Biennial MOT tests

[cheesefest]

I simply don't understand this. My MOT and service is about £150 all in with VAT. If people can't afford that - that's just under 2 tanks of fuel on a SUV or family car. My car costs about £43 at the moment to fill.

There are some cars I think how on earth did they past their MOT. You can access the MOT history on all UK cars on the gov website.

A couple of weeks ago, I was wombling on the group pick and found a reg plate in a ditch. Put reg details into website on phone and the car never had an MOT as it was registered in 2000 and nothing on it. So it must be there for 18 years.

 

[theone8181]

I simply don't understand this. My MOT and service is about £150 all in with VAT. If people can't afford that - that's just under 2 tanks of fuel on a SUV or family car. My car costs about £43 at the moment to fill.

There are some cars I think how on earth did they past their MOT. You can access the MOT history on all UK cars on the gov website.

A couple of weeks ago, I was wombling on the group pick and found a reg plate in a ditch. Put reg details into website on phone and the car never had an MOT as it was registered in 2000 and nothing on it. So it must be there for 18 years.

You sure the rest of the car wasn't nearby .

 

[cheesefest]

You sure the rest of the car wasn't nearby .

No. It wasn't fully hidden either.

Other wombles have picked an entire front of car before with reg plate attached. One example the last MOT was done in 2016. Shows the police etc don't bother to clear up RTAs properly

 

[theone8181]

No. It wasn't fully hidden either.

Other wombles have picked an entire front of car before with reg plate attached. One example the last MOT was done in 2016. Shows the police etc don't bother to clear up RTAs properly

Probably too busy arresting someone for offending somebodies feelings on twitter .

 

[Resident]

No. It wasn't fully hidden either.

Other wombles have picked an entire front of car before with reg plate attached. One example the last MOT was done in 2016. Shows the police etc don't bother to clear up RTAs properly

In fairness to the police it's not their job to clear up RTCs. Generally they'll help by clearing the carriageway so traffic can move but after that it's down to the council.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

so are we switching to mot every 2 years or not?

 

[JonRGV250]

Possibly.
All testing stations and testers got this message today, so it would seem they're seriously considering it..



I said earlier in the thread that nothing surprises me anymore, but today something did.
I was inspecting the drivers seat belt today on a Golf and found it was covered in Duct tape, so I removed some of it, and...



I mean obviously the Duct tape brought the seat belt back to original safety specs as it was hiding the damage, but I had to fail it.
The above isn't true, don't use tape to hide damage (not that I should have to say that, but obviously someone thought it was ok).

 

[Stu999]

@JonRGV250 - you should start a “customer states…” thread.

 

[tom_e]

Possibly.
All testing stations and testers got this message today, so it would seem they're seriously considering it..



I said earlier in the thread that nothing surprises me anymore, but today something did.
I was inspecting the drivers seat belt today on a Golf and found it was covered in Duct tape, so I removed some of it, and...



I mean obviously the Duct tape brought the seat belt back to original safety specs as it was hiding the damage, but I had to fail it.
The above isn't true, don't use tape to hide damage (not that I should have to say that, but obviously someone thought it was ok).

I thought you couldn't remove anything during the MOT or is that just for things actually fixed to the car like under trays

 

[theone8181]

I'd pass it, darwinism will sort that out too .

 

[JonRGV250]

I thought you couldn't remove anything during the MOT or is that just for things actually fixed to the car like under trays

If it requires tools to remove something, then a tester can't, anything else is fair game.
Most engine covers etc just clip off so it's ok to remove those.
The same goes for sat nav's, phone cradles etc (that are obstructing the drivers view) but we need the customers permission first before removing them.

 

[JonRGV250]

I forgot to mention, and getting back to why biennial MOT's don't work..

This was a tyre fitted to the (seatbelt fail) Golf I tested today..



The date stamp on the tyre was 2001, which was older than the car, so whether the owner has bought a part worn tyre at some point or what ever, but it's fair to say that it's well past it's sell by date.
Just my opinion, but a tyre has a shelf life of approx 6 years before it degrades and becomes a liability.
That tyre failed as it's cords were visible.
If such a tyre was an advisory rather than a fail, then another 2 years on the road with god knows how many miles on it would be not ideal.

 

[Rroff]

This was a tyre fitted to the (seatbelt fail) Golf I tested today..

I know people who'd literally be like "meh it's fine plenty of tread left yet, people worry too much" to a tyre like that... sadly some of them do the servicing on their partner or children's cars...

 

[theone8181]

I forgot to mention, and getting back to why biennial MOT's don't work..

This was a tyre fitted to the (seatbelt fail) Golf I tested today..



The date stamp on the tyre was 2001, which was older than the car, so whether the owner has bought a part worn tyre at some point or what ever, but it's fair to say that it's well past it's sell by date.
Just my opinion, but a tyre has a shelf life of approx 6 years before it degrades and becomes a liability.
That tyre failed as it's cords were visible.
If such a tyre was an advisory rather than a fail, then another 2 years on the road with god knows how many miles on it would be not ideal.

My mum and dad are retired and I occasionally have borrowed there a class (2001 boxy one), as they don't do much driving (think the car has done less than 35,000), the tyres had cracking on the edge so I took it to be changed, only cost something like 100 quid as the tyres are tiny. I don't see why people don't just fix these things, my parents don't use the car much, essentially it gets used for the tip runs, but it should have been changed. I don't think it was the original tyre, iirc it was 10 years old, it's not something I typically need to worry about as my cars only tend to get a couple if years out of a tyre anyway as I favour grip over hardness.
I guess with that golf, if they're willing to bodge 1 thing like that, maintenance is probably not at the top or their list of things to do.

 

[pinkpound]

My neighbour would be happy his MOT ran out 03/12/2021 and he's still driving around in it . I was bored waiting on a parcel last week so checked everyone Registartion in my street

 

[Lopéz]

I simply don't understand this. My MOT and service is about £150 all in with VAT. If people can't afford that - that's just under 2 tanks of fuel on a SUV or family car. My car costs about £43 at the moment to fill.

I would imagine the cost of the test is not the issue - it's the cost of the repairs needed to get the car to the standard required to pass the test.

 

[Wizzkidy]

I was bored waiting on a parcel last week so checked everyone Registartion in my street

Do you get a kick out of checking all your neighbours cars for expired MOT's?

Are you the MOT police?

 

[pinkpound]

Do you get a kick out of checking all your neighbours cars for expired MOT's?

Are you the MOT police?

Oh somebody got out the wrong side of the bed today.

I'd just got my MOT reminder and noticed his bald tyres so had nosey , I'll ask your permission next time .

 

[JonRGV250]

And just for fun, we have another Duct tape connoisseur (see #87), who obviously believes that the power of said magic tape will restore his rust bucket of a van back to factory fresh..




Both outer and (to some extent) inner sills were practically non existent, bar the structurally enhancing magic tape.
He was not a happy bunny when it failed and explained (I kid you not) that the only reason the tape was on there was to stop his dogs getting hurt when they crawled under the van, which brings up the question that he obviously knew how bad they were, and why continue to drive the thing.
I mean to fair, he had done an excellent job of colour matching the tape, so it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

 

[theone8181]

8And just for fun, we have another Duct tape connoisseur (see #87), who obviously believes that the power of said magic tape will restore his rust bucket of a van back to factory fresh..




Both outer and (to some extent) inner sills were practically non existent, bar the structurally enhancing magic tape.
He was not a happy bunny when it failed and explained (I kid you not) that the only reason the tape was on there was to stop his dogs getting hurt when they crawled under the van, which brings up the question that he obviously knew how bad they were, and why continue to drive the thing.
I mean to fair, he had done an excellent job of colour matching the tape, so it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

If he'd put a prope vinyl on it, might have blended ever betterer .