M.0.T rant!!!

larmy16

I put in my son's car for an mot the end of January. It was not actually due until March, but as he had a week off and needs his car for work, we thought we would get it all sorted.

I paid for the mot and left him at the garage. The car failed on two counts. A cv gaitor (common in my experience) but also the guy said the headlamp was insecure and they would need to send off for a new one. I rang later and queried this and asked if I could get hold of one from a breakers yard would they fix it. Yes -at a cost of £70-£80.

I scoured the internet for this headlamp and the only one came up at £70 + £10 postage. My fella looked at it and said there is nothing wrong with the lamp itself, it just needs securing! So I got a local mechanic to do the work. The cv gaitor joint and he bolted the headlamp securely.

Took it back to be re- mot'd and guess what?? They came out and said the other headlamp was now insecure. The new MOt rules say you only have one day to get the work done now (did you know that??). As I could not be sure my mech would be able to do the work, I now have had to leave it with them. What I am going to question though is how they can fix this headlamp without having to send off for a new part?

I am livid. Livid with the garage and the government. I feel like we are being given no choice now but to be at the mercy of the garage and their pricing and labour costs.

Not to mention people who have to drive older cars and on lowish incomes being viturally priced out of being able to get to work with the stringency of our mot laws.

Yes cars need to be safe, but I guess its like a dentist, he is not going to make any money by telling all his customers their teeth are fine.

If you have got to the end of this rant...well done...does anyone else feel like this about the MOT system.

I feel the garage were miffed that I took the work elsewhere. I cannot understand how the new insecure headlamp could have been missed when the first MOt was only done a couple of weeks ago!!! OK rant over.:mad:

harveybobbles

Thought you had 10 days in which to get the failure items fixed. After this timew then a full test will be carried out...

bclark

Are you getting the car MOT'd at a Garage or a local authority MOT centre? I would now always take mine to a local authority MOT centre as they do not carry out repair works and have no financial incentive to fail your Car.

Wig

Common sense would have had the mechanic who fixed the headlight to double check the other one.

As I have read the post The car failed test 1, then the OP took car elsewhere to be fixxed, took it back to MOT for a partial retest. subsequently they failed the other headlamp. Having had one partial retest they are not allowed to do another. But it sounds as if they are going to???

OP questions for you
Did you take the car back within 10 days of the first test?
Did they charge you a reduced fee for the retest?
Then they failed the other lamp
Are they charging you an MOT fee after fixing the 2nd lamp?

msmicawber

Garages seem to have a lot more leeway than they let on about whether they charge for a re-test.

I was told about 5 years ago by a garage that I only had one day in which to do the work before a re-test would be necessary. I didn't like or trust them and took the car away and got the work done elsewhere and then got it re-tested. Next time the car came up for MOT, I had found a new mechanic whom I trusted and he recommended a different garage. The car failed on a couple of minor items and they allowed me 7 days in which to get the work done. I've used them ever since, naturally.

Wig

msmicawber wrote: »

Garages seem to have a lot more leeway than they let on about whether they charge for a re-test.

I was told about 5 years ago by a garage that I only had one day in which to do the work before a re-test would be necessary. I didn't like or trust them and took the car away and got the work done elsewhere and then got it re-tested. Next time the car came up for MOT, I had found a new mechanic whom I trusted and he recommended a different garage. The car failed on a couple of minor items and they allowed me 7 days in which to get the work done. I've used them ever since, naturally.

The MOT rules changed recently because motorists were complaining that the MOT stations were no longer giving free retests like they used to, they were all mostly charging the full test fee for any retest outside of the statutory rules (i.e. within 1 day or when the vehicle remains with the test station). So the government has now put in a new 10 day retest period where the garage can only charge a partial retest fee which is to be a maximum of half the test fee for a full test.

msmicawber

Ah, thank you for clarifying that, Wig.

larmy16

OP questions for you
Did you take the car back within 10 days of the first test?
Did they charge you a reduced fee for the retest?
Then they failed the other lamp
Are they charging you an MOT fee after fixing the 2nd lamp?

No, the car was taken back for a fresh MOT as I had to think about and find someone to do the work. I knew I would be paying the full price. Yes I will be paying for a new MOT when they fix second lamp.

What I am cross about is their mechanic saying they would have to send off for a complete new headlamp, which would take time, be very expensive. blah blah, when clearly the headlamp itself was fine, just needed re-bolting. When we looked at the previously fine headlamp to see just what was needed to faulty headlamp No. 1, it all appeared to be without fault.

How come they can just fix headlamp number two and I don't need a complete new headlamp?

The manager questioned me very thorougly about getting the work done outside their garage, how much it had cost me etc. which led me to think he did not like that I had the work done elsewhere!

larmy16

harveybobbles wrote: »

Thought you had 10 days in which to get the failure items fixed. After this timew then a full test will be carried out...

It was 10 days when I had the first MOT done, but since then apparently a new rule has come in saying you only have one day. I think this makes you have to leave it at the garage, as it's not really enough time to make other arrangements. My other guy is mobile so I could not be sure he would have time to do it. This was at 6.30 last night anyway.

Their labour costs are about £76-78 per hour, so it was going to cost me £140 alone just to get a headlamp fixed. It only needed a bolt and took my mechanic about 20 minutes.

larmy16

bclark wrote: »

Are you getting the car MOT'd at a Garage or a local authority MOT centre? I would now always take mine to a local authority MOT centre as they do not carry out repair works and have no financial incentive to fail your Car.

I will certainly be doing so in future!!!

larmy16

bclark wrote: »

Are you getting the car MOT'd at a Garage or a local authority MOT centre? I would now always take mine to a local authority MOT centre as they do not carry out repair works and have no financial incentive to fail your Car.

What happens though if it fails? Do you then have to find a garage, get it repaired and unless you can get it in for the next day, have to pay for another full MOT?