Joke of an MOT fail

Belloni

Belloni

Belloni

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Joined
17 Feb 2009
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Just had an MOT done on my car and they failed me due to the inner bead on my alloy being buckled and quoted us £385!!!

Just taken it to another garage, they genuinely laughed once they saw it and showed me. They said it's optional to fix, and would cost nothing more then £60 to fix.

So angry at how garages try to get away with this kind of stuff.

/rant over
 
Dude, i took mine to a garage for a quote on my front wiper motor replacing. £280plus labour.... I got the whole thing of ebay and fitted it myself for £17.99 lol.
 
I hate MOT time, some garages are jokes.
Hope you went back and berated the fools. On the otherhand that would be pointless as they haven't any shame trying to rob you in the first place. It's thieving plain and simple.
 
If they say it's still a fail and you take it to another garage who passes it, it will be interesting to see what they say and whether thy give you your money back.

MW
 
The system we have in Northern Ireland is a little better IMO. There is MOT centres that just do MOTs, they have no vested interest in failing you. Garages doing MOTs and repairs sounds awful from my perspective!
 
Belloni said:
Wish they had that system here!
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there (sort of) is

Many local councils have their own MOT testing stations for their own vehicles, like buses or ambulances.

By law these test centres (though not taxi or Crown stations) must be open to the general public. As they generally only carry out tests and don't do repairs, there's no incentive for mechanics to find faults that don't exist.
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there's a search on here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot
 
Whilst it sounds good in theory, you still have the human element of the MOT test and in a lot of marginal / silly cases this will be your biggest problem. Annoy the MOT guy (even unintentionally) or find yourself faced with the biggest jobsworth known to man and your car is failing for several very minor issues (wiper or something off the mirror for example) where most guys would simply remove the object or ask you to make sure you sort said wiper.

Best way to avoid being fleeced with anything from a garage / mechanic is ask to be shown the problem and for a breakdown of the cost - any decent / honest setup will be happy to oblige.

I'd replace a buckled wheel btw, it'll never be right even if repaired.
 
I'm going to go back later and have a word.

What would you guys recommend, telling them it's a joke of a quote and shouldn't be failed. I can get it passed else where etc. It's a small town so word would travel fast which I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate.
 
d_brennen said:
The system we have in Northern Ireland is a little better IMO. There is MOT centres that just do MOTs, they have no vested interest in failing you. Garages doing MOTs and repairs sounds awful from my perspective!
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A few of my mates in NI hate the system over there because the police round them up (at big sunday car meets) and force them to go though an on the spot mot (or something equally as mad).

Such a weird game of cat and mouse of how low they can run their cars and other nonsense... :D

But in reality the dedicated MOT guys are much more sensible to avoid mega rips off, just have to be nice to the people doing the test.. The gf's brothers both have been failed because the guy doing it was having "a bad day" put politely and the gf has gotten through a few by having the goods on show and nearly crying.
 
As it's already been touched on; the trick is to try and get the test and the repairs done separately. The local mechanic I use is great for this. he has a small garage which is next door to a much bigger garage geared more towards commercial vehicles and fleets. I take my car to the small garage for an 'MOT', he takes it next door for the test and then brings it back to do the repairs.

The big garage doesn't benefit from adding pointless repairs onto the bill or failing for silly things; it's all just sensible and how it should be.

The other option is to use a local council MOT station for the test only. [edit] someone said that already [/edit]

It's a lot cheaper when the garage doing the test don't add wiper blades, bulbs, and tyres onto the total for easy cash.

I was talking to a lad from a mobile tyre fitters who was doing my tyres for me yesterday and he told me he had to get his car MOT'd at kwikfit (had no option) and they failed it on 2 bald tyres and a cat'. Said he pulled up in his tyre van and asked for the car to be lifted up and showed them the still-intact date of manufacture sticker with a date 3 month ago on the brand new cat (standard, not sport or anything) which he put on knowing the MOT was due soon and it needed it. that would have been easy money! And of course the tyres were A1.
 
I only take my car (for the past 25 years) to a dedicated MOT station (Saville Road PE3 7PR)

He's very strict but indifferent as to whether it should pass or fail

My hooter packed up and I replaced it with a Klaxxon. He said he didn't think it was legal but would check the regs.

It IS legal and it passed.
 
The garage I use only really deals in trucks. I get MOTs as I used to live across the road from the quarry the trucks were owned by and my missus family, who I was living with, know the owners. They don't rip us off and the works done quickly between working on trucks.
 
Write MUG on your forehead and walk back in asking for the work to be done, see if they catch on :P

I have never experienced this fortunately but I have come across a lot of poor MOT centers, I have had loads of things missed on MOT’s in the past. I have taken my cars to a fair few places locally now and it doesn't take long to work out the good ones from the bad.
 
pingwing said:
A few of my mates in NI hate the system over there because the police round them up (at big sunday car meets) and force them to go though an on the spot mot (or something equally as mad).

Such a weird game of cat and mouse of how low they can run their cars and other nonsense... :D

But in reality the dedicated MOT guys are much more sensible to avoid mega rips off, just have to be nice to the people doing the test.. The gf's brothers both have been failed because the guy doing it was having "a bad day" put politely and the gf has gotten through a few by having the goods on show and nearly crying.
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If their car is well modified then I don't see the problem aside from the inconvenience. Police really don't care what people do to their cars, just getting the ghetto sheds off the road :D
 
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