Kwikfit MOT's - ok or avoid?

Caporegime
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No I don't, I want to have my car fixed in front of my house by myself or F&F, I don't do an MOT there.

Most things it would fail MOT on would be an absolute waste of money to bring it to a garage/dealer/3rd party.

You want to go to a garage for changing your bulbs, brake pads, wipers, etcetc :confused: ?

Newsflash, not everyone has the time/skill/tools to do 'simple' jobs such as pads and discs, or CV joints, bushes etc.
 
Soldato
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Newsflash, not everyone has the time/skill/tools to do 'simple' jobs such as pads and discs, or CV joints, bushes etc.

What about changing bulbs and wipers and that kind of stuff, I find it extraordinary how dealers can charge large sums for 2-30 minutes ( depending on what car and what bulb) of work. On my dad's car the dealer wanted 60€ to change a headlight bulb :confused:. Sure it may be a little bit of a pain to get to it on that side ( have to remove the battery), but 60 euros for 10 minutes of work, unless I'd earn 360€ per hour, I would still not see the point in letting someone else do it.

Its OK he has never had a UK MOT given that he doesnt live here or know how our system works.

As if the MOT requirements are much different :confused:
 
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mate took his car to a kwik fit cheapo MOT, they tried to do him for an exhaust, brake pads, some suspension components and rear tyres. He took it to a council test centre as his car was only 4 years old and he was dubious, it passed!!! enough said, he also reported his local kwik fit to VOSA, and sent them the paperwork and everything, i guess they got audited by vosa
 
Soldato
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mate took his car to a kwik fit cheapo MOT, they tried to do him for an exhaust, brake pads, some suspension components and rear tyres. He took it to a council test centre as his car was only 4 years old and he was dubious, it passed!!! enough said, he also reported his local kwik fit to VOSA, and sent them the paperwork and everything, i guess they got audited by vosa

Which is exactly the reason I would refuse to allow the MOT place to do any work on the car. I want an MOT check, not a repair or being ripped off like in your example.
 
Caporegime
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What about changing bulbs and wipers and that kind of stuff, I find it extraordinary how dealers can charge large sums for 2-30 minutes ( depending on what car and what bulb) of work. On my dad's car the dealer wanted 60€ to change a headlight bulb :confused:. Sure it may be a little bit of a pain to get to it on that side ( have to remove the battery), but 60 euros for 10 minutes of work, unless I'd earn 360€ per hour, I would still not see the point in letting someone else do it.



As if the MOT requirements are much different :confused:

There's a vast quantity of things that can cause an MOT failure, not just the silly things like bulbs or wiper blades.
 
Man of Honour
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I'd always advise against using a place that advertises a free re-test if it fails. The likelihood is that they will deliberately fail it, then do the unnecessary work and just issue the MOT.
 
Soldato
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There's a vast quantity of things that can cause an MOT failure, not just the silly things like bulbs or wiper blades.
My point is, why do people take their cars to garages or pay someone to fix these ''silly things'' ?


These ''silly things'' cause more failures than you think, lets pick a 2000 530i as an example, according to this, of the 1,089 MOT failures, 642 have had some kind of failure on Lighting and Signaling ( but did not all fail exclusively on that, before you go into attack mode :p)...
 
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Soldato
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the problem comes when you get a tester who is less than 100% honest, and can choose to fail your car and suggest remedial work which is un-necessary.....such tactics can generate a useful amount of extra work (hence income) from the typical motorist who sadly doesn't know any better than whatever his mechanic will tell him.

I just wonder how much paranoia there is about Kwik Fit and MOTs. As far as I'm aware, all MOTs have to be done by certified MOT testers - not your normal YTS spanner monkeys. In fact, the the person who does the MOT normally has their certificate displayed on the wall with the VOSA(?) stamp and their name on it.

Why would they want to defraud customers to generate some business? Its not as if they're on commission. They'd lose their job if they looked to defraud and the company would be prosecuted by trading standards. The damage done to Kwik-Fit's reputation would be immeasurable.

I've had a MOT done at Kwik Fit probably 3 or 4 times over the years, at branches ranging from Uxbridge (London), Bristol and Leeds, and it's passed every time. The Leeds branch completely ballsed up fitting some brake pads for me (which is why I would never use them again) but MOT is purely an inspection. Any work that needs doing should ordinarily be picked up with the mechanic / garage that you use to service the car anyway, but if you really are overly worried, then just take the car into your usual mechanic for a quick when the car is serviced, or even somewhere like Rapid-Fit, Nationwide Autocentres etc. The check is free.

I'd always advise against using a place that advertises a free re-test if it fails. The likelihood is that they will deliberately fail it, then do the unnecessary work and just issue the MOT.

Practically everywhere offers a free re-test. The stipulation is usually within 48 hours or something like that.
 
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Associate
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I was given a price of £180 for a new mid box exhaust garage around the corner did it for £100 ,was also told new discs and pads ,discs were fine also they are anything but kwik :D
 
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Kwik Fit have earned its 'poor' reputation for good reason, i'm sure with every happy story about them we can find many which aren't no matter what the task.
And as mentioned several times in this thread already, the reality is that there are MOT testing garages who may try to fail a vehicle in order to try to make a few quid.

My advice would be to find a tried, tested & honest garage even if it may 'appear' to be more expensive on the face of it, also confirm the price of test & re-test if removed from site.

My Golf had an MOT test two weeks ago;
£50 MOT test - FAIL (car removed from site with a 10 day limit to rectify issues, namely)
£80 - new rear tyres
£15 - new wiper blades
£3 - new number plate bulb(!)
£3 - missing anti-roll bar bolt(!!!)
£0 - brake-light fault (dirty switch - WD40 job)
£20 MOT RE-test - PASS

Jerry Springer stylee final thoughts!
If a vehicle fails an MOT & is removed from the testing station for the repairs to take place & is then returned to the station for a re-test, the tester, if required, will not only check the repairs but ALSO check associated components to ensure the repair hasn't caused any other issues. Sometimes it can be best if the MOT-garage complete the repairs... ... ...
 
Soldato
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My Golf had an MOT test two weeks ago;
£50 MOT test - FAIL (car removed from site with a 10 day limit to rectify issues, namely)
£80 - new rear tyres
£15 - new wiper blades
£3 - new number plate bulb(!)
£3 - missing anti-roll bar bolt(!!!)
£0 - brake-light fault (dirty switch - WD40 job)
£20 MOT RE-test - PASS

Jesus Christ. You brought that on your own head. You're driving around with bald tyres, wipers that don't clean the windscreen, and lights that don't work. You're an accident waiting to happen FFS!!
 
Man of Honour
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The tyres, wiper blades, bulbs and brake lights could have easily been checked before the MOT!

Agreed. That was a waste of £121.

I checked my tyres today and realised what while they are still legal, the rears are borderline pass an MOT in 4 months. And I have almost zero car skills. I don't just check for the MOT but I really don't fancy crashing.
 
Associate
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HOLY JUMPING TO CRASH-CAR CONCLUSIONS BATMAN!

Haha! > I < may be an accident waiting to happen but thats not the cars fault!

The rear tyres looked absolutely fine... until they shown me the inside edges which I genuinely missed pre-test-inspection.
The wipers were pants but I was hoping for a pass and how do you check pre-test-inspection if the tester will pass them or not?
And I had already replaced THREE bulbs pre-test-inspection but missed the plate-light.

All in all fairly pleasing as the majority of fail costs we're consumables... I've still got a couple of advisories mind you but nothing that FAILED the MOT test should be considered RECKLESS!
 
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Associate
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Agreed. That was a waste of £121.
The fluff!?! And how has Carol Vorderman come up with that bit of logic considering what the items were that failed & what they cost to repair!?! I'd agree I paid over the odds for the wipers by about a fiver! :)

Where's Fox when you need him? This Coco guy needs the hairdryer treatment.
Haha, just make sure its on its HOT setting, perhaps reminding him thats its a mk4 Golf might help! :)
 
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Caporegime
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You have to agree driving around with defective brake lights, bald tyres and dodgy wipers is a bit careless? You were lucky not to have been stopped by the police and given points!
 
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