My old banger failed an MOT a couple of months ago and I declared it sorn as I was in no rush to fix it. Anyway, Now I've got it done, but don't want to go back to the same tester as I had a disagreement with him.
I'm wondering if it is ever common for other MOT testers to look over the same car and come up with a different failure points or something the previous MOT tester might have missed?
I would go to Kwik Fit and get it done for 25 quid, but I have heard they are always looking to create work and that puts the whole thing of finding different faults between testing stations on my mind.
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I think they might come up with different points, yes. I used to use a higher end independent garage that did mots by the book and i stopped using them when they failed me for smearing wipers (the wipers were 3 months old and were smearing a very small amount).
I now use a back street outfit who doesn't rev diesels to the governor because like me he knows its a waste of time, and is much more reasonable on things like slightly smearing wipers.
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I always take my car to a back street outfit now, had too many problems with main dealers and national garage chains finding work.
Only last week my mother in law took her car to the tyre/exhaust firm you mention for an MOT. They failed it on two tyres so she took the car to a local tyre firm who replaced them for half the price. On returning less than 2 hours later the same guy did another full MOT on the car only to now fail it on the exhaust which he said was 'badly corroded'. Funny how that didnt show up 2 hours earlier ....
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I normally have my six-year-old Bora MOT'd at National (usually half price but just gone up to £30) but, because the depot I use doesn't have a tester at the moment (told me it would be sent to another outlet) I decided to once again use a local independent small garage that has an excellent reputation.
As always I watch the test from start to finish as it's difficult to see the underside of my car as it sits so low on the road - you can learn a lot about its condition.
The Bora passed without problems and the tester - a genial soul who was very thorough about the examination - merely pointed out at the finish that one of my rear tyres was just beginning to "flake" on one of the sidewalls.
Nothing much to worry about at present but make sure to keep an eye on it was his advice.
At no time did I ever get the impression that the outlet was "looking for work" and, in fact, as I stated earlier, it has a first class reputation for work, especially with Volvo and similar marques.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Yes, I also have the same issue. I had an Austin Allegro 15 years ago and took it to a well-known high street quick-fit/rapid-fit style dealer (who also sells cycles etc) and it came back with a whole list of failure points, well in excess of 10. I wish I'd kept the failure certificate, it was covered in ink. It was the only time I'd ever had a car labelled "Dangerous to drive" and this was due to failing engine mounts.
Anyway, fixing the mounts (grudging agreed with him on this failure point though I wouldn't call it 'dangerous') and took it to a smaller garage round the corner and it failed on a whole lot less.
So go for a smaller garage. There's a garage in my village and they're very fair when it comes to the MoT.
Keep away from the nationwide dealers.
Although the only time I've used a main dealer for an MoT was when a Japanese mainstream dealer in Basingstoke was doing MoT's for £20. I discovered then that they were actually quite good. My 8 yr old starship mileage Primera would come back with a fresh ticket and a clean. Not bad for £20. So not all main dealers are bad, just most of them....:-)
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Don't always be tempted by 'MoT's for £25' offers. I have been tempted twice and on both occaisions they've found problems that didn't exist. On the last occaision they told me the power steering pump was faulty and needing replacing -- did I want them to do it and retest --- About £400! -- No thanks mate.
As this Garage was still on the old system (non computerised) the failure hadn't been logged so I booked it into my usual testing station -- long established independent, without saying anything about the failure. Result - PASS - no comments.
This cost me £25 for the first MoT but could have been much worse if I'd just agreed to have the unnecessary work done. I did call the garage back & advise them of my feelings about them saying another testing stationhad passed the car and that I could see nothing wrong with the PS. All they said was that PS could be temprimental. I sarcastically asked them whether when testing the PS had they remembered to start the engine!!
One point though -- under the new system this would have been looged as a failure so just going to another testing station and getting a pass may not be so straight forward
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Thanks for those replies guys. Just confirms what I though. My car is 15 years old and I just have a suspicion something else will crop up even after the 6 or 7 things I've put right.
I'll take it to a backstreet place I've been recommended to. I had heard the Backstreet boys were really good, but it was a 13 year old girl who told me and I didn't even know she had a car :)
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Never mind £20 or £25 offers - I had a similar experience with a certain multi-national motor factors and servicing chain a few years back and I was paying full price...:-)
It came up with a list as long as your arm regarding faults, all of which I knew for a fact had no basis.
I then took my car to a Hi-Q outlet nearby and it passed without any problems.
As a result I sent all the information on the "failures" to the Vehicle Inspectorate for their interest and a reply was sent stating that immediate atttention would be paid to the matter.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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your point about the flagged fail at the first testing station is a good one as, as you quite rightly say the next mot station will have an advise to check this,the good thing is that if it is ok and this happens enough then i would hope that vosa recognises that the first station is rip off and acts accordingly.(computerised obviously and it may just be a dream or wishful thinking)
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Many MoT'able items are very subjective (e.g. play in suspension components or cracking of rubber bushes) so there will be legitimate differences of opinion. I think with computerisation it is very very important to find a good tester (go on a recommendation) becaue of the data logging feature. If you think you have been scammed then go for a VOSA appeal. Mind you, it can be tricky, a garage round my way (now thankfully gone bust) used to get work by putting a screwdriver through CV boots and such like. Difficult to prove that the tester did it..
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