Ripped off on an MOT?

arcon5

To summarise the op.
She didn't check bulbs very well, a number failed, blames garage

A dodgy garage is more likely gonna rip you off over something under the vehicle than anything. Your hardly gonna get under to check and even if you did it's unlikely you'd even know what you was looking at or looking for.

Doesn't seem that dodgy to me!

Oli.s

I always use the local councils not testing station because they only do mot's no repairs etc so there's no interest in them making up faults because they can't fix them anyway.

Joe_Horner

mcjordi wrote: »

it can happen, i just dont like having to replace bottom arms and getting dirty anymore :rotfl:

BMW just failed this afternoon on a rear wheel bearing that started grumbling a couple of weeks ago. Had the bearing but decided that with the MOT due anyway I'd let them work out which one it was. They quoted around £200 to change it so out came the tools.

5 hours this evening (just finished) of dirt, oil, and swinging a lump hammer until I can't feel my arms any more that sounds like a good deal in retrospect :rotfl:

One of the down sides of a 22 year old, genuine 75k miler, is that things like calipers hubs & drive shafts probably haven't been disturbed since it was built!

dogshome

It's all too easy to switch on a rear fog light accidently, and with the telltale light on the dashboard being dim and sometimes partially obscured, every time you use the headlights, on comes the fog light bulb which burns out with constant use

takman

You should be regularly checking your lights not matter if you have an upcoming MOT or not! There is no way you can complain about a light failing that you haven't checked for a year!.

Also for my cars MOT I always take it to an independent MOT centre that only do MOT's. I take it in and can watch the entire MOT so I know it's all being done correctly.

Nobbie1967

If you hadn't used the fogs all year then there's a good chance the contact points corroded causing the light not to come on. Changing the bulb would have disturbed the contact and it would work again. The existing bulb would probably have worked if wiggled around a bit, but easier for the garage to just change it for the pennies it probably costs. If they wanted to rip you off they would chose a much higher value item with more markup such as brake discs (hello Halfords:rotfl:) or suspension components.

[Deleted User]

arcon5 wrote: »

Yes. It's under the heading 'PRS' in the mot system. Minor repairs like bulbs can be done during the test.

Maybe they changed the bulb free.

Or if their pass rate was too high sometimes stations put PRSs through to keep it down.

They didn't change the bulb. 1 - I watched the MOT be done and 2 - I checked the bulb when I got home and it was still the same as the other from a set.

Oli.s wrote: »

I always use the local councils not testing station because they only do mot's no repairs etc so there's no interest in them making up faults because they can't fix them anyway.

While it's true it can still be a ballache if it fails on something genuine. You'll have to take it somewhere else to have it fixed before booking it back in at the council for the partial retest.

Sometimes if it fails on an odd small thing it's easier to just get the garage to fix it and retest all on the same day before you drive away.

BeenThroughItAll

dogshome wrote: »

It's all too easy to switch on a rear fog light accidently, and with the telltale light on the dashboard being dim and sometimes partially obscured, every time you use the headlights, on comes the fog light bulb which burns out with constant use

I have never ever seen a 'dim' fog light telltale. Even if it's partially obscured, there is absolutely no excuse for fog lights being on all the time. That's just careless and downright antisocial for other road users who are being constantly dazzled by the lights.

People who do this should learn to look at the bloody instrument binnacle a bit more often.

mrmot

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

I have never ever seen a 'dim' fog light telltale.

I have - on a Chrysler Voyager, very small and quite dim as part of the light switch.

Almost missed one on a Mercedes one day at 13:05, 5 minutes later it was visible, it was obscured by the hands on the clock.

jimjames

cupid07 wrote: »

These scams with lights happen frequently.....http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1042854

No matter how much you check before you take it in.

My 15 year old car had an MOT last week. I noticed a few days before that the rear brake light wasn't working. I changed the bulb which took all of a few minutes and it passed the MOT with no advisories. It is very easy to change on most cars.

https://youtu.be/2kYJwKVlC2w