Halford BS MOT

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Discussion

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Thursday 23rd March 2017
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Butter Face said:
So, you mean between 'advise' and 'fail' or 'pass'

Which in case you weren't aware, are their options.
Yep, I was.

My point was that it was where on a scale of 1 to 10 - where 10 is "brand spanking" and 1 is "hanging off" the line is drawn. Tester opinion is in the range of 2/3/4ish.

Butter Face said:
I've seen some stuff pass that you wouldn't believe
I would...

Butter Face said:
a half assed tester is worse than no tester at all.
Couldn't agree more. The MOT isn't a once-a-year scarily-hard high-water-mark. It's a bare fking minimum.

Evanivitch

19,804 posts

121 months

Thursday 23rd March 2017
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SonicShadow said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Mmm. You do know that the MOT limit is the same as the legal limit, right? And the common sense limit is a LOT higher than that...
No, no, I'm sure 2mm tyres will perform just fine on a typical British pissing wet Winter / Spring day hehe
Michelin would disagree. Of course, some people swear by 3mm minimum tread and then buy ditch finders...

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Thursday 23rd March 2017
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Halfords BS MOT you say?

Looking for something else on Google threw this little nugget up...

http://thegarageblog.co.uk/

on Tuesday December 20th 2016 The Garage Blog said:
A Halfords MOT fraudster has been charged.

Steven McDermott, an ex-employee at St Austell’s Halfords Autocentre, admitted that he had issued an MOT certificate without undertaking the physical test.It followed an investigation by the DVSA which carried out a number of interviews including management staff.
McDermott, of St Columb, Cornwall, was sentenced last month at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court to a 12-month community order, ordered to carry out 200 hours’ unpaid work, pay £2,627 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

DVSA enforcement manager, Stuart Carter said: “The annual MOT is an important aspect of road safety and DVSA will pursue and prosecute those who defraud the system by issuing pass certificates without carrying out the test.

“This sentence sends out a clear message that those who put public safety at risk will be dealt with accordingly.
“I would like to thank the area team for this particularly good job as it was conducted in a very timely manner so as to protect the integrity of the MOT scheme.”

A Halfords spokesperson said: “We have taken this matter very seriously and always adhere to the highest standards in our 300 centres.
“In this case, through our own internal processes, we identified that a vehicle had been incorrectly recorded as having been MOT tested at the site.

“We carried out a full investigation into this matter, immediately suspended the colleague involved and we notified the DVSA who concluded that Halfords Autocentres had acted entirely in an appropriate manner.
“The person concerned no longer works for Halfords Autocentres.”
...someone upthread said a poor tester was worse than no tester, but here we have a proven case of no actual test being done, yet a pass certificate being issued. Worrying when so many drivers rely on their MOT to pick up faults that they then repair to meet the minimum standard for a pass.

Butter Face

30,192 posts

159 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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In that case (as it's local to me I have heard of it) the chap was supposedly issuing MOT certs to friends and acquaintances for cash, no test required.

It wasn't just a member of the public and he couldn't be arsed to do the actual tests. He was still carrying out full MOT tests (and failing stuff) on a day to day basis as normal to the people coming through the centre.

So I hear anyway!

The Wookie

13,909 posts

227 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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Butter Face said:
In that case (as it's local to me I have heard of it) the chap was supposedly issuing MOT certs to friends and acquaintances for cash, no test required.
Usually known as 'dial-a-mot'

Vantagemech

5,728 posts

214 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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The Wookie said:
Butter Face said:
In that case (as it's local to me I have heard of it) the chap was supposedly issuing MOT certs to friends and acquaintances for cash, no test required.
Usually known as 'dial-a-mot'
I knew of several cars in France that had postal tickets, supposedly tested in the UK but never left the garage year on year.

OP, how much is the arm? Personally I do just that, look at the part, figure repair or replace and decide accordingly. My transit needed inner bushes, looked a PITA and parts were 50% of the new arm. New it was then.

Long gone are the days of wiper refils, Honda did them but were still £6 a pop, whats a new blade? £9? Better still get a Halfrauds card and pay about half advertised price.....

bigdom

2,072 posts

144 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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SebringMan said:
Combustion29 said:
Hi all,

I just had my mot done at a halfords autocentre ( not my first choice but was in a bind). Anyway it failed on three trivial things; rubber suspension bush worn, headlight at wrong angle and windscreen wiper not adequately clearing Window.

They want to replace the whole suspension arm rather than just the bush as they don't have the right tool to compress the springs or something. They are charging me £15 for 'fixing ' the light and also want to replace the whole wiper . This will now be hundreds which is a joke for what should be a bush and a wiper blade. They are taking the piss but what can i do?
Which car do you have?

My take?

-The headlight adjustment is taking the piss. My tester does that for me as well as throwing in the odd bulb for free but he did used to charge £45 an MOT before I knew him. That said it was better than the anal tester before and he speaks alot of sense; a few PHers use him as well.

-The arm's bush being can be a pain to remove in a number of cases. In many instances pattern bushes are rubbish as well. By the time they have faffed about with the bush it would have cost a good chunk of garage labour.

-When you say the whole wiper do you mean the arm or the blade? If the former and it is clearly not bent I'd do a runner!

bigdom said:
Having taken my car in for an MOT yesterday, not Halfords. I think they're all on the take.

Evidently my rear discs/pads are worn, and the front disc have slight lipping...They put both down as an advisory and mentioned it would be dangerous to continue to drive it rolleyes

The onboard system states the rear pads have 24k left, the fronts 60k. Think I'll drop it into BMW next year.
I reckon you must a be a troll :P. 60k on front pads? Unless you never brake I'd like to see that.
Got to love pistonheads, simply mentioned a disparity in MOT centre performance, so your either clueless mechanically or the sensors are st. Anyway, I'm not going to bother discussing the merits either way, although a screen shot from this morning.


TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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bigdom said:
Got to love pistonheads, simply mentioned a disparity in MOT centre performance, so your either clueless mechanically or the sensors are st. Anyway, I'm not going to bother discussing the merits either way, although a screen shot from this morning.

So the computer's talking bks. Fair enough.

And, yes, I'll cheerfully admit I'm wrong if you actually manage another 60k on that set of pads. Which you won't.

funkyrobot

18,789 posts

227 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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bigdom said:
Got to love pistonheads, simply mentioned a disparity in MOT centre performance, so your either clueless mechanically or the sensors are st. Anyway, I'm not going to bother discussing the merits either way, although a screen shot from this morning.

If your sat nav told you the route you needed to take went through a river, would you follow it?

wink

SebringMan

1,773 posts

185 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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bigdom said:
Got to love pistonheads, simply mentioned a disparity in MOT centre performance, so your either clueless mechanically or the sensors are st. Anyway, I'm not going to bother discussing the merits either way, although a screen shot from this morning.

I do a bit of mechanical work myself ; my previous threads demonstrate that. But clearly I know fk all smile.

About the MOT disparity you are quite right. A favourite pad for advisories are PSA cars with Bendix rear brake calipers ; they only have 4mm or so from brand new! I once had an advisory for a new set and a friend failed on a new set he fitted literally a few miles before his MOT on a Pug 306 GTi-6.

But yes, I may have caught the wrong end of the stick. It seems you were criticising most MOT testers from how your post read!

saaby93

32,038 posts

177 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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It's things like that, that make it worthwhile still having MOTs
It thinks brakes pads are ok - what else might be going on around there

ETA to make the upload malarchy work

Edited by saaby93 on Friday 24th March 11:38

bigdom

2,072 posts

144 months

Friday 24th March 2017
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funkyrobot said:
bigdom said:
Got to love pistonheads, simply mentioned a disparity in MOT centre performance, so your either clueless mechanically or the sensors are st. Anyway, I'm not going to bother discussing the merits either way, although a screen shot from this morning.

If your sat nav told you the route you needed to take went through a river, would you follow it?

wink
Well of course I would; the BMW is amphibious after all!

The pads were changed late August last year, just prior to driving to the south of France, the car has only seen 6-7k since they were all changed, I used Ferodo DS2500, as I have for most of my cars for the past 30 years. There's no issues with the pads, or to be fair with the discs.

The MOT Station/Garage was just trying it on. As I mentioned, they were advisories, however they dressed it up "a safety issue" they already sort prices to make the car safe! Circa £390 fitted. Anyway, I won't be taking it back to them next year, it was just close to the office and I couldn't squeeze in a working at home day this week.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Friday 24th March 2017
quotequote all
bigdom said:
The pads were changed late August last year, just prior to driving to the south of France, the car has only seen 6-7k since they were all changed
And how long had the old ones lasted?

EazyDuz

2,013 posts

107 months

Saturday 25th March 2017
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funkyrobot said:
If your sat nav told you the route you needed to take went through a river, would you follow it?

wink
Nonsense analogy and would never happen as long as maps are kept up to date.
All that sensor has to do is monitor brake pads, one job, no reason not to trust it.

Vantagemech

5,728 posts

214 months

Saturday 25th March 2017
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Apart from the fact that its a nominal figure that can be reset at any time regardless of the condition of the pads. Take that on a track and youll get less than 1000 miles out of them. The monitor will say 59,000.....

zygalski

7,759 posts

144 months

Saturday 25th March 2017
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I took mine in for the tracking to be checked as they had a brand new laser aligner.
20-something year old tech lifted the car & said I should check my brakes immediately as the hose seemed to be completed severed. What he was pointing at was the (redundant) carbon canister tube under the NS/F wheel arch laugh

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

254 months

Saturday 25th March 2017
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EazyDuz said:
Nonsense analogy and would never happen as long as maps are kept up to date.
All that sensor has to do is monitor brake pads, one job, no reason not to trust it.
If you had any idea of how pad sensors actually work and the possible failures modes in modern cars you certainly wouldn't being saying that.

All an airflow sensor has to do is monitor airflow, one job, so does that make them immune to failure and beyond suspicion in the event of a engine running problem?

Edited by Mr2Mike on Saturday 25th March 08:49

Mound Dawg

1,915 posts

173 months

Saturday 25th March 2017
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Mrs Dawgs Punto has a warning wire to just one front pad out of four. Which broke. So her first indication that she needed new pads was a dull scraping noise.