Car failed MOT for incorrect reasons, what can I do?

MrDoppler

MrDoppler said:

photome said:

I am at a bit of a loss, it reads to me that you took your car to another garage who kept it for repair ( regardless of wether it was shocks or rust)  so how did Halfords cost you a week without a vehicle

They cost me half a week of trying to get the shocks replaced. I got the MOT on Monday, Monday afternoon I took it elsewhere to get another quote, got a much cheaper one so took it back there on Tuesday when it was booked in for but was informed they couldn't get one of the shocks until the next day so I wait until Wednesday. On Wednesday the garage called me and told me there wasn't anything wrong with the shocks at all. In total Halfords cost me three days of earnings trying to get something sorted that didn't need it.

Can't seem to edit the post so I'll quote it instead, shift everything forward a day. MOT on Monday, I booked it in the other garage for Wednesday, later that day they let me know they couldn't get the new shock until the next day. Thursday they called me to tell me the shocks were perfectly fine. So 4 days they cost me getting something sorted that wasn't needed.

MrDoppler

Al_Ross said:

Members are missing the point here.Halfords told you you  your car needed new  shocks it didn't,thats oldest garage scam there is.

Heres a similar example,the garage this time it was Quick Fit,this was many years ago though.

Was at Quick fit getting a trye replaced,the office guy came out with the clipboard and was doing a free check on my  two year old car.He initially told me I needed two new shocks,then later he said his manager had re-checked it said I needed four.I new my shocks were fine so said no.

I kept this car for several years and had it pass four mot tests after that and there was never a problem with the shocks.

So,the morale of the story here is do not got to these type of fast fit places to have a car mot'd you will get ripped off.

Yeah, a lot here seem to be completely ignoring the fact that Halfords failed my car's shocks and tried to charge me hundreds to get them replaced yet having them checked elsewhere resulted in me learning that the shocks were perfectly fine.

MrDoppler

born_again said:

Mickey666 said:

Hasbeen said:

The ops post does give an insight to what people think these days though 

True, but I think people are judging him harshly.  Yes, the car may have been ‘unroadworthy’ by the letter of the law but assuming the OP was driving in daylight and not even needing headlights then it doesn’t sound overly dangerous to me.  Not as if he was driving with four bald tyres and defective brakes was it?  How many people here have had their cars fail an MoT test but were previously happily driving them everyday unaware?

You have to take it that Halfords fixed the headlight & hand brake. Just the OP did not want the socks done.

Unless they want to tell us otherwise?

OP did say >> I knew it would fail on the headlights and handbrake << So were well aware of major issues with the car.

Sorry about that, I shouldn't have said "knew it would". That sounds a bit too absolute for what I was intending, sadly I can't edit the post to correct it. Halfords didn't repair anything.

MrDoppler

DiddyDavies said:

Mickey666 said:

True, but I think people are judging him harshly.  Yes, the car may have been ‘unroadworthy’ by the letter of the law but assuming the OP was driving in daylight and not even needing headlights then it doesn’t sound overly dangerous to me.  Not as if he was driving with four bald tyres and defective brakes was it?  How many people here have had their cars fail an MoT test but were previously happily driving them everyday unaware?

By their own admission, that's exactly what they were doing.

MrDoppler said:

I knew it would fail on the headlights and handbrake but not the shocks as they seemed perfectly fine. 

The OP knew that the handbrake was so ineffective as to fail the MOT but they kept on using the car regardless.

Unfortunately posts cant be edited here so I can't correct it. I had a feeling it may fail but, typing half asleep, I said "knew it would" which is too absolute for what I meant to say.

Spank

As they didn't change the shocks & therefore didn't charge you for them you're not getting anything out of them except a lesson not to use Halfords again. 

williamgriffin

MrDoppler said:

williamgriffin said:

MrDoppler said:

Hi all!

Recently my car was in for an MOT at my nearby Halfords, I've taken my other cars there in past years and they've been perfectly fine. This year I took mine there and they failed it on its shock absorbers, headlight adjustment and handbrake efficiency. I knew it would fail on the headlights and handbrake but not the shocks as they seemed perfectly fine. They quoted me nearly £700 to replace them.

I took the car to another garage to, hopefully, get a cheaper quote. After booking my car in at the garage the next day, as they didn't have one of the replacement shocks yet, I decided to leave the car there. The next day I got a call from them to as me to come in to check something, upon arriving I was informed that there was nothing wrong with the shocks at all but there was some pretty bad rust. Three different qualified MOT examiners had checked the shocks along with myself and the car is still in that garage now for repairs to the rust, handbrake and headlight and won't get it back until Monday next week which they will also be MOTing it.

I'm self-employed and now losing a week of earnings while the car is in for repairs, half of that was because of Halfords failing to MOT the car properly, the car would've been repaired by now if Halfords had done their job properly. What can I do about this? How can I potentially go about getting a refund? I've tried searching online but can't really find any answers that I understand.

Thanks for any help!

Your car failed you took it elsewhere for repair so what have Halfords done wrong?

Maybe you misread it. They failed to MOT the car correctly as there was no problem with the shocks. I took it elsewhere as I wasn't ready to pay £500+ for two new shocks. The other garage informed me that there was nothing wrong with the shocks at all.

Yes, they did fail it correctly as it wasn't just the shocks. 

DiddyDavies

MrDoppler said:

Maybe you misread it. They failed to MOT the car correctly as there was no problem with the shocks. I took it elsewhere as I wasn't ready to pay £500+ for two new shocks. The other garage informed me that there was nothing wrong with the shocks at all.

No problem in the opinion of the 2nd tester. The tester at Halfords obviously had a different view of their condition.
An awful lot of the results from the checks carried out during an MOT inspection are based on the opinion of the tester and a different tester having a different opinion doesn't automatically mean that one was right and one was wrong.
The following is taken from the MOT testers manual:

10. Assessment of component condition

It is not practical to lay down limits of wear and tolerance for all types of components on different models of vehicle, or to define acceptable amounts of damage, deterioration and effectiveness.

You are therefore expected to use your knowledge, experience and judgement to assess if the condition of a component has reached the stage where it’s obviously adversely affecting its functionality or likely to adversely affect the roadworthiness of the vehicle.

Ditzy_Mitzy

@MrDoppler
Sorry to be blunt but, as a result of all this:
1) What do you want?
2) Who do you think should give it to you?