MOT pricing - at different time of day

mark1959

I've used Kwikfit the last 3 mot's in the afternoon when it's cheapest. This is a moneysaving site. On 2 cars, 1 18 years old, the other 5 years old, both passed with almost flying colours. And no, i don't  work for them.

[Deleted User]

Last time I used Kwik Fit they tried to say that my car would fail the MOT unless I pay £20 for a can of BG4KK fuel additive.

Penelopa.Pitstop

daveyjp said:

No way a £27 MOT is profitable, so ensure you are there to see it being carried out to witness any issues they find.

I did £25 MOT twice at local Kwik Fit and car passed both times. I didn't expect anything else from 3 and 4 year old car anyway. I would certainly do another MOT there if I get to own car at 3yr old and older.

greatcrested

Paid £14 to a local garage last month. Obviously a loss leader which they make up for in repair costs on failures.

It was the car's first MOT, and also just been serviced so I was confidant it would pass. Which it did.

justworriedabit

AdrianC said:

SoftCentaur said:

I get my MOT from my local council.  They tell me they don't test many private cars - they test mainly taxis - but as they don't have any interest in selling me anything, there is no temptation to invent issues. I was charged £45 last December for my MOT.
Yes .... I COULD have gone elsewhere for a cheaper test, but I trust the council MOT not to mess me about.

I took my car to a local council test place once.

They made it VERY clear I wasn't welcome, and gave me a fail sheet a mile long... Strange, then, that when I took it elsewhere the following day, it passed...

I took the hint.

TBH I find that hard to digest. Surely, if that was true, you must have reported them for fraud/etc.
A "fail sheet a mile long" then you pass at another garage? What makes you think the other garage knew what they were doing as having a fail sheet a mile long and then passing your mot at another garage to me does not seem possible. Surely there is more to this.
My dad used to take his car to the council depot years ago when I was a lot younger as it was a minutes drive and all of the staff were nice, polite. The car passed every time and I recall one of the men saying my dad kept the car in really nice condition.

justworriedabit

Penelopa.Pitstop said:

daveyjp said:

No way a £27 MOT is profitable, so ensure you are there to see it being carried out to witness any issues they find.

I did £25 MOT twice at local Kwik Fit and car passed both times. I didn't expect anything else from 3 and 4 year old car anyway. I would certainly do another MOT there if I get to own car at 3yr old and older.

Thanks Penelopa as I too was going to pull up the poster about their unsubstantiated and unbelievable comments.
I don't trust any business and even main dealers can have a poor showing if one of their staff is lazy/etc. But to make a claim like Davy, incredible.
IMO, the trick is, claim or pretend to know what you are talking about and possibly say it's fully serviced and was checked a short while ago so should be ok - that makes them look up, IMO.
Btw, a couple of years ago my experience at a kikwfit was not great I put it down to a not so great manager.
A few months ago, I think it was Nov 2020, I took it to K/Fit as it's a few minutes drive, new manger, it seemed like a different place. They checked the brakes, cleaned them, all for free, asked me how many miles I did a year and told me approximately how long I had on my brakes and my brakes were making a noise as the car had been parked up for a few weeks when it had been raining and that my brakes were fine.

My next door uses Halfords and he finds them great but once took it to another outlet of theirs and was unhappy - we both put it down to the managers that run the place.  Btw, these garages, all big places like that will listen and act if you complain.

[Deleted User]

Main dealers are just as bad as Kwik Fit. I've heard stories of one dealership only changing the oil and filter on a service no matter what service tier you pay for. If and only if someone complains that something wasn't done/checked, they will then do the rest of the service.

AdrianC

justworriedabit said:

AdrianC said:

SoftCentaur said:

I get my MOT from my local council.  They tell me they don't test many private cars - they test mainly taxis - but as they don't have any interest in selling me anything, there is no temptation to invent issues. I was charged £45 last December for my MOT.
Yes .... I COULD have gone elsewhere for a cheaper test, but I trust the council MOT not to mess me about.

I took my car to a local council test place once.

They made it VERY clear I wasn't welcome, and gave me a fail sheet a mile long... Strange, then, that when I took it elsewhere the following day, it passed...

I took the hint.

TBH I find that hard to digest. Surely, if that was true, you must have reported them for fraud/etc.
A "fail sheet a mile long" then you pass at another garage? What makes you think the other garage knew what they were doing as having a fail sheet a mile long and then passing your mot at another garage to me does not seem possible. Surely there is more to this.

It's true. I would give you the registration, but it pre-dated computerised tests.

I could have reported them to DVSA (or whoever it was back then), yes. But - frankly - I CBA, and I took the hint. They clearly did not want Joe Public getting in their way. I was quite happy with never darkening their door again and interrupting their teabreak.

Whether they pulled it on somebody else or not, I don't know, but when I looked again a few years later, they were no longer a test centre.

How do I know the other tester was straight? Well, apart from anything else, they tested cars for at least one of the premium-brand local main dealers who felt it not worth their effort maintaining a lane and tester in-house.

My dad used to take his car to the council depot years ago when I was a lot younger as it was a minutes drive and all of the staff were nice, polite. The car passed every time and I recall one of the men saying my dad kept the car in really nice condition.

The plural of anecdote is not, unfortunately, data. Unless we're talking about the same depot at around the same time (Home Counties, early 00s)...

justworriedabit

AdrianC said:

justworriedabit said:

AdrianC said:

SoftCentaur said:

I get my MOT from my local council.  They tell me they don't test many private cars - they test mainly taxis - but as they don't have any interest in selling me anything, there is no temptation to invent issues. I was charged £45 last December for my MOT.
Yes .... I COULD have gone elsewhere for a cheaper test, but I trust the council MOT not to mess me about.

I took my car to a local council test place once.

They made it VERY clear I wasn't welcome, and gave me a fail sheet a mile long... Strange, then, that when I took it elsewhere the following day, it passed...

I took the hint.

TBH I find that hard to digest. Surely, if that was true, you must have reported them for fraud/etc.
A "fail sheet a mile long" then you pass at another garage? What makes you think the other garage knew what they were doing as having a fail sheet a mile long and then passing your mot at another garage to me does not seem possible. Surely there is more to this.

It's true. I would give you the registration, but it pre-dated computerised tests.

I could have reported them to DVSA (or whoever it was back then), yes. But - frankly - I CBA, and I took the hint. They clearly did not want Joe Public getting in their way. I was quite happy with never darkening their door again and interrupting their teabreak.

Whether they pulled it on somebody else or not, I don't know, but when I looked again a few years later, they were no longer a test centre.

How do I know the other tester was straight? Well, apart from anything else, they tested cars for at least one of the premium-brand local main dealers who felt it not worth their effort maintaining a lane and tester in-house.

My dad used to take his car to the council depot years ago when I was a lot younger as it was a minutes drive and all of the staff were nice, polite. The car passed every time and I recall one of the men saying my dad kept the car in really nice condition.

The plural of anecdote is not, unfortunately, data. Unless we're talking about the same depot at around the same time (Home Counties, early 00s)...AdrianC said:

justworriedabit said:

AdrianC said:

SoftCentaur said:

I get my MOT from my local council.  They tell me they don't test many private cars - they test mainly taxis - but as they don't have any interest in selling me anything, there is no temptation to invent issues. I was charged £45 last December for my MOT.
Yes .... I COULD have gone elsewhere for a cheaper test, but I trust the council MOT not to mess me about.

I took my car to a local council test place once.

They made it VERY clear I wasn't welcome, and gave me a fail sheet a mile long... Strange, then, that when I took it elsewhere the following day, it passed...

I took the hint.

TBH I find that hard to digest. Surely, if that was true, you must have reported them for fraud/etc.
A "fail sheet a mile long" then you pass at another garage? What makes you think the other garage knew what they were doing as having a fail sheet a mile long and then passing your mot at another garage to me does not seem possible. Surely there is more to this.

It's true. I would give you the registration, but it pre-dated computerised tests.

I could have reported them to DVSA (or whoever it was back then), yes. But - frankly - I CBA, and I took the hint. They clearly did not want Joe Public getting in their way. I was quite happy with never darkening their door again and interrupting their teabreak.

Whether they pulled it on somebody else or not, I don't know, but when I looked again a few years later, they were no longer a test centre.

How do I know the other tester was straight? Well, apart from anything else, they tested cars for at least one of the premium-brand local main dealers who felt it not worth their effort maintaining a lane and tester in-house.

My dad used to take his car to the council depot years ago when I was a lot younger as it was a minutes drive and all of the staff were nice, polite. The car passed every time and I recall one of the men saying my dad kept the car in really nice condition.

I still find it hard to believe especially as you did not pull them up. The "mile long list" of fails then you take it to a garage and pass
is still hard to digest. If that was me, no mater what they said to me, I would have taken it up as would the vast majority of other people.
About the data you touched on but did not offer, that would have helped but I would have also needed to see the pass data and the garage it was taken to.
I'm only being honest about how I feel about your post and do appreciate the fact you have bothered to respond. 
So thank you and I hope you understand my stance and experience.

justworriedabit

Deleted_User said:

Main dealers are just as bad as Kwik Fit. I've heard stories of one dealership only changing the oil and filter on a service no matter what service tier you pay for. If and only if someone complains that something wasn't done/checked, they will then do the rest of the service.

Like I said about KF and Halfords, it applies to all places, IE a place is only as good as the manager, heads of that place etc. Even in the best outfits, a single bad apple can mess up your ratings but that is where good good management  into and sacks the slacker and listens to customer feedback.