Not happy with MOT station, WWMD?

Soldato
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A friend of mine has a 14 plate 1 series BMW and she had the MOT done at a main BMW dealership where it failed on a dangerous because cords were showing on an inside front tyre.

Now the garage told her they didn't have the tyre she required and so let her drive off in it to get it replaced herself!

I really wasn't happy with that, especially as it was the end of the day so she drove home and only got it replaced a couple of days later, then had to go back to the MOT station for it's retest!

So, what would motors do, just chalk it up to experience and explain what she should have done or make a complaint, as they should really have known better than to do that.

She's not very savvy about cars in general (her husband dealt with all that before he died) and not a very forceful person and doesn't want to make a fuss, but I'm more of the opinion she should make a complaint.
 
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Did they force her to drive away or did they simply let her leave because they didn't have the correct tyre and can't force her to stay.
Didn't seem an issue for her to be driving around on a dangerous tyre before this point.

What would your complaint be?
 
Man of Honour
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When we asked the DVSA to clarify the rule earlier this year, MOT service manager, Neil Barlow, said: 'If a car has failed its MOT with a dangerous fault, DVSA's advice is that it should not be driven until the defect is repaired.

'This is because it's dangerous to both the driver and other road users.'

However, he then confirmed: 'Garages are unable to prevent owners from driving their cars away.

'But they will provide advice to the owner on what they should do to keep the car safe.'

From an article written just after the MOT changed.

Sounds like there is no complaint as long as they made her aware it was then her choice to drive away, she could have had it picked up or called a mobile fitter.

It's your friend you shouldn't be happy with as she was the one driving with a completely worn out tyre even before the MOT. "Her husband used to deal with it" is no excuse for not giving it a quick glance every now and again.
 
Soldato
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OK, I was under the impression that it was illegal to drive a car on the road that had failed on a dangerous, even to get it repaired.

My complaint is that someone like her relies on the garage to give her the right advice and they didn't tell her it was now illegal to drive or tell her the other options like getting a mobile fitter.
 
Soldato
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It is but they are not the police and have no power to seize the vehicle or keep her there.

But they didn't even advise her it was illegal to do else she would have made other arrangements, surely that is in their remit to explain?

But if you guys think they didn't do anything wrong then fair enough, I won't push it.
 
Soldato
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Not sure what the issue is? It's your friend who chose to drive around on a bald tyre.

Perhaps the correct outcome would be to suggest to your friend to learn the very basics about the machine they drive and rely on. I'm not a petrol head but it took me a couple of Google searches to find out about basic maintenance.

In my opinion if a driver isn't even able to tell when their tyres are balding/at a level where it fails an MOT then they shouldn't be driving.
 
Soldato
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OK, I was under the impression that it was illegal to drive a car on the road that had failed on a dangerous, even to get it repaired.

My complaint is that someone like her relies on the garage to give her the right advice and they didn't tell her it was now illegal to drive or tell her the other options like getting a mobile fitter.

It does sound like the garage didn’t give her the correct advice and I’m surprised that a BWM main dealer couldn’t get a replacement tyre PDQ unless it’s a very rare size/rating.
 
Associate
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If you want to help your friend out, rather than having a go at the garage, teach them some basics about car maintenance like how to check tyre health and how often to do it, how to check tyre pressures, how to check fluid (if you even can on a modern BMW, probably has an electronic oil level sensor only?), how to put the spare tyre on if it has one etc.

There's no valid excuse for driving around on a bald tyre.
 
Soldato
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From an article written just after the MOT changed.

Sounds like there is no complaint as long as they made her aware it was then her choice to drive away, she could have had it picked up or called a mobile fitter.

It's your friend you shouldn't be happy with as she was the one driving with a completely worn out tyre even before the MOT. "Her husband used to deal with it" is no excuse for not giving it a quick glance every now and again.

Actually from the article you quoted

However, he then confirmed: 'Garages are unable to prevent owners from driving their cars away.

'But they will provide advice to the owner on what they should do to keep the car safe.'

That is what I'm complaining about, that they didn't do that and let her drive off.
 
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Actually from the article you quoted



That is what I'm complaining about, that they didn't do that and let her drive off.

That wasn't clear from your original post to be fair.

If you feel they really didn't make it clear enough then yes you've got grounds to complain although it's very much down to he said she said so you'll probably get a "We'll make sure to remind our tester to make it crystal clear".

The point still stands though that the time spent complaining at the garage would be better spent giving her some advice on making sure her car is roadworthy the other 364 days a year.
 
Soldato
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Her MOT failure would have said something like this:

z8CBRNp.png

It's 100% her responsibility as to what she did, the MOT station can only advise not to drive it, they cannot stop her. But it's there in big bold letters, there's no excuse there.
 
Soldato
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That wasn't clear from your original post to be fair.

If you feel they really didn't make it clear enough then yes you've got grounds to complain although it's very much down to he said she said so you'll probably get a "We'll make sure to remind our tester to make it crystal clear".

Fair enough :) That's why I was asking first, I didn't know how much responsibility they had/how serious a mess up it was.

The point still stands though that the time spent complaining at the garage would be better spent giving her some advice on making sure her car is roadworthy the other 364 days a year.

And I don't disagree with all these statements about her having the basic level of understanding of car maintenance of course she should, but it's obvious with the tyre in that state she didn't and I would have expected a professional garage to have advised their customer appropriately, especially in such a serious situation. But I'll not make anything of it, thanks for all the feedback.
 
Soldato
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In my opinion if a driver isn't even able to tell when their tyres are balding/at a level where it fails an MOT then they shouldn't be driving.
Most drivers are perfectly able to tell. Just as they know how often they should check all their other POWER points and so on.
The issue is that they don't check.

A friend of mine is forever getting abuse off me because he doesn't ever check anything on his car. Unless there's a red light on the dash, he assumes he will be advised of any issues by the man he pays to check everything once a year at MoT time.... and if something cannot work for a whole year, it bloody well should. He doesn't understand why there are different coloured dash lights, hasn't ever read his manual and has no idea what all the different controls in the car do. Doesn't even realise you can adjust the headlight level.
People like that should not be driving, especially since he seems pretty typical of the average driver these days...
 
Soldato
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Most drivers are perfectly able to tell. Just as they know how often they should check all their other POWER points and so on.
The issue is that they don't check.

A friend of mine is forever getting abuse off me because he doesn't ever check anything on his car. Unless there's a red light on the dash, he assumes he will be advised of any issues by the man he pays to check everything once a year at MoT time.... and if something cannot work for a whole year, it bloody well should. He doesn't understand why there are different coloured dash lights, hasn't ever read his manual and has no idea what all the different controls in the car do. Doesn't even realise you can adjust the headlight level.
People like that should not be driving, especially since he seems pretty typical of the average driver these days...

Yep it's a shame that this is the norm. Friend of mine asked me to check his tyre pressure as they 'looked a bit flat' they were all at round 0.9 bar and he hadn't touched them since he bought the car.. 13 months ago at the time. Truly shocking because I used the electric pump he had in the boot of his car. :rolleyes:

Fluid levels, brake levels, tyre tread and pressure all take minutes to check and are far from technical!
 
Caporegime
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But they didn't even advise her it was illegal to do else she would have made other arrangements, surely that is in their remit to explain?

But if you guys think they didn't do anything wrong then fair enough, I won't push it.

It's her own responsibility to know that.

You can't plead ignorance if you own a driving licence and a car you are wholly responsible.

Saying your husband, friend or accountant usually deals with it isn't a get out of jail card.

She is responsible for the upkeep of her own car and she should know what is legal or not.

I was caught out this year as the lexus had aftermarket lights fitted. It passed last years mot but failed this years and I asked why did you pass it last year and they told me that the laws and test had changed. So I was glad they removed the lights and put in normal ones.

However even I know to check the tread of my tyres once a month. It takes all of 10 seconds to do a whole car. Stick finger in the line and feel for the wear bump. And I know that it needs replacing just before the bump is in line with the rest of the tyre.

Should the garage need to tell her she needs to wear a seat belt whilst driving? And every other requirement? It should be obvious if it's failed an mot it's not safe to drive.
 
Soldato
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I
A friend of mine has a 14 plate 1 series BMW and she had the MOT done at a main BMW dealership where it failed on a dangerous because cords were showing on an inside front tyre.

Now the garage told her they didn't have the tyre she required and so let her drive off in it to get it replaced herself!

I really wasn't happy with that, especially as it was the end of the day so she drove home and only got it replaced a couple of days later, then had to go back to the MOT station for it's retest!

So, what would motors do, just chalk it up to experience and explain what she should have done or make a complaint, as they should really have known better than to do that.

She's not very savvy about cars in general (her husband dealt with all that before he died) and not a very forceful person and doesn't want to make a fuss, but I'm more of the opinion she should make a complaint.
If you feel like you really must do something I'd focus on your friends lack of awareness of the road worthiness of her vehicle instead of trying to get the garage in trouble.
 
Caporegime
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But they didn't even advise her it was illegal to do else she would have made other arrangements, surely that is in their remit to explain?

But if you guys think they didn't do anything wrong then fair enough, I won't push it.

It's up to her to know the legalities of operating her car, not them to inform her. Surely she should know that driving with tyres in such dangerous condition is illegal?!
 
Soldato
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But they didn't even advise her it was illegal to do else she would have made other arrangements, surely that is in their remit to explain?

But if you guys think they didn't do anything wrong then fair enough, I won't push it.

They failed the car on the MOT on a dangerous, what's left to explain? Madam, your car failed it's MOT as we deem it dangerous for X reason.
 
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