Biennial MOT tests

[JonRGV250]

What’s the thought process on doing the MOT first? My garage did this and failed it, then did the repair under warranty as part of the service. Then passed it.

The average age of cars I MOT is now 12 years old, and a lot are beyond repair if they fail.
Previously working at main dealers it was 5 years old and the repair costs were minimal in relation to the worth of the car.
I now work for a friend/garage owner who puts honesty before profit, so..

He could charge say £200 to service a car, then MOT it, only for it to be an unecomical repair and the customer still pays for a service on a car thats scrap.
I'm sure he could make more £'s by servicing first, but believe it or not there's still some integrity in the car repair business.
It's why both of his garages are constantly fully booked.

 

[JonRGV250]

More utter lunacy from today..



We offer inspections on cars that customers are considering buying, and this is one from earlier..
Both front tyres were like that, and the entire car had been poorly sprayed/repaired (there was overspray everywhere, the front wings had been off and were probably from another car etc etc and the fault codes indicated all kinds of expensive problems).
I took great pleasure informing the potential buyer (in front of the cars owner) just how much he should avoid it.
This was a 15 plate C220, so not a cheap car.

This customer had a pair of front shocks fitted recently (not by us) and it failed the MOT on..



And just for fun (If you have OCD about car cleanliness, the look away now)..



It's the only time I've had to fit a seat cover to keep myself clean and not the seats.

 

[JonRGV250]

No, he wasn’t selling it, and apart from another plasterer, I’m not who’d buy it if he was.

 

[JonRGV250]

The first pic was the vehicle inspection, the 2nd and 3rd were in for routine MOT’s.

 

[JonRGV250]

I'm trying to work out what's wrong with the suspension from that pic?

The garage that fitted the new shocks had somehow managed to fit the bracket that holds the speed sensor, pad warning wire and brake hose incorrectly, which has caused the anti roll bar drop link to bend as its fouling on it.
Also the speed sensor wire is pretty much crushed, but still not faulting.
It takes a special kind of stupid to do something like that!

 

[JonRGV250]

It's almost a piece of art, albeit a very dangerous one..




These 3 tyre's were from the same vehicle, and that vehicle had 2 child seats in the rear..

 

[JonRGV250]

One of the more chilling things I've encountered is people's dad doing their car maintenance whose first reaction is always that the garage is wrong/ripping off and can't see past their prejudice and/or can't/won't acknowledge a problem until it actually manifests as a serious issue so will dismiss minor noises, etc. which are clearly an indicator of a pending serious failure.

Yes absolutely.
Had a Fiesta in today for MOT and noticed the anti roll bar rubbing on the drive shaft, and upon further inspection found the suspension arm almost bent in half, and the wheel bearing so shot that the wheel was barely hanging on, and the subframe had been shifted by a fair amount.
A replacement wheel had been fitted (with the wrong sized tyre) and the damaged wheel was in the boot, and when I say the wheel, I mean what was left of it.
Now, who ever fitted the wheel must have noticed that after fitting it that there was a massive amount of play akin to the wheel being loose and not tightened up, but no, no they didn't.
Utterly terrifying.

 

[JonRGV250]

Honda, Mazda, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki.
Personally I wouldn’t touch anything French or Italian.

 

[JonRGV250]

Just off the top of my head..

Hyundai i20
Yaris
Suzuki Swift
Honda Jazz

 

[JonRGV250]

More utter madness from today..

OSF tyre..



NSF..



and different shot of NSF tyre..



Never checking your tyre pressures have that effect!



Next up.
There are 3 things in this pic, my hand, a child seat and a seat belt..





And just when I thought today couldn't get any more ridiculous...





Stay safe out there people

 

[JonRGV250]

It's usually from seat belts that don't retract all the way, and then they get caught in the door latch when the door is shut.

Old C class.
Lowered suspension + worn bushings cause way way too much neg camber, hence the inner wear.

 

[JonRGV250]

In times like that you should probably have the ability to report people for presenting vehicles in that kind of state.

Agreed, but the police are probably too busy nicking someone who's misgendered someone else or following up on a hateful tweet that's been sent.

 

[JonRGV250]

That pic where you can move the tyre, does that not leak or is it starting to separate and leave the carcass?

It came in flat as the tyre has delaminated in every single way possible.

 

[JonRGV250]

In all my years I’ve never seen a seat belt with any sort of wear like that.

See #87

 

[JonRGV250]

Yes, but I do try and restrain from punching them in the head.
I’ve only flipped at one guy, who when I showed him his tyres starting laughing.
He also said he’d have to use the car daily until he got paid at the end of the month.
His tyres were pretty much the same as any I’ve posted in this thread.
I don’t know if it’s laziness or just general ignorance why people don’t check the basics on their cars.

 

[JonRGV250]

Nope, it’s not my responsibility (as stated by the DVSA).
I just put a “dangerous” failure on the car, and explain why it shouldn’t be driven, but it’s up to owner whether they heed my advice or not.

How the new MOT defect categories will work – Matters of Testing

Official advice and information about MOT testing from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk

 

[JonRGV250]

Some progress

My boss asked for a visit from our local MP as he had some concerns about various issues, and fair play to him he turned up at work.
A couple of the issues were MOT related, and especially the test being carried out every two years.
And again fair play to him, as he emailed the secretary of state and got a reply from Richard Holden (minister for roads and local transport) which he forwarded.

Some of the reply in reference to the consultation..

In the consultation, we have proposed changing the date of the first MOT for light vehicles from 3 to 4 years.
We have published an impact assessment alongside the consultation on the costs and benefits of this proposal which suggests that the change can be made with minimal effect on road saftey.
We welcome the contributions recieved that provide additional evidence for that assessment.
We are not proposing that MOT tests should take place every two years.
They will remain annual after the first test. However, looking to the future, we have asked in the call for evidence for views on how frequent MOT testing should be.
As the consultation has now ended, we will publish a summary of all the responses and how we propose to proceed in light of these responses presently.

 

[JonRGV250]

Not sure where else to post this, so I'll stick it here

A customer came in today after losing control on a roundabout and said he'd hit the kerb and could we have a look..

It's fair to say he'd hit it all right.
Now, it's either blind luck or divine intervention that the tyre is still holding air, but it somehow is!
The axle beam was also banana'd which must have made it an interesting drive

 

[JonRGV250]

He reckoned he'd aquaplaned in the heavy rain.
I suggested he get a used axle (which should come complete with hubs, shocks etc) and we'd bolt it on so he could get back on the road.
It'll be interesting to see the state of the rest of the tyres when we do.
There's really no reason to aquaplane on a town centre roundabout "if" the tyres are good.

 

[JonRGV250]

Luckily this car needed it's MOT today and not in a few days or weeks..

Easily sorted with a new banjo copper washer to stem the flow of brake fluid that had decided that it didn't want to stay in the caliper.




Anyone spot what's missing here?..