MOT Retest fee

Jon12345 · 29 Dec 2010 at 16:54

My car went in for a MOT on the 15th December. It failed so I took it in for the repairs a few days later. They did the repair but did not put it through the MOT retest because the handbrake cable was frozen on. They refused to poor water on the disks at the back to free it to do the test.

So, later on that week their forecourt was full of snow and ice and they put bollards stopping cars going to the area where they do the testing. So, it looked like they stopped accepting custom due to the state of the ice on there premises.

So, I left it until it was clearer. I phoned on Xmas eve in the morning and asked if I could bring my car in for an MOT that day. They said no slots until a week later.

Now I have read that you get charged a full MOT if its beyond 10 days.

What is the situation regarding this? I mean it wasn't my fault their forecourt was ice up. And its not my fault that they can't book me in. Can they still charge me for a full MOT retest?

Jon

dazz25 · 29 Dec 2010 at 17:06

The 10 day rule isn't set by the garage so theres not much that can be done about it if there was no way of doing it.

Ranger07 · 29 Dec 2010 at 17:25

Jon12345 said:
They refused to poor water on the disks at the back to free it to do the test.

Whats do you mean? do you usually pour water on your brakes to free them off?

Disco Boy · 29 Dec 2010 at 17:37

Ranger07 said:
Whats do you mean? do you usually pour water on your brakes to free them off?

They were frozen, one way of melting them would be to add hot water...

Makhaira · 29 Dec 2010 at 18:06

Can they? Yes.
Could you then reasonably challenge that as they caused the delay? Yes
Would it be good customer service on their part to waive the fee? Absolutely.

bobuk · 29 Dec 2010 at 19:49

mmmmmm........ good customer service, have togo a long way to find that.....

bullit in head · 30 Dec 2010 at 07:49

I dont know there plenty of places that do do good customer service,
Have you actually asked the garage in question, All the times mine has failed Bikes and cars the retest has been free, I expected to pay and just got given the ticket and waved off...
so you could ask , or just hope and see

bullit

The Edge · 30 Dec 2010 at 08:45

Then you get the other extreme of places failing cars because "The indicator bulbs aren't orange enough". I don't know if the place in question had an orangeometer, we never went back to find out after the retest, but i couldn't see any differance between the old and new bulbs.

I suppose in some cases it comes down to how busy they are, if they can make an extra £15 out of people - of whom 75% probably won't question them - they will if they don't have any other jobs in to fill the time.

SoliD · 30 Dec 2010 at 13:07

The Edge said:
Then you get the other extreme of places failing cars because "The indicator bulbs aren't orange enough". I don't know if the place in question had an orangeometer, we never went back to find out after the retest, but i couldn't see any differance between the old and new bulbs.

.

My car failed on this, but you could see where they were coming from, my indicators were barely orange when they showed me, as the coating had started to flake off.

Dogbreath · 30 Dec 2010 at 19:13

Disco Boy said:
They were frozen, one way of melting them would be to add hot water...

Pouring water over the rear brakes wouldn't achieve much if the cables were frozen!