The ask an MOT tester thread
Discussion
Truckosaurus said:
I'm sure plenty of garage owners are happy that other stations offer cut price MoTs as that keeps away the cheapskate punters who are a a hassle to deal with.
All the cut-price MoTs I've had have been from main dealers IIRC. The other source of them seems to be fast-fit chains via Groupon. Also seen a article stating 2000 testers haven't passed this year annual assesment so we now down too 64k active testers, which works out at roughly 425 test per tester over a year. I wouldn't be surprised if the rate of techs in general that have left is double that. The trade is on its knees and the rot seems to be badly hurting dealers ATM from my experience locally.
Anyone else mot numbers down this month we are not looking good for April mot or service wise.
Anyone else mot numbers down this month we are not looking good for April mot or service wise.
Edited by MG CHRIS on Monday 4th April 19:13
Edited by MG CHRIS on Monday 4th April 19:15
We have been mad busy but looking slightly easier this week.
For reference in the last 365 days I have done 1,397!
317 in the last three months off an average of 154 for all testers so we are really busy!
37% fail rate although that has dropped to 33% in the last month, I guess folk are not spending on service work at the moment?
For reference in the last 365 days I have done 1,397!
317 in the last three months off an average of 154 for all testers so we are really busy!
37% fail rate although that has dropped to 33% in the last month, I guess folk are not spending on service work at the moment?
I’ve done 467 in the last three months but because of the Covid extension I know this will slow down over the next couple of months , although we are currently busier on tests than we were this time last year.
We are in a small town but we have 6 test stations here including a National Tyres who offer tests at half price with a voucher. Another station charges £35.00, but we are by far the busiest and we charge £50.00. I agree with the comments that the cheaper stations attract the bargain hunters.
We invested around 30K on the MOT side of the business last year and will probably invest another 10K or so this year. I see it as a really good revenue source, although not without its problems, but what isn’t?
We are in a small town but we have 6 test stations here including a National Tyres who offer tests at half price with a voucher. Another station charges £35.00, but we are by far the busiest and we charge £50.00. I agree with the comments that the cheaper stations attract the bargain hunters.
We invested around 30K on the MOT side of the business last year and will probably invest another 10K or so this year. I see it as a really good revenue source, although not without its problems, but what isn’t?
Athlon said:
We have been mad busy but looking slightly easier this week.
For reference in the last 365 days I have done 1,397!
317 in the last three months off an average of 154 for all testers so we are really busy!
37% fail rate although that has dropped to 33% in the last month, I guess folk are not spending on service work at the moment?
2897 for the past 12 months 611 in the last 3 months, 240 last month. I'm test only station though Mon to Fri no weekends.For reference in the last 365 days I have done 1,397!
317 in the last three months off an average of 154 for all testers so we are really busy!
37% fail rate although that has dropped to 33% in the last month, I guess folk are not spending on service work at the moment?
Little Pete said:
We are in a small town but we have 6 test stations here including a National Tyres who offer tests at half price with a voucher. Another station charges £35.00, but we are by far the busiest and we charge £50.00. I agree with the comments that the cheaper stations attract the bargain hunters.
I charge £50. I'd charge full fee if they rounded it up to £55 as customers appear to have some sort of aversion to £54.85 but if you just said £55 they don't bat an eyelid. Plenty of stations round here, most have set price at £50 but the odd one or two charge even less. One thing I have noticed over time same as yourself I've had an increase in later model vehicles and the bargain hunter 56 plate transits etc have gone elsewhere which has has a great effect on my test times and time spent sweeping the results of the last test up from under the ramp (I can now use a nice small crayon instead of a tin of yellow line marker 
)Little Pete said:
We are in a small town but we have 6 test stations here including a National Tyres who offer tests at half price with a voucher. Another station charges £35.00, but we are by far the busiest and we charge £50.00. I agree with the comments that the cheaper stations attract the bargain hunters.
Is it possible that you expand a bit on it: why you think people prefer to come to your place, which is more expensive? What "kind of" customers are the "bargain hunters"?Little Pete said:
We invested around 30K on the MOT side of the business last year and will probably invest another 10K or so this year. I see it as a really good revenue source, although not without its problems, but what isn’t?
What kind of equipment do you invest in? Replacment for newer and faster equipment? And what kind of problems you mean?Just curious to understand better
I have two +10 years old car to MOT every year, so curious to understand better the process and issues from the other side cedrichn said:
What kind of equipment do you invest in? Replacment for newer and faster equipment? And what kind of problems you mean?
Just curious to understand better I have two +10 years old car to MOT every year, so curious to understand better the process and issues from the other side
I don’t run an MOT station but my father in law does, and the sort of stuff would be:Just curious to understand better
I have two +10 years old car to MOT every year, so curious to understand better the process and issues from the other side - An approved four post lift, with shaker plates. The Lift will need a safety inspection, his are done every three months.
- Exhaust gas analyser
- Brake efficiency rollers
- Headlamp aim checker
- Training and certification if needed
Bowks said:
I have had an electronic park brake added to my TVR to replace the brake lever. One MOT station has failed this due to lack of 'secondary brake'. What does that mean and could I resolve this?
I'm not a tester now but used to be before retiring, on older vehicles without dual hydraulic brake systems the handbrake was considered to be a secondary emergency brake as well as a parking brake, it needed to achieve 25% efficiency. When cars came out with dual braking systems the handbrake was considered to be just a parking brake and only needed to achieve a lower efficiency, cars need to have an emergency brake lever accessible to the driver only if they don't have a dual brake system.cedrichn said:
Little Pete said:
We are in a small town but we have 6 test stations here including a National Tyres who offer tests at half price with a voucher. Another station charges £35.00, but we are by far the busiest and we charge £50.00. I agree with the comments that the cheaper stations attract the bargain hunters.
Is it possible that you expand a bit on it: why you think people prefer to come to your place, which is more expensive? What "kind of" customers are the "bargain hunters"?The £30 bargain hunters, they are the ones that usually fail, they service nothing they usually fail on tyres or brakes but have kids and how dare you fail it as we need the car to get to work/school/sick relative in the hospital. They were also the ones who took advantage of the covid extension.
Certain cars you don't book in for 4.30 on a Friday afternoon, an old Transit will usually fail - as do Mk5 Golfs and instead of taking 45/60 mins usually take 60/75 mins
The only 30 year old car i would book in on a friday is a Toyota.
As for main dealers usuallly offering cheap MOT's one of the benefits of a 3 year old car going for its first MOT very rarely fail and you can probably test one in 30/40 minutes.
stevemcs said:
For us, people come to you based on trust, your reputation for a fair mot - as odd as it sounds some want to know whats wrong, it could be you send them a reminder, or because they have always been to you they continue you with it, you then get other family members that then start coming to you
The £30 bargain hunters, they are the ones that usually fail, they service nothing they usually fail on tyres or brakes but have kids and how dare you fail it as we need the car to get to work/school/sick relative in the hospital. They were also the ones who took advantage of the covid extension.
Certain cars you don't book in for 4.30 on a Friday afternoon, an old Transit will usually fail - as do Mk5 Golfs and instead of taking 45/60 mins usually take 60/75 mins
The only 30 year old car i would book in on a friday is a Toyota.
As for main dealers usuallly offering cheap MOT's one of the benefits of a 3 year old car going for its first MOT very rarely fail and you can probably test one in 30/40 minutes.
Agree with all this, especially the bargain hunter paragraph, spot on!The £30 bargain hunters, they are the ones that usually fail, they service nothing they usually fail on tyres or brakes but have kids and how dare you fail it as we need the car to get to work/school/sick relative in the hospital. They were also the ones who took advantage of the covid extension.
Certain cars you don't book in for 4.30 on a Friday afternoon, an old Transit will usually fail - as do Mk5 Golfs and instead of taking 45/60 mins usually take 60/75 mins
The only 30 year old car i would book in on a friday is a Toyota.
As for main dealers usuallly offering cheap MOT's one of the benefits of a 3 year old car going for its first MOT very rarely fail and you can probably test one in 30/40 minutes.
We have a good reputation in the area for our general garage work, particularly diagnostics. Our customers trust what we do and that goes for the MOT side too. We also send out a reminder one month before the MOT runs out. This definitely helps with customer retention.
Our major investments last year came from converting a test lane over a pit to a new lift that enables us to do single person testing on both lanes now. A large chunk of that was groundwork and building improvements.
Edited by Little Pete on Tuesday 5th April 15:50
stevemcs said:
As for main dealers usuallly offering cheap MOT's one of the benefits of a 3 year old car going for its first MOT very rarely fail and you can probably test one in 30/40 minutes.
In my limited experience of using main dealers for MOT (Merc and BMW once each) they charged me full whack for both!Probably been asked before but are testers measured on their stats for failures and advisories? Either by the DVSA or by their testing station.
Slightly related to the above question:
My girlfriend's car (6 year old Abarth 595 with 40k miles) had advisories for worn front discs and they recommended replacing them in the next 3-5k miles. I measured them and they're both 21mm thick. New thickness is 22mm and min thickness is 20mm, so as far as I can tell they are 50% worn and should last to about 80k. It's still on the original pads too and no advisory for worn pads. Seems like an unreasonable advisory to me. I haven't checked the inner face of the discs yet but I doubt they will be worn unevenly given the history of the car and the way it's driven (hers from new). Does this sound like something the tester should have advised on?
Slightly related to the above question:
My girlfriend's car (6 year old Abarth 595 with 40k miles) had advisories for worn front discs and they recommended replacing them in the next 3-5k miles. I measured them and they're both 21mm thick. New thickness is 22mm and min thickness is 20mm, so as far as I can tell they are 50% worn and should last to about 80k. It's still on the original pads too and no advisory for worn pads. Seems like an unreasonable advisory to me. I haven't checked the inner face of the discs yet but I doubt they will be worn unevenly given the history of the car and the way it's driven (hers from new). Does this sound like something the tester should have advised on?
Divieto di Sosta said:
There's a thread about a bloke pulled for excessively tinted front side windows , does an MOT tester have the same
testing equipment that the police have , to check the % of light that the windows allow through ?
Thanks .
You don't actually need any fancy equipment - a phone with a half-decent camera will do. I believe most phone cameras have a fixed aperture, so your variables are ISO (sensitivity) and shutter speed (time the sensor is exposed to light) Every time you change the exposure by a 'stop' - either doubling or halving the exposure time, or doubling or halving the sensitivity.testing equipment that the police have , to check the % of light that the windows allow through ?
Thanks .
If your camera meters an exposure of 1/500th of a second through clear glass, but 1/250th of a second through tinted glass, then only half the light is getting through the glass. If your camera app doesn't show you the exposure settings, you should be able to see it in the recorded photos. It's a good way to check if a tint is legal without having specialised equipment, but of course it does rely on a person understanding the photographic process.
petrolbloke said:
Probably been asked before but are testers measured on their stats for failures and advisories? Either by the DVSA or by their testing station.
Slightly related to the above question:
My girlfriend's car (6 year old Abarth 595 with 40k miles) had advisories for worn front discs and they recommended replacing them in the next 3-5k miles. I measured them and they're both 21mm thick. New thickness is 22mm and min thickness is 20mm, so as far as I can tell they are 50% worn and should last to about 80k. It's still on the original pads too and no advisory for worn pads. Seems like an unreasonable advisory to me. I haven't checked the inner face of the discs yet but I doubt they will be worn unevenly given the history of the car and the way it's driven (hers from new). Does this sound like something the tester should have advised on?
Test quality information is available to testers and it allows you to compare your test stats against other testers in your station and against the national average. If one of my testers was failing a lot more vehicles on brakes than the average for example, I could talk to them about it to see if there was a problem. This also includes average time taken information. Slightly related to the above question:
My girlfriend's car (6 year old Abarth 595 with 40k miles) had advisories for worn front discs and they recommended replacing them in the next 3-5k miles. I measured them and they're both 21mm thick. New thickness is 22mm and min thickness is 20mm, so as far as I can tell they are 50% worn and should last to about 80k. It's still on the original pads too and no advisory for worn pads. Seems like an unreasonable advisory to me. I haven't checked the inner face of the discs yet but I doubt they will be worn unevenly given the history of the car and the way it's driven (hers from new). Does this sound like something the tester should have advised on?
Without seeing the brakes it’s difficult to comment, don’t forget we don’t take the wheels off and we don’t have vehicle specific information regarding disc thickness etc. I will say that the inner surface almost always gets worn and corroded before the outer surface.
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