Halford BS MOT

[JimmyConwayNW]

Took car to notorious rip off garage for MOT and now complaining about the lack of time you have to fix the jobs they have identified and the fact they know you have a car with an expired MOT and effectively have you where they want you.

Pay up, move on and don't go to them next year. Might also be an idea to maintain your car as you go along rather than just fixing it at the MOT test.

[Bhg01582]

I use Halfords Motorist Centre Dunstable for my family cars, a golf, an etype and BMW. I have found them to be fair and thorough in testing and giving a reasonable price when quoting for the repairs;& no pressure for them to do the work.

[TooMany2cvs]

Bhg01582 said:

I use Halfords Motorist Centre Dunstable for my family cars, a golf, an etype and BMW. I have found them to be fair and thorough in testing and giving a reasonable price when quoting for the repairs;& no pressure for them to do the work.

You let Halfords work on your E-type...?

[hotchy]

Replace the arm, if the bush has gone, the arm will be next anyway. Plus the bush never goes in as good as a new part imo. Its £70 who cares. An mot less than 500 is my goal...

[TooMany2cvs]

hotchy said:

An mot less than 500 is my goal...

ANY fail or advisory is a sign that your maintenance regime is inadequate...

[budgie smuggler]

TooMany2cvs said:

ANY fail or advisory is a sign that your maintenance regime is inadequate...

what a load of arse

[pembo]

bigdom said:

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

I had that for 2 MOT's, checked them myself, they were fine. Then magically by the third they had healed themselves and even when I asked the guy afterwards if they would need changing soon he said he thought they had plenty of life in them.

Edited by pembo on Thursday 23 March 12:27

[saaby93]

Bhg01582 said:

I use Halfords Motorist Centre Dunstable for my family cars, a golf, an etype and BMW. I have found them to be fair and thorough in testing and giving a reasonable price when quoting for the repairs;& no pressure for them to do the work.

Welcome

It probably varies from centre to centre but yes locally they seem to be thorough and fair

[CS Garth]

budgie smuggler said:

TooMany2cvs said:

ANY fail or advisory is a sign that your maintenance regime is inadequate...

what a load of arse

Indeed, TooMany do you in effect subject your car to a mock MOT before every journey?

[DaveCWK]

Fwiw I always use halfords for MOT's. You can book an exact time slot online & it has always £30 with a discount code. I always go for the first in the day, so I'm out & in work by 10am.

[yellowjack]

pembo said:

bigdom said:

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

I had that for 2 MOT's, checked them myself, they were fine. Then magically by the third they had healed themselves and even when I asked the guy afterwards if they would need changing soon he said he thought they had plenty of life in them.

I've had this sort of thing when I've had MOTs done "away from home". Advisories on brake discs and pads, etc.

Then I've taken it home to have a trusted local garage (sadly under new management so all trust has evaporated now until they prove their worth again) do the work 'advised' only for the local guy to ask me "Are you sure this is the car they MOT'd?" because he couldn't see any of the problems advised. But it still shows as an advisory item on the car's electronic MOT history. Looks odd when you sell, too, when the buyer sees the item on the MOT but I've got no receipts to prove the work was done...

[trickywoo]

TooMany2cvs said:

Or, ime, don't.

The one time I took that sage piece of advice, I was made monumentally unwelcome - it was very clear that the only reason they accepted my booking was they had zero choice. I was then given the single most anal test ever. I took that fail sheet, smiled, and immediately took the car to somewhere else - where it passed without a single advisory. They achieved their aim - I never wasted their precious time by going there again...

I'd second this for other places only doing MOTs. Get a grumpy tester with no booking after yours and they'll find the smallest thing to do you on with the get out clause for them being why fail it if there is no reason to as they won't profit from any work. The twisted tester will make you squirm for the fun of it.

You are then looking at getting it booked for work elsewhere at short notice.

Best thing to do is try loads of garages until you find one you can trust, go out of your way of you have to. Then stick with them. Be fair to them and they'll be fair to you.

[TooMany2cvs]

CS Garth said:

budgie smuggler said:

TooMany2cvs said:

ANY fail or advisory is a sign that your maintenance regime is inadequate...

what a load of arse

Indeed, TooMany do you in effect subject your car to a mock MOT before every journey?

No. I keep on top of it, and do stuff long before it gets bad enough to be a fail.

Or, at least, that's the theory. My maintenance regime often IS inadequate, and I get knocked back by the MOT man as a result. Usually on ridiculous small stuff that I really should have checked, but assumed.

[SonicShadow]

Funny how many of you fail MOT's on things you think are incorrect because the garage is trying to pull a fast one, or get advisories for what you think are trivial reasons. Yet I daily an 18 year old Toyota MR2 (around 25k miles a year) and have had 3 completely clean MOT's in my ownership. Am I just lucky, or could it be that I actually bother to maintain the car properly and check everything is as it should be before taking it down to the test station?

[SuperchargedVR6]

SonicShadow said:

Funny how many of you fail MOT's on things you think are incorrect because the garage is trying to pull a fast one, or get advisories for what you think are trivial reasons. Yet I daily an 18 year old Toyota MR2 (around 25k miles a year) and have had 3 completely clean MOT's in my ownership. Am I just lucky, or could it be that I actually bother to maintain the car properly and check everything is as it should be before taking it down to the test station?

To be fair, 99% of the population would have no idea 1 headlight is out of alignment, or that a suspension bush is past it. You can't always detect play in the suspension until you unload it on a jack and start levering things around.

99% of the population also expect cars to last forever and bitterly resent paying for their upkeep, but will happily spend £700 on a smartphone every year.

[generationx]

How do all these headlamps go out of alignment anyway if they´ve been undisturbed since the previous test or from new build? I´ve never even had an advisory on this.

[SebringMan]

TooMany2cvs said:

ANY fail or advisory is a sign that your maintenance regime is inadequate...

Harsh.

This is the first time I've had an advisory for quite some time. What on? Tyres?

Normally I change them beforehand if they are getting close. Considering these are £200 a corner (they were £170 a year ago...) I really am trying to eek them out! It's only an M3 FFS, not a Ferrari!

[Smanks]

TooMany2cvs said:

ANY fail or advisory is a sign that your maintenance regime is inadequate...

Total rubbish to say "any"

My last two MOTs on two different unmodified cars had the same annoying advisory which says "engine covers and undertray fitted obscuring view of some components"

Does that mean my maintenance regime is inadequate?

[rockford22]

DaveCWK said:

Fwiw I always use halfords for MOT's. You can book an exact time slot online & it has always £30 with a discount code. I always go for the first in the day, so I'm out & in work by 10am.

In the interest of balance I also had a good experience with Halfords - tested and subsequently failed my car, I left and fixed it elsewhere, did the re-test free of charge and even squeezed me in at 8am on a Saturday before their first appointment to get me back on the road.

They've failed your car for valid reasons, it is not a huge bill to fix, just get it repaired and get on with your life?

[CS Garth]

TooMany2cvs said:

CS Garth said:

budgie smuggler said:

TooMany2cvs said:

ANY fail or advisory is a sign that your maintenance regime is inadequate...

what a load of arse

Indeed, TooMany do you in effect subject your car to a mock MOT before every journey?

No. I keep on top of it, and do stuff long before it gets bad enough to be a fail.

Or, at least, that's the theory. My maintenance regime often IS inadequate, and I get knocked back by the MOT man as a result. Usually on ridiculous small stuff that I really should have checked, but assumed.

Makes perfect sense, I guess your first comment that even an advisory suggests maintenance is inadequate was a bit tongue in cheek - eg I've had a stone chip on the windscreen of one car for years now and each year it is an advisory. Should I replace the windscreen - in an ideal world yes, in reality no chance. A bit like the exhaust gas leak on an old E class which crops up like old faithful every 12 months....