Mot pass or dodgy - pls help 3 August 2022 at 7:29PM in Motoring 8 replies 422 views

laneyg

Hi all. I wondering if you could please be honest and give me some advice. My daughter purchased a car for £600 and now I know yes you get what you pay for etc. We knew there was an issue with timing belt and leak from power steering as we checked mot out on gov website. The private seller said he would put it through Mot and ensure it was passed prior to selling. The only advisory was tyre was deflated. Or so we thought. We now know that actually the power steering is still leaking, the engine light is on (again this was on failure one) timing belt very loud and corrosion to rear brakes.  Now my question is would this not have come up on the MOT as they previously did as a failure. My daughter is out of pocket now as she cannot afford to have it fixed and was told it would be way to expensive. I am absolutely gutted for her and angry at the guy who sold. Any advise would be really helpful. Thank you for reading 

Grumpy_chap

You have very few rights on a private sale.  Even from a Dealer, expectations on a car as cheap as £600 will be limited.

What outcome would you / your daughter like to achieve?

One option would be to run the car until it breaks and then scrap it and try to get back half the £600 outlay.

Another is to sell now straight away.

The third, which you say is too expensive, is to get the car repaired.  Quite likely to be good money after bad.

Is your daughter a member of a breakdown recovery service?  That might be prudent.

jimjames

It's entirely possible for the engine light to be off for the MOT and come back afterwards. If you have the right software it's easy to switch off if it's not a permanent issue. Timing belt is nothing to do with MOT so wouldn't be picked up anyway, is it definitely timing belt? Seems unusual to make such a noise if it's not failed. 

Bigwheels1111

To my knowledge timing belts don’t make noise.
Water pumps do and some are part of the timing belt setup.
alternator belts make lists of noise.
Where is the power steering leak coming from, the rack or the bottle/ reservoir. 

An OBD2 fault code reader should put out the light.
Does it start and stop.
If so drive it for a year or until it goes bang.

Car_54

AFAIK neither timing belts nor "noises" are part of the  MOT.

400ixl

You post isn't clear, what was a fail and what was advisory on the first MOT? I assume:

Corrosion on the brakes was a fail
The Engine warning light was a fail
The deflated tyre was an advisory
The timing belt noise is your observation as it would not be part of the MOT
The leaking PAS pump is your observation as it should not be an MOT failure (could be an advisory)

For the second MOT:
Corrosion on the brakes is subjective and may fail with one tester but not another, or could have been cleaned up enough to pass the second test
The Engine warning light could have been reset before the MOT and if not on during the MOT it would not fail

Was the engine light out when she picked up the car and has come on since?

Lastonestanding

I have a relative that bough an 04 Audi for £600
MOT history stated advisory for split tyres, slight oil leak and the rear discs were rusty.
Not a bad car, just needs a little attention.

macman

Why 'angry'? The vendor has done nothing wrong. He sold it to her with a valid MOT and did not mis-describe the condition. He was not obliged to declare any known faults, it was up to your daughter to ask questions, and for him to answer truthfully. 
Context is everything here. You don't give the model, year or mileage, but at £600 this must be a vehicle of 12 years plus (?) and as such, you must expect it to be less than mechanically perfect. A vehicle of that vintage will need money spending to keep it on the road. It's naive to purchase such a vehicle if you don't have the reserve funds to maintain it.
If you believe that the MOT tester was incompetent then you can report it and pursue a claim against them.

marlot

laneyg said:

Hi all. I wondering if you could please be honest and give me some advice. My daughter purchased a car for £600 and now I know yes you get what you pay for etc. We knew there was an issue with timing belt and leak from power steering as we checked mot out on gov website. The private seller said he would put it through Mot and ensure it was passed prior to selling. The only advisory was tyre was deflated. Or so we thought. We now know that actually the power steering is still leaking, the engine light is on (again this was on failure one) timing belt very loud and corrosion to rear brakes.  Now my question is would this not have come up on the MOT as they previously did as a failure. My daughter is out of pocket now as she cannot afford to have it fixed and was told it would be way to expensive. I am absolutely gutted for her and angry at the guy who sold. Any advise would be really helpful. Thank you for reading 

The Engine management light is not an inspected item on older cars (pre-2003).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/8-nuisance