Car advisory after MOT

Skint_yet_Again

My car passed its MOT today with one advisory on the test certificate ...boot button not working (but boot opens with key fob)


However the garage has also done a separate health check and advised me on a separate sheet that my exhaust system is fully corroded, handbrake cable bracket severely rusted and slight travel in hand brake.


They quoted £160 to fix the boot button which I declined and I didn't dare ask about these other items. Can anyone advise me if they are urgent and roughly what you would expect to pay? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I have no clue about cars so please be gentle with me ! Is the exhaust and handbrake not part of the MOT and if they were I would have expected them to be listed on the MOT certificate ?

mcjordi

if they passed then they arent overly urgent.. when they exhaust starts blowing then it needs attention

Johnmcl7

What garage (local or national?) and what make, model and year of car?

John

marcarm

I have the same with my boot and my car went through the MOT with no advisories at all. Wonder why they brought yours up but not mine :S

Strider590

Skint_yet_Again wrote: »

My car passed its MOT today with one advisory on the test certificate ...boot button not working (but boot opens with key fob)


However the garage has also done a separate health check and advised me on a separate sheet that my exhaust system is fully corroded, handbrake cable bracket severely rusted and slight travel in hand brake.


They quoted £160 to fix the boot button which I declined and I didn't dare ask about these other items. Can anyone advise me if they are urgent and roughly what you would expect to pay? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I have no clue about cars so please be gentle with me ! Is the exhaust and handbrake not part of the MOT and if they were I would have expected them to be listed on the MOT certificate ?

Sounds like they don't want to get themselves into trouble by putting false advisories on the MOT.

WellKnownSid

Skint_yet_Again wrote: »

However the garage has also done a separate health check and advised me on a separate sheet that my exhaust system is fully corroded, handbrake cable bracket severely rusted and slight travel in hand brake.

The additional inspection carried out by the garage is nothing to do with the MoT.

The MoT is a legally required test to ensure that every car on the road is roadworthy (at least at the point the test is taken) to some kind of minimum standard.

The "health check" is just a visual inspection, with the intention of finding work to do. I'm not against the principle of knowing my brake pads need replacing soon, but telling me that pieces of metal attached to the underside of my car are a bit rusty and might need replacing... well, that's a bit rich.

droopsnoot

Thing is, if they hadn't mentioned your exhaust being rusty, and it rusted through next week and started blowing, many people might post something saying "Passed MOT test a week ago, exhaust started blowing now, why didn't they mention it at the time?" and open up a floodgate of "mechanic must be blind" comments.


If the exhaust was blowing, and they could find where it was blowing from, it would have been an MOT fail and would have been on the certificate. As it's not blowing, there's nothing really wrong with it until that starts, you just have a bit of advance warning that might be sooner rather than later. Same for the handbrake - the MOT test cares about how well that works, it must be working sufficiently well to pass the test, but you have some advance warning that it might be a problem next year.

worried_jim

Sounds like Kwik Fit!

BeenThroughItAll

droopsnoot wrote: »

Thing is, if they hadn't mentioned your exhaust being rusty, and it rusted through next week and started blowing, many people might post something saying "Passed MOT test a week ago, exhaust started blowing now, why didn't they mention it at the time?" and open up a floodgate of "mechanic must be blind" comments.


If the exhaust was blowing, and they could find where it was blowing from, it would have been an MOT fail and would have been on the certificate. As it's not blowing, there's nothing really wrong with it until that starts, you just have a bit of advance warning that might be sooner rather than later. Same for the handbrake - the MOT test cares about how well that works, it must be working sufficiently well to pass the test, but you have some advance warning that it might be a problem next year.

In either of those circumstances, however, the corrosion would likely be bad enough to warrant an advisory on the test.

mrmot

MOT fail for the parking brake is for little or no reserve travel, so no need to advise for slight travel.

If the brake cable is not likely to fall off then it's secure, the brackets usually act as guides to route the cable and hold it out of the way of other components and it's usually secured at both ends.

A lot of exhausts tend to be double skinned on the silencers, it's not uncommon to see the outer skin peeling away.

the MOT is a basic road worthiness test which has a very low standard, much lower than what a technician would observe during a service inspection.

A sensible approach needs to be taken with advisories, they take time to enter, come as no surprise - given the vehicles age and mileage, can make a perfectly good car seem fit only for scrap and they're there for all to see with only the registration number and make of car.