Car brought with no advisories actually had lots!

diystarter7

HelpM3ee said:

So I checked mot history online which was done a week prior to buying and it had no advisories. Service book is ticked with oil change only, and I had then rung the garage that did it and they confirmed ‘oil change in as per request’.

Unfortunately I am not the best to knowing how brake pads/discs should look and yes stupidly didn’t personally check tyres upon purchase. His advert claimed good tyres and as the mot had only done a week prior I honestly didn’t even think to check. Usually if they’re close to legal limit an advisory would come up, but as it didn’t I didn’t think to check. 

Also in the mot prior to most recent there was an advisory of exhaust clamp corrosion and newest mot no mention, and then in mechanics this was also something that had to be renewed as it was completely corroded.

Hi OP
Thanks for the honest response. It happens and at times we learn from our mistakes.
As I said before, good luck with the car and I hope it serves you well and brigns you luck

diystarter7

daveyjp said:

Eveything you list can be checked as part of due diligence before buying.

If tyres were illegal after 800 miles they would have been close to illegal when you bought it.  A look at each tyre takes seconds.

Brakes can usually be seen through the wheels.  You can ask to see the service history.

Of course there is the consipracy theory approach that the vendor swapped the tyres and brakes just for the MOT for it to pass and replaced them before you picked the car up.

Hi

The last sentence, tis possible

Re tyres, I give a quick glance every time before driving off on the day and at times more than once as it is how i am annd a few times i have seen screws/nails in tyres and if i had driven and not seen could had made thigs worse. FYI I have the Mercedes TPM that measure air but I'm od school, I check around the car tyres/lights and damage and if anyone has not picked up their dogs mess as i dont what to go over that. Also, my tyres are now costsing close to 480 each and the last thing one wants is a screw/nail that could have been repaired but as not noted then its past repair. It's getting in to the routine of checking car etc, better and safer for all of us - but these things happen when people are buying a used car as at times we fall for the nice chat etc and too trusting

Most of learn from out mistakes and I do not trust anyone other tha my OH, my kids, grandkids and kids OH's and some of my siblings - buying a car, dont trust them, ask questions and check for self and if it goes wrong after that, peace of mind is you checked

Thnaks

HelpM3ee

Thanks all for your comments and help.

Im sorry if I didn’t make things completely clear as I’ve seen a few ‘did you not check mot history / mechanic wouldn’t even know about service history etc’

- the most recent mot had been done one week before I brought the car along with the ‘service’ which has now been confirmed as just an oil change. 

- prior to buying I checked the full mot history online. It said no advisories (mot A). The mot before this one (mot had a few things flagged but I had assumed they had been fixed as nothing came up on the most recent one (mot A)

- some of the advisories on the mot B had to be fixed when I took it to the mechanics so they obviously hadn’t been fixed/replaced.

- The service book shows its last actual service was 5 years ago. Since then it has only been oil changes. The car garage insists an oil change is a service. It’s not.

- I raised the problems with the car garage just after 3 months. It’s taken this amount of time to get in proper contact with him as he refused to put anything in writing and insisted on trying to call me - then finding my work number online and ringing me through that. 

- yes I am stupid and have learned a new life lesson not to trust what anyone says and to check things personally. Thank you for the super helpful comments of telling me to check with my eyeballs - hugely appreciated. 

Honestly, I had been going through a really rough time and needed a car and thought I was buying something reliable with its very recent Mot and Service and just in my head space didn’t check - lesson learned, I was just looking for some advice on if there was anything I could do, not could have done - it’s too late for that!

Thank you to those who have taken the time to read through.

bris

Wear and tear starts when the vehicle is new, not when you buy it.

Advisories don't need to be fixed and they don't fail an MOT for them. They are a bit of a warning to tell you to keep an eye on them.

The tyres may very well have been on their limit when you bought the car and that was 5 months ago.

A £750 car is what 12-15 years old? Thats the wear are tear you take into consideration.

HelpM3ee

bris said:

Wear and tear starts when the vehicle is new, not when you buy it.

Advisories don't need to be fixed and they don't fail an MOT for them. They are a bit of a warning to tell you to keep an eye on them.

The tyres may very well have been on their limit when you bought the car and that was 5 months ago.

A £750 car is what 12-15 years old? Thats the wear are tear you take into consideration.

Hey thanks for the comment - no the car was £5,000 - it cost £750 in parts, labour and service to be made road safe. Sorry if not clear!

HelpM3ee

And yes that was a point I was trying to make - there were no advisories so no pre warnings to keep an eye out for. 

I didn’t expect pads and discs to be completely worn and tyres to be bald so soon after no advisories

Altior

It's not ideal, but not too bad. You'll need to buy these consumables eventually anyway, so at least you'll know they are the best that they can be after fitting.

It's 100% worth trying to source them yourself, and just have the garage or local fitters fit them. Depends upon the tyres you need but I've bought my tyres this way for years. The internet is your friend here. Something like euro car parts for compatible discs and pads. No matter how trusted your garage is, they won't be scouring the internet for the best deals. They might be able to beat the best deals you can find, but unlikely in my experience. 

cymruchris

HelpM3ee said:

- some of the advisories on the mot B had to be fixed when I took it to the mechanics so they obviously hadn’t been fixed/replaced.

Just a little add-on here - MOT testers have a band of discretion when it comes to advisories. They are after all human, and as much as the idea is that the MOT test is standardised - what one MOT tester sees and puts an advisory down, another can pass it without question. There are often things that are borderline and would fall into this category - brake pads for example when absolutely brand spanking new only have around 10mm of 'tread' on them - that's 1cm - when out of the box - that's not a lot visually. As they wear, of course the layer of friction material gets thinner. Your MOT testers have to look through the wheel at the pad to 'estimate' the wear. They don't take wheels off or get out some special measuring device.

So in one MOT testers view, the pads might be ok - others might say they are an advisory, both based on their experience. You can get two completely different MOT results on the same day from different testers, as this element of discretion comes into play. So just because something was an advisory the year before the current MOT, and then not at the most recent MOT can be down to how each tester interpreted what they saw. (Don't get me wrong, there is still a possibility of a 'dodgy' MOT tester - but it's just to understand that things are not always black and white when it comes to MOT tests).

Also to reiterate that none of us are saying that you are in any way 'wrong' - and that it is certainly possible that the car was sold with a 'generous' MOT pass. However there are also lots of reasons as to why it might have been a perfectly valid pass, and the consumables that now need changing are within their normal lifespan. As I mentioned earlier - it's not always the mileage that causes things to wear out, but the driving style and conditions.

You now have the tyres and brakes done, and no doubt they'll last a fair while before needing attention again, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check your tyres once in a while to make sure the tread is ok across the entire wheel (Not bald at the edges) and the tyre walls aren't damaged (no rips or tears).

sevenhills

The cost of discs and pads fitting by Vauxhall would be around £300 and tyres around £100 each.
You say the work cost you £750 was there other things that needed doing? What model of car is it?

TELLIT01

I won't comment on anything other than the tyres.  They should ideally be checked before every journey but I don't know of anybody who actually does that.  I check mine every couple of weeks, but tyres which according to a mechanic are 'completely bald' would have been like that 800 miles previously.  Legal limit is 1.6mm and anything less than 3mm would normally be shown as an advisory.  Something doesn't ring true with the original MOT, or the vendor, if the OP is accurate about the mileage they have done.