Possible MOT fraud

MPescatore

Hello everyone, first post and appreciate any advice - I'll try and keep this brief.

Last October I bought an old motorhome from a private seller, via a brokership. Liked it, put down a deposit, it was taken for MOT, which it failed due to bad brakes. These were then replaced, and voila, paid up in full and arranged collection.

Now I've a litany of stories beginning with arriving to collect and it not starting (loose battery connectors so no massive issue, but something of an omen...) which I won't go into here. After a couple of months or so, took it to a mechanic for an issue I was having with what I thought were glow plugs (turned out there weren't actually any), and he told me part of the back suspension had collapsed. Ok, s**t happens, whatever. He couldn't source the parts but expressed great surprise after having a look around underneath that it had passed a recent MOT - 'I'd say that's a very lenient MOT...'

Fast-forward a couple more months and I get it to a different mechanic who informs me of a whole host of other structural issues. And corrosion he tells me would in no way pass an MOT at his place. They fix what I can afford, and he wishes me luck, advising 'that thing is not getting past an MOT in the state it's in...' It's been approximately five/six months now, and I've done barely a few hundred miles.

Fast-forward another few months, and I'm out in Italy, whereupon the power-steering fails. Again, it happens. It's old. However, at the Italian mechanic I'm told the chassis is so corroded it's dangerous and I probably shouldn't be out on the road. Again, (in Italian) 'there is no way that is passing at any garage here'.

All three mechanics have told me it would not pass an MOT, with the latter two telling me the corrosion is so bad there's no way it was passable back at the end of October. Which, obviously, was only 10 months ago.

Now... I appreciate this is likely impossible, but do I have *any* chance of getting anything from anyone involved in the MOT/sale? Ought I to at least report the garage to the DVSA? I've actually booked it into the same place for its upcoming MOT, though I'm unsure yet how I'm going to play this.

Advice..?

Thanks!

foxtrotoscar_2

You're too late re. reporting it to the DVSA

Time limits

If your vehicle passed, you need to complain within:

• within 3 months of the MOT if it’s a corrosion-related problem
• within 28 days has passed for other defects

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/problems-with-your-test-result

davidmcn

Doesn't sound like you've got much evidence of what condition the vehicle was in 11 months ago, unless you think you can find an expert witness able to retrospectively deduce what state it was in.

In any event, who would you be pursuing? I presume the seller commissioned the MOT, so you don't have a contractual right against the garage. You haven't said anything suggesting the seller misled you.

mattyprice4004

Yep, unfortunately you’re too late.

Aylesbury_Duck

I'm afraid you're way too late to do anything. You'll have to decide if it's worth spending the money sorting the problems or cutting your losses and getting what you can for it in its current state.

MPescatore

Thanks for all the responses and yeah, pretty much what I suspected but just wanted to ask...