What should I do is think my MOT was unsafe?

Arghbloodyhouse

Last week, my car passed its MOT. I asked the garage if they had found anything wrong and they said they just changed a few bulbs but everything else was fine.

I then drove a few hundred miles away for a week's holiday. Mid week, the car started making a strange noise. My family initially reassured me it was nothing important - the garage just looked at it after all - but after a couple of days and a Google search i checked the exhaust and saw it was about to fall off. I got AA out because I was supposed to be driving home the next day and it didn't seem safe. They did a temporary fix but warned it wasn't safe to drive home, gave me the number for a garage and told me to ask for the rear silencer to be replaced.

Ten minutes after I left the car at the garage they phoned to tell me that's not all that's wrong. There's a crack in the mid pipe and my front tires are nearly bald. I give them the go ahead to fix. 

They call back half an hour later to tell me that when they went to change the tires they found the wheels were dangerously loose and warned me not to drive home, but instead to take it to yet another garage because they weren't experts in the problem and didn't know what was wrong.

I took it to another garage who diagnosed a problem with the suspension arms, but as they were checking the suspension they noticed there was a problem with the brakes! Again, I was told not to drive home until this is fixed as it is not roadworthy.

Now, there tires I should have checked myself (although I had it serviced and MOTd so I - perhaps incorrectly - assumed this was part of what I paid for?) Everything else..... Should this not have come up in the MOT?! How can a car that just passed its MOT be -technically - a write off? The cost of repairs has now exceeded three times the car's worth!

Does it sound like the MOT was not safely performed and if so, what do I do about that? Do I report it somewhere?

Grumpy_chap

The MOT is simply an assessment of the condition of the car as it was at the time of the inspection.

Things can change in the course of the "few hundred" miles to drive on holiday.  That could account to the damage on the exhaust, especially if there was any impact between the underside of the car and *something*.

Were the tyres heavily worn before the MOT?
When was the last time the car had new brake pads / discs?
What was the problem with the suspension arms?

For all of these, the level that is sufficient for the MOT "pass" is far below the best practice.

Arghbloodyhouse

Grumpy_chap said:

The MOT is simply an assessment of the condition of the car as it was at the time of the inspection.

Things can change in the course of the "few hundred" miles to drive on holiday.  That could account to the damage on the exhaust, especially if there was any impact between the underside of the car and *something*.

Were the tyres heavily worn before the MOT?
When was the last time the car had new brake pads / discs?
What was the problem with the suspension arms?

For all of these, the level that is sufficient for the MOT "pass" is far below the best practice.

I've had the car less than a year so I'm not sure when the last brake discs etc were. I'm also unsure about the tires - like I say I probably should have checked that one myself instead of just assuming the garage would have. 

The problem with the suspension and exhaust were both age/corrosion-related. I didn't notice any 'bumps' to the underside of the car recently.

Grumpy_chap

What actual outcome would you like?

You could appeal the MOT, subject to time limits, but that does not make things any better for you.  The faults would still be present and still your cost to fix.

You are not stating that the faults were present when you bought the car and down to the previous owner to sort out.

The car with an MOT is worth more than the car without the MOT.  Did the car have a new MOT when you purchased it?

What sort of age, mileage and value of car are we talking about?

Arghbloodyhouse said:

Last week, my car passed its MOT. I asked the garage if they had found anything wrong and they said they just changed a few bulbs but everything else was fine.

I then drove a few hundred miles away for a week's holiday. Mid week, the car started making a strange noise. My family initially reassured me it was nothing important - the garage just looked at it after all - but after a couple of days and a Google search i checked the exhaust and saw it was about to fall off. I got AA out because I was supposed to be driving home the next day and it didn't seem safe. They did a temporary fix but warned it wasn't safe to drive home, gave me the number for a garage and told me to ask for the rear silencer to be replaced.

Ten minutes after I left the car at the garage they phoned to tell me that's not all that's wrong. There's a crack in the mid pipe and my front tires are nearly bald. I give them the go ahead to fix. 

They call back half an hour later to tell me that when they went to change the tires they found the wheels were dangerously loose and warned me not to drive home, but instead to take it to yet another garage because they weren't experts in the problem and didn't know what was wrong.

I took it to another garage who diagnosed a problem with the suspension arms, but as they were checking the suspension they noticed there was a problem with the brakes! Again, I was told not to drive home until this is fixed as it is not roadworthy.

Now, there tires I should have checked myself (although I had it serviced and MOTd so I - perhaps incorrectly - assumed this was part of what I paid for?) Everything else..... Should this not have come up in the MOT?! How can a car that just passed its MOT be -technically - a write off? The cost of repairs has now exceeded three times the car's worth!

Does it sound like the MOT was not safely performed and if so, what do I do about that? Do I report it somewhere?

Brie

MOTs can be done very badly at times.  We had an MOT & service done just prior to going on holiday - intending to drive several hundred miles.  50 miles along a warning light started flashing and indicated that we should pull over immediately due to expected total engine failure.  Turned out that whatever wally did the work didn't tighten the cap to the engine oil which popped off when we hit a bump.  The techie bits thought there was no oil as there was no pressure to measure.  All easily solved but it shows they are not infallible.

tedted

nothing to do with the mot, service failure

Ebe_Scrooge

If you want to report the MOT tester, you can : https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-an-mot-tester

However, I wouldn't go jumping to conclusions straight away.  As Grumpy_chap says, if things were a borderline MOT pass. it's quite possible they've deteriorated to some extent over the course of a few hundred miles.

The first garage that told you the tyres were "nearly bald" - QwikFit by any chance?  I only ask because diagnosing and fixing a suspension arm is not exactly the most difficult job in the world for any proper mechanic worth his salt.

You say the car is now a write-off - who has given you the quotes?  Tyres, brakes and exhausts are consumables, and unless you're driving a Ferrari they really shouldn't cost that much to fix.  Likewise for the suspension - depends exactly what's wrong, but again a decent independent mechanic should be able to sort out most suspension problems for not a huge amount of money.

Arghbloodyhouse said:

I'm also unsure about the tires - like I say I probably should have checked that one myself

Most definitely - you really should be checking your tyres regularly, both for wear and for pressure.  You really cannot afford to just have them checked once a year at MOT time.  I fully appreciate that not everyone is mechanically minded, but checking the tyres is probably the simplest check you can do on a car, and every driver should be capable of doing this.

Arghbloodyhouse

Grumpy_chap said:

What actual outcome would you like?

You could appeal the MOT, subject to time limits, but that does not make things any better for you.  The faults would still be present and still your cost to fix.

You are not stating that the faults were present when you bought the car and down to the previous owner to sort out.

The car with an MOT is worth more than the car without the MOT.  Did the car have a new MOT when you purchased it?

What sort of age, mileage and value of car are we talking about?

Arghbloodyhouse said:

Last week, my car passed its MOT. I asked the garage if they had found anything wrong and they said they just changed a few bulbs but everything else was fine.

I then drove a few hundred miles away for a week's holiday. Mid week, the car started making a strange noise. My family initially reassured me it was nothing important - the garage just looked at it after all - but after a couple of days and a Google search i checked the exhaust and saw it was about to fall off. I got AA out because I was supposed to be driving home the next day and it didn't seem safe. They did a temporary fix but warned it wasn't safe to drive home, gave me the number for a garage and told me to ask for the rear silencer to be replaced.

Ten minutes after I left the car at the garage they phoned to tell me that's not all that's wrong. There's a crack in the mid pipe and my front tires are nearly bald. I give them the go ahead to fix. 

They call back half an hour later to tell me that when they went to change the tires they found the wheels were dangerously loose and warned me not to drive home, but instead to take it to yet another garage because they weren't experts in the problem and didn't know what was wrong.

I took it to another garage who diagnosed a problem with the suspension arms, but as they were checking the suspension they noticed there was a problem with the brakes! Again, I was told not to drive home until this is fixed as it is not roadworthy.

Now, there tires I should have checked myself (although I had it serviced and MOTd so I - perhaps incorrectly - assumed this was part of what I paid for?) Everything else..... Should this not have come up in the MOT?! How can a car that just passed its MOT be -technically - a write off? The cost of repairs has now exceeded three times the car's worth!

Does it sound like the MOT was not safely performed and if so, what do I do about that? Do I report it somewhere?

I thought if this meant the MOT was done improperly then the garage should be reported to some authority in case they are sending non road worthy cars out, maybe?

It wasn't really that I'd get any benefit from it but rather whether there was something I ought to do if they didn't do their work properly, as presumably there is quality control on this kind of thing.

I still feel that when I asked the garage about the general state of repair off my car they could have brought up about the extent of the corrosion. If I'd understood how close it was to the end of its life I would have didn't the money I have now spent on repairs on a new car instead! And to be honest, the other mechanics that have seen it have said some of this really should have come up on the MOT. I won't use him again is really the only thing I'll do personally. And I'm stuck with this car now for at least another year while I save for the next one. But like I say, I thought morally I was supposed to do something.

caprikid1

Never underestimate the likelyhood of garages to lie.

I had a leading garage describe my tyres as bald when I was in earshot, I had depth checked them the previous night and they were adamant, in the end they got the depth gauge out, betweem 3.5-3.8 across the two tyres they were discussing. Don't get be wrong not fantastic but not bald in the way they described them and nowhere near an MOT fail.

An exhaust can drop off any time !

sevenhills

Arghbloodyhouse said:

I've had the car less than a year so I'm not sure when the last brake discs etc were. I'm also unsure about the tires - like I say I probably should have checked that one myself instead of just assuming the garage would have.

If the tyres were worn it's likely that the previous MOT would show an advisory for low tread depth? How many miles have you done since you bought it and since its last MOT?

Arghbloodyhouse

sevenhills said:

Arghbloodyhouse said:

I've had the car less than a year so I'm not sure when the last brake discs etc were. I'm also unsure about the tires - like I say I probably should have checked that one myself instead of just assuming the garage would have.

If the tyres were worn it's likely that the previous MOT would show an advisory for low tread depth? How many miles have you done since you bought it and since its last MOT?

No advisories at all were given. I've done just under 3,000 since I bought it, which was just after its last MOT.