Discussion
So, my son has just had his car MOT’d.
He’s had the car for a year and the last MOT had no advisories.
The MOT station failed the car, as below.
They told him it would be £1800 to fix the issues, which was then reduced to £1500.
He took it to a national car repair outfit, who seemed disinterested (won’t be able to get the parts etc.) and advised him to take it back to the MOT station for the repairs.
It all seemed a bit weird, as the car feels good and it’s only done 6k miles in the past year.
He moved to Manchester 6 months back and has no network there, so we trailered the car back to my place and had a trusted mechanic look at the car.
There’s nothing wrong with it.
I guess that speaking to the MOT station is the first step, but has anyone had a similar issue that can give me some advice on what to do next?
He’s had the car for a year and the last MOT had no advisories.
The MOT station failed the car, as below.
They told him it would be £1800 to fix the issues, which was then reduced to £1500.
He took it to a national car repair outfit, who seemed disinterested (won’t be able to get the parts etc.) and advised him to take it back to the MOT station for the repairs.
It all seemed a bit weird, as the car feels good and it’s only done 6k miles in the past year.
He moved to Manchester 6 months back and has no network there, so we trailered the car back to my place and had a trusted mechanic look at the car.
There’s nothing wrong with it.
I guess that speaking to the MOT station is the first step, but has anyone had a similar issue that can give me some advice on what to do next?
All things that should be able to be checked with a jack and a poke around with a torch. Stupid question but could they have messed up and put another car's details on your sons MOT? I had something similar at a Mercedes main dealer (thanks York Mercedes) a couple of years ago - they MOT'd the car, it failed, it went back to the Honda garage down the road to fix it all under warranty (I'd only bought the car a few months previously which was supposed to have 12 months MOT but thats another story!) and the Mercedes failed the car again with the exact same reasons as before - idiots in the office or whatever had copy and pasted the previous MOT results into the new one so it "failed" even though it'd actually passed on the garage floor......
DaveyBoyWonder said:
Stupid question but could they have messed up and put another car's details on your son’s MOT?
I don’t think so, as he had a couple of significant face-to-face discussions with the people there where repairs were discussed.Subsequent Trustpilot searches have shown the garage has one 5 star review and ten 1 star reviews, all for dodgy practices.
It’s been a life lesson for him!
HBelder said:
So, my son has just had his car MOT’d.
He’s had the car for a year and the last MOT had no advisories.
The MOT station failed the car, as below.
They told him it would be £1800 to fix the issues, which was then reduced to £1500.
He took it to a national car repair outfit, who seemed disinterested (won’t be able to get the parts etc.) and advised him to take it back to the MOT station for the repairs.
It all seemed a bit weird, as the car feels good and it’s only done 6k miles in the past year.
He moved to Manchester 6 months back and has no network there, so we trailered the car back to my place and had a trusted mechanic look at the car.
There’s nothing wrong with it.
I guess that speaking to the MOT station is the first step, but has anyone had a similar issue that can give me some advice on what to do next?
Definitely contact VOSA. Not only does it look like fraud (especially given the ‘spirited discussions’), it could have a significant impact on the ability to sell later on, if, like me, a prospective buyer takes a look at the MoT record.He’s had the car for a year and the last MOT had no advisories.
The MOT station failed the car, as below.
They told him it would be £1800 to fix the issues, which was then reduced to £1500.
He took it to a national car repair outfit, who seemed disinterested (won’t be able to get the parts etc.) and advised him to take it back to the MOT station for the repairs.
It all seemed a bit weird, as the car feels good and it’s only done 6k miles in the past year.
He moved to Manchester 6 months back and has no network there, so we trailered the car back to my place and had a trusted mechanic look at the car.
There’s nothing wrong with it.
I guess that speaking to the MOT station is the first step, but has anyone had a similar issue that can give me some advice on what to do next?
Have I missed something. Have you inspected the car or a different knowledgeable person inspects?
You state nothing is wrong with the car
Just asking have you fully inspected it.
As these are obvious and easy to see faults have you established they are not present as you suggest?
A really easy one to see will be the brake discs as a starter.
You state nothing is wrong with the car
Just asking have you fully inspected it.
As these are obvious and easy to see faults have you established they are not present as you suggest?
A really easy one to see will be the brake discs as a starter.
ChevronB19 said:
Definitely contact VOSA. Not only does it look like fraud (especially given the ‘spirited discussions’), it could have a significant impact on the ability to sell later on, if, like me, a prospective buyer takes a look at the MoT record.
There is another lesson there.Since the MOT records went online every fusspot buyer wants to mither about a bulge in a tyre from 2013, and when I'm buying I found it can be easy to read too much into it.
If you buy a lot of cars you learn to get a feel for when a tester is just a hardass putting in petty advisories and stuff that another tester might not comment on, or a main dealer tester who knows the weak points that can be highlighted with a touch of legitimacy to drum up workshop jobs. Basically take MOT history with a bit of a pinch of salt.
Most of the things it failed on are classic candidates for dodgy MOT places trying to generate work for themselves. Fairly easy things to change, just about beyond the knowledge of the average punter and apparent serious safety impact.
The strut mount is the only real surprise, though perhaps they were hoping to charge 500 for some welding they were never intending to do.
It's definitely worth reporting to VOSA, a single complaint they may think of as a disgruntled customer but if they get a few similar complaints it is likely to trigger an investigation. Chances are the OPs son won't be the only people they have tried to rip off.
Personally, my policy with getting an MOT is to go somewhere which isn't offering a discount on the standard rate. Anywhere offering a discount won't be able to make a living on the test itself, only the other work it drums up.
Mostly I just use the same garage I normally use for maintenance, but in the past I've found places which only do MOT tests (no repairs) and never had a problem with them.
If you really don't know who to trust, use the MOT centre run by the local council.
The strut mount is the only real surprise, though perhaps they were hoping to charge 500 for some welding they were never intending to do.
It's definitely worth reporting to VOSA, a single complaint they may think of as a disgruntled customer but if they get a few similar complaints it is likely to trigger an investigation. Chances are the OPs son won't be the only people they have tried to rip off.
Personally, my policy with getting an MOT is to go somewhere which isn't offering a discount on the standard rate. Anywhere offering a discount won't be able to make a living on the test itself, only the other work it drums up.
Mostly I just use the same garage I normally use for maintenance, but in the past I've found places which only do MOT tests (no repairs) and never had a problem with them.
If you really don't know who to trust, use the MOT centre run by the local council.
On the opposite end of the scale I have a similar story.
Friend of mine asked me if I could service one of his cars. Whilst it was in my possession I took a look over the rest of the car.
Front brakes were shot - inner pads were metal on metal with the disc, rears needed pads and the front tyres were just off the wear limits.
I thought I would jump online and see if they were advised on the last MOT as the brakes would certainly be a fail on the next MOT.
Was shocked to see the last MOT date was in December of 2024.
Friend of mine asked me if I could service one of his cars. Whilst it was in my possession I took a look over the rest of the car.
Front brakes were shot - inner pads were metal on metal with the disc, rears needed pads and the front tyres were just off the wear limits.
I thought I would jump online and see if they were advised on the last MOT as the brakes would certainly be a fail on the next MOT.
Was shocked to see the last MOT date was in December of 2024.
HBelder said:
Thanks for all of the replies.
We’re appealing the MOT with VOSA and they’ve told me that they’ll be investigating the test station.
The appeal is likely to take some months, but he’s not planning on selling the car anytime soon.
I did this before when an MOT place was unable to test my car correctly as they didn't have the kit to jack it properly (it's an Exige and getting 4 points under it would involve taking an undertray off unless you know to weight the front of the car down first).We’re appealing the MOT with VOSA and they’ve told me that they’ll be investigating the test station.
The appeal is likely to take some months, but he’s not planning on selling the car anytime soon.
VOSA were amazing to be fair, and very fast.
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