MOT issue Kia Picanto

kuepper

My Kia Picanto failed MOT at kwikfit because of handbrake inefficiency and I took car to a local garage who said new caliper and pads were needed so I told the to get on with it. Paid just under £250 for the work then took car back to kwikfit for a re-test and it failed again for same reason. So went back to garage to complain and all I got was BS about different test centres have different standards and how I should have let them sort MOT out in first place and they couldn't do any more as it's a well-known problem with Picantos ie no help whatsoever and no offer of any refund. How do I get it through the MOT then?

walwyn1978

Take it to a different MOT centre, not Kwikfit or the original garage, see what happens.

peter_the_piper

Don't know about a common fault with picantos but I've not had any handbrake problems with my 2012 picanto in the 9years I've had it. Agree with above poster, change mot tester and garage.

Nobbie1967

Maybe the handbrake cable needs adjusting or replacing. Is there a lot of travel on the handbrake? I think if there’s much more than 5-6 clicks of travel it will fail.

kuepper

Nobbie1967 said:

Maybe the handbrake cable needs adjusting or replacing. Is there a lot of travel on the handbrake? I think if there’s much more than 5-6 clicks of travel it will fail.

No travel on handbrake at all as far as I can tell. No choice but to take it to garage no.3 for another full mot, just annoying having paid over £300 so far to not get an mot now I'll have to pay again. Seems garages can do poor work and get away with it

Bigwheels1111

Sorry but sorry but when will people learn to Avoid mot testing at places like kwikfit, Halfords  etc.
Offering cheap mots, they need to make their money back somehow.
I use no pass no fee mot centres.
They don’t do any repairs.
My local one is £40.
All my friends use them.

GunJack

Bigwheels1111 said:

Sorry but sorry but when will people learn to Avoid mot testing at places like kwikfit, Halfords  etc.
Offering cheap mots, they need to make their money back somehow.
I use no pass no fee mot centres.
They don’t do any repairs.
My local one is £40.
All my friends use them.

sounds like our local Council's MoT test place, they have no vested interest (in repair bills) at all. 

Flight3287462

I prefer my normal trusted mechanic who will fix minor things as he goes (eg light alignment) pay the standard rate, and then take a boll0cking if it it fails on something.  Finding a good mechanic is like finding a unicorn.

I want his accurate assessment of what is wrong with my car and anything that may become an issue further down the line.

kuepper

just to say my car passed mot today at garage no.3 without having any other work done to it, made me wonder if the work i'd got done based on the original kwikfit fail was ever necessary in the first place. Expensive lesson learned, never again kwikfit

[Deleted User]

Rather find a local well respected garage for the MOT and then they can fix any problems same day mostly and I can drive away with a full MOT. Going to some MOT only place is just added faff if it fails as you'll need to take it somewhere else to fix then take it back again along with no guarantee that it will pass a second time as proved by the OP's situation here.

Long established well trusted garages have more than enough business without making up MOT fails unlike places like Kwikfit.

facade

Deleted_User said:

Long established well trusted garages have more than enough business without making up MOT fails unlike places like Kwikfit.

Despite what people think, no-one makes up passes or fails.

Whatever VOSA are called today have an algorithm that compares the number of passes, fails & advisories to national & regional averages, and if they consistently stick out as too harsh, or too lenient then they get "looked at" (and no-one wants to be "looked at")

Where you can get more fails is when a particular tester doesn't like play in a joint, the fail criteria is "excessive" but "excessive" isn't defined except in the mind of the tester. Things that are yes/no decisions have to be done right, as you could be the Mystery Shopper and your car a VOSA plant.