Car failed MOT after pre-check

FlorayG

After a real mess with MOT failure last year leaving me with no vehicle for a week, I asked my (new) garage to do a pre-MOT (they're not an MOT garage) so that my vehicle would pass. There was a lot of work, most of which I expected, he charged me £65 (an hour labour) for the inspection then did the work.
He took it for the MOT for me today and it failed on other things, leaving me yet again with no vehicle until those are done
Would I be reasonable in asking him to take the £65 he charged for the inspection off the next invoice? Seeing as it was specifically 'pre-MOT' and he didn't find the things it's just failed on?

Penguin_

What did it fail on?

FlorayG

Penguin_ said:

What did it fail on?

Leaking swivel hubs - and you can clearly see one at least is leaking badly

Aylesbury_Duck

Putting the check aside, is it a "do not drive" fault?  You said in your opening post that last year you were left with no vehicle for a week, and you're in a similar predicament now.  You can book an MOT up to a month before expiry and retain the same renewal date, so if a problem occurs that isn't a showstopper, you have time to get things fixed at your convenience.

As for the thoroughness of the check, it'll come down to what you asked them to check and whether it was reasonable for them to pick up something that a different person in a different setting has, but I see no harm in asking for some money off the next bill.

FlorayG

It's a 'do not drive' and I asked him specifically for a pre-MOT so that it wouldn't fail. He's got it back in the workshop now

TELLIT01

Your problem is that a leak can start at any time.  Unless the MOT garage is prepared to state in writing that the leak must have been visible at the time of the pre-MOT inspection I doubt you will get very far.  It's not in the interest of the garage which did the precheck not to pick up on something as it could get them more work.

FlorayG

It's been leaking a while because I knew it was - when he didn't bring it up I thought it wasn't relevant to the MOT

Alderbank

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Putting the check aside, is it a "do not drive" fault?  You said in your opening post that last year you were left with no vehicle for a week, and you're in a similar predicament now.  You can book an MOT up to a month before expiry and retain the same renewal date, so if a problem occurs that isn't a showstopper, you have time to get things fixed at your convenience.

An interesting point. 

As you correctly say, an MOT certificate is valid until the date of expiry, and a new test will not invalidate the current MOT certificate.

In pre-computer days, that was that.
However the fact remains that the most recent MOT is now a fail. RetailMotorLaw points out that if a police car drives behind nowadays, the ANPR will pick up that the latest recorded MOT is a fail and will sound the alarm. They would stop the vehicle and inspect, if they think it is unroadworthy you could be booked. Being unroadworthy today trumps last year's MOT. At very least your journey would be significantly delayed.

Ironically, RetailMotorLaw say that what the driver should do is exactly what the OP has done, ie. take the car for a 'pre-MOT' instead.

https://www.retailmotorlaw.co.uk/rml-services/tradingstandards-2/82-rml-news/244-is-the-old-mot-certificate-still-valid-if-the-car-fails-a-test-whilst-still-motd.html#:~:text=An%20MOT%20certificate%20is%20valid,certificate%20will%20still%20be%20valid.

Penguin_

FlorayG said:

It's been leaking a while because I knew it was - when he didn't bring it up I thought it wasn't relevant to the MOT

Did you mention it to him?

Aylesbury_Duck

FlorayG said:

It's been leaking a while because I knew it was - when he didn't bring it up I thought it wasn't relevant to the MOT

Didn't you point him towards it, then?

FlorayG

I didn't need to - he told me about it the last time the car was in for repairs a few weeks ago so he knew they were leaking. It seems he didn't think that was valid for MOT, my argument would be if you can't do a 'real' MOT pre-check why do you offer it?