Volvo 960 and S90 (1994 - 2000) - Motoring organisation car-check

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Tue 15 Apr 2008 11:12
Motoring organisation car-check - Ed V
There's another thread on here about HPI checks but I think these are different. It would be interesting to hear the experiences of others.

I bought privately a Volvo 960 Estate in 2000, 5 years old, 85,000 miles. Since it was in Suffolk, a 3 hour trip from me, I had the a well known motoring organisation check it for me.

They missed: rear shocks on the way out, needed replacing within 6 months [forget the cost but not small]; chip on front windscreen sufficiently annoying to need replacing [£150, again from memory]; aircon leaking such that there was no cooling [£300 to fix].

It was a good car for me at the time, but their check wasn't good value!

{Company name substituted for something more general}

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 15/04/2008 at 17:08

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Tue 15 Apr 2008 11:21
Motoring organisation car-check - DP
Do they not offer any form of guarantee with these inspections? Given the rigmarole involved in organising them, the waiting time, and the cost, it's not like they can use the excuse of the inspection not being exhaustive.

What Car did an excellent feature on this many, many (15?) years ago, fitting worn parts to a used Escort, and creating a few hard to spot problems. They then called in all the professional inspection people, and not one of them found more than about 60% of the problems. The MOT test actually found more of the faults than one of the "experts".

Cheers
DP

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 15/04/2008 at 17:05

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Tue 15 Apr 2008 11:36
Motoring organisation car-check - Optimist
Can't help wondering if some of the checkers are a bit like the peopel doing these HIP checks. Quickly trained up to make some money.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 15/04/2008 at 17:05

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Tue 15 Apr 2008 16:59
Motoring organisation car-check - Dynamic Dave
They missed: rear shocks on the way out needed replacing within 6 months


Shocks can fail at any time. Even on brand new cars it's not been unknown for shocks to fail early on. Hardly fair to blame them for something that can fail overnight.
chip on front windscreen sufficiently annoying to need replacing


Was the chip big enough to fail an MOT? If not, then that's why they didn't bother mentioning it in their report.
aircon leaking such that there was no cooling


How cold was the weather on the day of the inspection? AC doesn't work if the ambient temperature is too cold.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 15/04/2008 at 17:09

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