Garage passed my MOT with no indicators

nicolahw

Hope this makes sense and isn’t to long!

My cars indicators stopped working, as I wasn’t driving the car I left it till the MOT was due, when I arrived at Mr clutch I made them aware of the issue so They could investigate the issue and advice my of any other problems.  I was told that the car passed its MOT except on indicators and apparently the hazards were also not working, I was unaware of the hazards.

I was told that fixing the hazard would fix the indicators, agreed to go ahead and the hazard switch was replaced costing me £109.50 the car was then retested and passed.  I collected the car but as I drove away and came to a roundabout i found out the indicators have not been fixed, I immediately turned around and went back to the garage.  I asked why have I been charged for work that hasn’t been done and how has my car passed an MOT with no indicators, the manager said he didn’t know as it wasn’t him!! I left the car with them and received a call 4 hours later telling me the indicators had burnt out and required a new indicator stalk, I again said that clearly you didn’t check my indicators and just assumed the hazard would fix the problem and I assume you didn’t carry out a proper retest.  Again the manager couldn’t answer, they have agreed to fix the new stalk free of charge but that’s not the point.  I complained to their head office as I’m unhappy they returned my car with no working indicators yet I have a passed MOT.  

Head office have come back to me and said my indicators were intermittent and that’s how it passed, I find it impossible to believe that the only time my burnt out indicators worked was during the MOT retest!! It’s just not possible.

how can I take this further? I have replied to their head office and confirmed i do not accept their report and it sounds like a cover up.

my car is a 61 plate Toyota Aygo

sorry it’s long! 

dipsomaniac

I would be happy with a new MOT and fixed indicators at the lowest price.  Unlikely to be 2 x faults with indicators.  if the stalk is more expensive than 109.50 I would leave it at that unless they can prove that the switch was defective also.

AdrianC

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

If you think your car has passed when it should not have

You’ll need to complain to DVSA if you do not think your car should have passed its MOT. Fill in the complaint form and send it to DVSA within the time limits below.

DVSA will contact you within 5 days to discuss your complaint.

If DVSA decides to recheck your vehicle, you’ll need to arrange a date. You will not need to pay the test fee again. They’ll send you an inspection report listing any vehicle defects.

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

dipsomaniac

wonder how many people have complained to dvsa about their car passing a mot when it shouldn't have?

nicolahw

Just to confirm I had no indicators at all, neither lamps came on front and back and the dash also didn’t light up.  Yet the garage failed to investigate the problem, fixed the hazard and just passed the car with no working indicators 

Ditzy_Mitzy

It's a difficult one, really.  It sounds as if Mr Clutch haven't treated you particularly well, but at the moment there probably isn't a great deal you can do about it.  
It sounds to me as if the following has happened: car was presented for MOT test with non-functioning indicators and hazard warning lights; garage MOT tested in that state, failed only on indicators; garage diagnosed (wrongly) fault was hazard warning light switch so replaced switch; garage carried out 'free re-test' (perhaps no actual test was done) and produced an MOT pass certificate based on the indicators being fixed. 
OP then picked car up and found there was a fault with the column stalk.  The garage has confirmed there was a fault with it, and have offered a free replacement.  
I'm not familiar enough with the OP's car to comment, but suggest that the hazard switch and column switch are on separate circuits; one is ignition controlled and the other is not, after all.  It's possible that the garage replaced the hazard light switch, tested it and found that it powered up the hazard light circuit.  This would cause the indicators and dashboard tell-tales to come on.  Garage then, possibly, did not bother checking the column switch to see if that worked, assuming that the indicators were also functional.  
OP: when you picked the car up and found the indicators were not working, did you test the hazard lights?  If you had, it would have indicated (sorry) continuity on one circuit and failure on the other.  
The fact that the garage agreed to replace the column stalk free of cost suggests acceptance of an error, perhaps that the diagnosis work was poor. 
If I were you, OP, I'd find a better garage and have the car re-tested there.  The whole Mr Clutch business sounds dodgy and it's possible your MOT certificate isn't worth the paper it's written on.
But that's all speculation.  Proving anything is tricky and there's not, now, any loss to speak of.  

Grumpy_chap

nicolahw said:

Head office have come back to me and said my indicators were intermittent and that’s how it passed, 

That sounds like a joke!

Regardless, I am with others here, the car has the MOT, the fault has been fixed.  Move on smiling.

It is not clear what outcome the OP really hopes for by appealing on their own car MOT pass to DVSA.  

Nobbie1967

I’ve replaced the switch myself on the similar 107. They don’t ‘burn out’ as such, just get corroded, hence why it stopped working after not being used. Easy to see how it could have worked for the MOT after they’ve been playing with it and then stopped again. They fixed it for free, let it go.

AdrianC

Ditzy_Mitzy said:
The whole Mr Clutch business sounds dodgy

Mr Clutch is franchised - so that particular operation is likely unrelated to any other, apart from having paid for the right to the marketing and branding.

and it's possible your MOT certificate isn't worth the paper it's written on.

If it's showing on https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/ then it's "worth" every bit as much as any other MOT.

lemondrops69

nicolahw said:

Head office have come back to me and said my indicators were intermittent 

Thats how they are supposed to be, off then on, off then on, off then on................

AdrianC

The old jokes are... old.