Dodgy garage? 2 parts story.

Rotarywashingline

@facade thank you, that's really helpful advice. It hadn't occurred to me that it might be 'challenging' to get an MOT test done in the winter.

I've discussed it with my daughter and I'm going to book the car in with the garage. It'll be worth it for the peace of mind.

facade

It can be a bit "challenging" to get a test in the Summer, with the holidays, you have to book in advance but remember from next year you have 30 days before expiry to get it done and keep the expiry date, so you just book the test for a date inside that window. I tend to over-think, but I don't like making any appointments in the depths of Winter, you never know if there might be heavy snowfall and all the roads gridlocked on the day.

I always do the basic checks before the MOT- lights, wipers, tyres and I'd rather do them when there are 17 hours of daylight and warm dry(ish) weather to sort them out than when the only opportunity is at weekends when it could be raining/snowing!

Easy to spend someone else's money, but as you are a bit worried about the car you might as well spend a maximum of £55 putting your mind at rest by verifying that it is up to safety standards- if it fails on a serious point you can go back to the seller.

The only downside is that you might get a list of advisories, but these are things to look out for in the future, and usually worth knowing about.

I doubt if the selling garage ever MOT'd it, it likely had just been done when it was sold into trade.

Rotarywashingline

Agreed, I prefer getting tests booked in well in advance. Similarly to you, I don't relish the thought of standing out in the cold and rain coaching my child to check fluids, tyre depths/pressures and the like.

I just checked the paperwork from the last service/MOT- a garage about 50 miles from here. Have got it booked in to my local garage for a retest. I've used my local garage for years and trust them. If it comes back with a string of advisories, I'll get a price for remedial works and weigh up if it's worth fixing. If it fails, I think we'll have to go back to the selling garage to reject. Luckily, I put the deposit on my credit card so hopefully we'll have some extra protection there.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and for taking the time to reply.

Frozen_up_north

We sold a car to a local garage, it was part of a deceased persons estate and therefore wasn't a trade-in. The car was a "shed on wheels" and he had been using the wrong oil in the engine (20w50 in a modern petrol engine), probably because he couldn't afford the correct oil, there was a problem with the gearbox and a broken wing mirror (the motorised kind), it struggled to start and once running the engine didn't sound right…

We got £1000 for it, one week later it was on their forecourt priced at £4000, with a glowing advert on their web site. Either they had a magic wand, or someone was going to be very disappointed shortly after buying it.

Rotarywashingline

@Frozen_up_north That's kind of what I was worried about, that someone would buy the old i10 in good faith and end up with a huge repair bill in the near future. I know that's the risk with used cars but it sucks for the person who ends up buying it.