MOT tester making up reason to fail test.

[KingNothing]

My recent MOT bad 4 advisories for deteriorated tyre valves, 3 valves were only 18 months old, and 1 had a new tyre fitted the day before the MOT. I can’t see anything wrong with them personally, figured it was just an easy thing for them to stick on the MOT to show the DVSA that they’re checking.

[GC8]

Rewe said:

A1VDY said:

This.
£20 in the glove box sees a clean sheet from an mot station in Norwich..


EDIT, no I don't use them??

Which bit is tickling you?

[Second Best]

Had experience of this in the past. The first example below was from Kwik Fit (I couldn't choose the garage). It was mysterious how the rear seatbelt magically re-appeared during the test. I wasn't told about this and didn't get the fail cert either.

The second failure was at a Mercedes main dealer, where I'd bought the car (a C63) from. After kicking off when I checked the history (again, they hadn't told me - funny that), they offered a few hundred quid off the service.

[Rewe]

GC8 said:

Rewe said:

A1VDY said:

This.
£20 in the glove box sees a clean sheet from an mot station in Norwich..


EDIT, no I don't use them??

Which bit is tickling you?

The cool starry bra urban myth bks about buying a dodgy mot for 20 quid!

[ejenner]

S1KRR said:

ejenner said:

Paul_M3 said:

ejenner said:

Robmarriott said:

ejenner said:

A lot of it is based on opinion though. Brake pads having less than 1.5mm inspected through a hole in the alloy wheel... pull the other one.

Have you ever stood under a car when it is on a ramp? You can, with very few exceptions, see how much material is left on the brake pads as clear as day.

The one that I owned while I was running a workshop... yes. I've stood under that ramp a few times.

And yet you think you need to look through a hole in the alloy wheel to see the pads???

Splash shield?

S1KRR said:

I was sceptical when I read your replies. But with that last comment. I can only assume you weren't ever a Technician. You may have run the numbers. But you clearly know naff all about inspecting cars!

Classic Hitchens Razor - "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

Or to put it another way... what's your point exactly?

[S1KRR]

Second Best said:

Had experience of this in the past. The first example below was from Kwik Fit (I couldn't choose the garage). It was mysterious how the rear seatbelt magically re-appeared during the test. I wasn't told about this and didn't get the fail cert either.

The second failure was at a Mercedes main dealer, where I'd bought the car (a C63) from. After kicking off when I checked the history (again, they hadn't told me - funny that), they offered a few hundred quid off the service.

First thing.

The seatbelt was presumably squashed under the base of the rear seat?

Second thing. Was there genuinely no plate on the car when you brought it in for an MOT?

ejenner said:

Classic Hitchens Razor - "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

Or to put it another way... what's your point exactly?

That you know fk all about how to examine or inspect a car mainly.

You said "splash shields" prevent someone from inspecting rear brake pads. If you had EVER inspected a car properly, you'd know that this is highly unlikely to impede inspection. On the thousands of cars I've looked at over 20+ years. I've always managed to check rear pads. Sometimes with a small mirror on a stick. And off the top of my head only Jags don't have the metal back plates. (the correct name btw)

ergo I stand by that statement that you know fk all, but are happy to throw your lack of knowledge around hoping no one will notice.


HTH

[GC8]

Rewe said:

GC8 said:

Rewe said:

A1VDY said:

This.
£20 in the glove box sees a clean sheet from an mot station in Norwich..


EDIT, no I don't use them??

Which bit is tickling you?

The cool starry bra urban myth bks about buying a dodgy mot for 20 quid!

I know three places where I could go tomorrow morning for a £60 MOT. One, the least reliable, doesnt even need to see the car.

You dont know as much as you think, and now you look foolish in front of all of the people that you were trying to look clever to.

[Rewe]

GC8 said:

Rewe said:

GC8 said:

Rewe said:

A1VDY said:

This.
£20 in the glove box sees a clean sheet from an mot station in Norwich..


EDIT, no I don't use them??

Which bit is tickling you?

The cool starry bra urban myth bks about buying a dodgy mot for 20 quid!

I know three places where I could go tomorrow morning for a £60 MOT. One, the least reliable, doesnt even need to see the car.

You dont know as much as you think, and now you look foolish in front of all of the people that you were trying to look clever to.

Two questions:

1. Do you really know? Really? Or are you repeating what someone has told you?
2. If yes, why would you?

[Athlon]

GC8 said:

I know three places where I could go tomorrow morning for a £60 MOT. One, the least reliable, doesnt even need to see the car.

You dont know as much as you think, and now you look foolish in front of all of the people that you were trying to look clever to.

Really? How does he input the brake figures? how does he register the emissions test? Why even bother when the test times are logged so he can't log another car for at least 45mins. He might as well do the job right. Why would he risk a spot check where he would automatically lose his licence and the stations? All for £60?

[carmadgaz]

GC8 said:

I know three places where I could go tomorrow morning for a £60 MOT. One, the least reliable, doesnt even need to see the car.

You dont know as much as you think, and now you look foolish in front of all of the people that you were trying to look clever to.

I don't know any now but I remember Dad getting several done 10-15 years ago... I've never seen the point myself, I'd rather know what is wrong with my car to get it fixed. If I'm selling a car I'd rather sell it with a honest fail sheet than a dodgy pass. Same if I was buying a car too!

Had the usual fails for headlight adjustments (fixed there and then and no fail sheet issued) and various advisories (like engine covers) used to cover the testers backside.

On the other hand I've used the same tester for years, I'm usually present during the test (especially the motorbike) . I've had bulbs go during test (my GS125 had a taillight working when he tested it but it was blown when I came to ride away) he supplied a bulb and a screwdriver and I fixed it while he was sorting out the paperwork.

Last car I took in (my partner's Qashqai) I hadn't done my usual walkaround. Numberplate light and front sidelight out... He went and got me the bulbs (FOC) and I changed them while he carried on conducting the test. Good as gold.

[Reciprocating mass]

Pass with rectification at station or prs for short,
If your wiper blades have failed,or you have a bulb failure, the mot man throws on some new ones and passes the car via prs saves you re booking for a retest etc
Basically if it can be sorted within an hour the mot tester along with the service adviser if a garage will use
The prs scheme to get your car mot’d
Also a link for those wondering about pass and fail rates https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/improving-tes...

[S1KRR]

Athlon said:

Really? How does he input the brake figures? how does he register the emissions test? Why even bother when the test times are logged so he can't log another car for at least 45mins. He might as well do the job right. Why would he risk a spot check where he would automatically lose his licence and the stations? All for £60?

Indeed.

On the flip side. I'll pass any old st heap for £1 Million in unmarked, non numerical, untraceable cash

[kharma45]

A lot of the comments here are why I am glad we don’t have private garages doing MOTs in Northern Ireland.

[scorcher]

S1KRR said:

Athlon said:

Really? How does he input the brake figures? how does he register the emissions test? Why even bother when the test times are logged so he can't log another car for at least 45mins. He might as well do the job right. Why would he risk a spot check where he would automatically lose his licence and the stations? All for £60?

Indeed.

On the flip side. I'll pass any old st heap for £1 Million in unmarked, non numerical, untraceable cash

Don’t they just use another car already on site? Wasn’t there a thing about dodgy mots on watchdog a while back where they managed to get a MOT over the phone. Surprising how stupid people can be for little reward and potentially big losses.

[HelterSkelter]

Athlon said:

Really? How does he input the brake figures? how does he register the emissions test? Why even bother when the test times are logged so he can't log another car for at least 45mins. He might as well do the job right. Why would he risk a spot check where he would automatically lose his licence and the stations? All for £60?

Well it's pretty obvious how dodgy MOTs are performed without the required vehicle being present. The bit that doesn't sound right is the £60 part, its double that where I know

[Camelot1971]

kharma45 said:

A lot of the comments here are why I am glad we don’t have private garages doing MOTs in Northern Ireland.

Or the high quality NCT in the south... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doSLyU-mz7Q

[mercedeslimos]

Camelot1971 said:

Or the high quality NCT in the south... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doSLyU-mz7Q

90% of the time when I bring a car for an NCT I wonder if there will be something they didn't spot.

They didn't catch the almost terminal rust on a MK1 Focus as it was completely hidden behind the arch liners in the rear, until 3 years later and one very eagle eyed guy went prodding and put his hand through the chassis legs.

There were many dodgy tests at one time, not so much now but lots of the test is subjective to how the tester thinks the underside looks.

[Second Best]

S1KRR said:

First thing.

The seatbelt was presumably squashed under the base of the rear seat?

Second thing. Was there genuinely no plate on the car when you brought it in for an MOT?

Point 1 - the car had a 3-point centre seatbelt. The belt and buckle were present and had been used about 6 hours before when I took some colleagues out for lunch.

Point 2 - the front plate was present and fully compliant with numberplate standards. It wasn't a private plate and had last been touched by the main dealer. I had a photo of the car from the day before it's MOT and service, which formed my evidence for "why on earth did you lot take the numberplate off?"

It seems they'd done some warranty work on the car (fair enough) but not put the plate back on. Whether they expected me not to find out nor care, or if they were genuinely that incompetent, I'll never know.

[Gareth79]

Thing is, where testers are gaming the system on legitimate tests to help their "friends" get a pass, I'm sure the right sort of data analysis would reveal it pretty clearly unless they are very careful about making the fails fit a normal pattern.

One amusing thing - I was looking at some of the full MOT data with a colleague and they were surprised that there were tests being logged at 2/3/4am. I said there must be a million reasons why somebody might be testing at those hours - 24-hour garages, insomniac mechanics, backlogs etc.

[LocoCoco]

NickCQ said:

pablo said:

My car failed on a main beam bulb which I know was working 20 minutes before the test. Couldn’t be arsed to complain as I knew what the response would be. My fault for leaving it late and using Kwik-bodge....

Hang on is this ‘a thing’? KF breaking bits of the car to fail the MOT and sell you a repair?

About 10 years ago I took a car to the same company for replacement disks/pads and an MOT.

The car came back as a fail because the brakes weren't up to the right efficiency level. They told me to take it for a drive to bed in the new brakes and bring it back for a second test which it then passed.

This seemed off to me, the car failed on the one thing I'd asked them to fix for me.

I felt like the second MOT should have been free for me but they didn't and I had to pay.

That was the last time I used them.

Anybody else heard of similar? It seemed really odd to me that brand new brake discs and pads wouldn't pass an MOT, I understand that brakes need bedding in, just thought a manufacturer would have to produce parts that are up to standard from the start.