by the pass certificate?

Double paperwork for the same fee, or am I missing something?

Just curious.:)

what happens if the vehicle fails on other items & you decide not to repair it. that is how we do it you are overthinking it it takes a couple of clicks then 2 bits of paper come out straight after each other

facade

Doesn't it affect their statistics if too many cars pass first time? So a fail that doesn't cost you anything helps keep the figures out of the red.

(Yes I know that the state of the car and whether the owner did a pre-test make a difference, but I bet if every car that was tested passed there would be a visit from the Ministry to see if the tests were carried out properly)

captainawsome

They have to test the car in the condition it was presented, although they knew the bulb would be changed right away they will have used a function called PRS, which registers a fail followed immediately by a pass for minor items such as a bulb. It is a strange way to do things but that's how the powers that be like it done.

davethetaller

facade wrote: »

Doesn't it affect their statistics if too many cars pass first time? So a fail that doesn't cost you anything helps keep the figures out of the red.

(Yes I know that the state of the car and whether the owner did a pre-test make a difference, but I bet if every car that was tested passed there would be a visit from the Ministry to see if the tests were carried out properly)

Many thanks to all who replied. You have been thanked as per usual.

My favourite reply is the statistics one.

Where would we be without statistics!

Thanks one and all.

foxtrotoscar_2

They change the bulb...add £5 to the bill and the MOT failure is on something else really major and makes the car essentially scrap? They potentially save your mate a fiver? VERY MSE!

patman99

Just in case they found something more expensive that would cause a failure.
A good decision there by the garage.

foxtrotoscar_2

Piggywiggy wrote: »

Where my car goes they always give a thorough check over first before it goes to be tested then anything it fails on is repaired.

So they do a pre MOT check and repair and bill you, rather than an MOT and repair and bill you?

arcon5

foxtrotoscar wrote: »

So they do a pre MOT check and repair and bill you, rather than an MOT and repair and bill you?

It isn't as unusual as yyou seem to think

mrmot

They like their statistics, test the vehicle as presented and the only repair allowed during the test is headlamp adjustment.