We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
MOTs... Are they really culling older diesel cars?
We know that since May 2018, the government has put stricter MOT testing into place for diesel cars but is it possible some MOT testers are failing cars even after fixes are made?
To cut a long story short mine failed on something to do with windscreen wipers, which frankly just needed water (which I'd asked the independent mechanic to deal with before) and now work a treat front and back... and service brake efficiency, fair enough. The minors were to do with the battery cover being insecure, now fixed down.
I have to go back on Monday (third day leaving it at the mechanic) so he can give the brakes a once over and replace what needs doing... he moaned they are drums and that's trickier these days.
I said ok once that's done then surely it should pass as we'd have dealt with everything on the fail list and the minors.
No, he said, this guy doing the MOT is over strict and trying to fail cars to keep the DVLA happy. He said he can just add something new and say you drove it so something broke.
Does that make any sense or was tiredness and stress talking? If it does indeed fail again on Monday, should I go to a different MOT testing centre? I've never had a problem with this mechanic, who is a trusted friend, other than taking forever due to being busy (and this time a lazy hired hand he brought in yesterday) and their MOT place has always been fair too.
A little annoyed about all this to be fair...
To cut a long story short mine failed on something to do with windscreen wipers, which frankly just needed water (which I'd asked the independent mechanic to deal with before) and now work a treat front and back... and service brake efficiency, fair enough. The minors were to do with the battery cover being insecure, now fixed down.
I have to go back on Monday (third day leaving it at the mechanic) so he can give the brakes a once over and replace what needs doing... he moaned they are drums and that's trickier these days.
I said ok once that's done then surely it should pass as we'd have dealt with everything on the fail list and the minors.
No, he said, this guy doing the MOT is over strict and trying to fail cars to keep the DVLA happy. He said he can just add something new and say you drove it so something broke.
Does that make any sense or was tiredness and stress talking? If it does indeed fail again on Monday, should I go to a different MOT testing centre? I've never had a problem with this mechanic, who is a trusted friend, other than taking forever due to being busy (and this time a lazy hired hand he brought in yesterday) and their MOT place has always been fair too.
A little annoyed about all this to be fair...
0
Comments
-
Drums are tricky?
I'd go somewhere else if the mechanic told me that.0 -
We know that since May 2018, the government has put stricter MOT testing into place for diesel cars but is it possible some MOT testers are failing cars even after fixes are made?
To cut a long story short mine failed on something to do with windscreen wipers, which frankly just needed water (which I'd asked the independent mechanic to deal with before) and now work a treat front and back... and service brake efficiency, fair enough. The minors were to do with the battery cover being insecure, now fixed down.
I have to go back on Monday (third day leaving it at the mechanic) so he can give the brakes a once over and replace what needs doing... he moaned they are drums and that's trickier these days.
I said ok once that's done then surely it should pass as we'd have dealt with everything on the fail list and the minors.
No, he said, this guy doing the MOT is over strict and trying to fail cars to keep the DVLA happy. He said he can just add something new and say you drove it so something broke.
Does that make any sense or was tiredness and stress talking? If it does indeed fail again on Monday, should I go to a different MOT testing centre? I've never had a problem with this mechanic, who is a trusted friend, other than taking forever due to being busy (and this time a lazy hired hand he brought in yesterday) and their MOT place has always been fair too.
A little annoyed about all this to be fair...
You say you cut it short,Im not seeing a story?0 -
Do you really believe the DVLA is involved in some massive conspiracy to get a few old diesels off the road by making garages add a few faults to the MOT?
If they wanted them gone they could either use the carrot of a trade-in scheme or the stick of changing VED to be based on NOx and charging much more (or make it that plus CO2; or even make the bands based on the Euro emissions standards)Sam Vimes' Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness:
People are rich because they spend less money. A poor man buys $10 boots that last a season or two before he's walking in wet shoes and has to buy another pair. A rich man buys $50 boots that are made better and give him 10 years of dry feet. The poor man has spent $100 over those 10 years and still has wet feet.
0 -
Do you really believe the DVLA is involved in some massive conspiracy to get a few old diesels off the road by making garages add a few faults to the MOT?
If they wanted them gone they could either use the carrot of a trade-in scheme or the stick of changing VED to be based on NOx and charging much more (or make it that plus CO2; or even make the bands based on the Euro emissions standards)
Ye I'm hoping it was tiredness and stress talking. Thanks for that post, gives me a bit more confidence for Monday's retest!0 -
No, this sounds like a stupid urban legend. The DVLA don't set targets for failing MOTs any more than the DSA have targets for failing driving tests. Complete urban legend codswallop.
If the engineer at a garage is telling you this, then I would take the car somewhere else.
If he was making stuff up to make you fail, then he's be in trouble.Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
No, this sounds like a stupid urban legend. The DVLA don't set targets for failing MOTs any more than the DSA have targets for failing driving tests. Complete urban legend codswallop.
If the engineer at a garage is telling you this, then I would take the car somewhere else.
If he was making stuff up to make you fail, then he's be in trouble.
Thanks for posting this!
These are the defects, the windscreen ones I have sorted and video'd them working and the brakes will be looked at monday.. so I should hope it's all good then. If not I'll need to see just how dodgy the tester is.
Repair immediately (major defects):
Service brake efficiency below requirements (1.2.2 (a) (i))
Front Windscreen washer not working (3.5 (a))
Front Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (3.5 (a))
Rear Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (3.5 (a))0 -
Interestingly the previous MOT said nothing about the rear windscreen washer and it was actually disconnected at the time
0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.5K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.4K Spending & Discounts
- 247.4K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.5K Life & Family
- 261.7K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards