Headlight Aim

[oniznorb]

Am I right in being annoyed at my son's car failing its MOT for headlight aim being too high when a couple of turns with a screwdriver would have corrected the problem?

[Tonberry]

Quite a common item to fail on.

Was the test station one of those official VOSA - MOT only ones?

If so then they would be reluctant to adjust anything on a car that would affect the result outcome.

Edited by Tonberry on Saturday 16th April 10:13

[GKP]

I'll fix it for you. But I'll charge half an hour's labour, assuming the adjuster is functioning correctly. Any other work will incur an additional fee plus any required replacement parts.


I understand your frustration, but the MOT is an inspection, not a rectification process. It's almost as annoying as being blinded by the headlights of an oncoming car...

[oniznorb]

GKP said:

I understand your frustration, but the MOT is an inspection, not a rectification process. It's almost as annoying as being blinded by the headlights of an oncoming car...

As the test is done at the highest possition of an internally adjustable headlight, it is easy to avoid blinding oncoming drivers by not having at the highesrt setting.

I was originally told the car needed two new headlights (£300) by this ntional chain of garages.

On retest elswewhere they adjusted aim for free.

I'm looking for a decent garage I can trust after my previous preferred garage closed and sold the land to builders.

[West4x4]

They used to be able to adjust them for you as part of the test.

[Shaw Tarse]

West4x4 said:

They used to be able to adjust them for you as part of the test.

My car was fixed like this ^^^

[mcford]

oniznorb said:

As the test is done at the highest possition of an internally adjustable headlight,

It's not, the correct method of inspection is to test the headlamp alignment as the vehicle is presented. If any of the headlamps are too low then the tester is permitted to operate the levelling control to bring the headlamps to their highest position and then re-check the alignment.


The tester always carries the risk that if a part of the headlamp breaks whilst it is being adjusted, that the customer will hold him responsible for breaking it whilst carrying out unauthorised work on the vehicle. So the tester can't win either way.

[rossco247]

Had always thought that the headlight aim test was either carried out as presented or at 0. Im not a tester myself but work in a garage and see this is how it is done everyday. What was the name of the national chain?

[clarkey328is]

Mine failed on this, they fixed it for me and charged me a tenner. Was a bit annoyed as I could have done it myself in 5 minutes but hey ho, at least they won't dazzle people.

[Petrolhead_Rich]

oniznorb said:

Am I right in being annoyed at my son's car failing its MOT for headlight aim being too high when a couple of turns with a screwdriver would have corrected the problem?

My S40 failed on headlight aim (bought as a CAT-C write off and rebuilt with bits from another car)

Volvo dealer rang me and said "the adjusters are part of the headlight, so we need to replace the headlights, they are £498 +VAT each, plus labour

I collected it, took it home, screwed the screws round abit, took it back to the MOT station the Dealer uses and they passed it first time and pointed out the dealer hadn't changed the wipers (another fail point) but had charged me for them.

I returned to dealer, read them the riot act, got a refund for wipers and vowed never to return there again!

So to summarise, they wanted over £1000 to do something that I can do at home in 5 minutes with a screwdriver!!!

Dealers eh??

[*Al*]

Just imagine the amount of people a mis aimed headlamp has pissed off! Simple to fix but annoying on the road, why don't people realise their headlamps are all over the place and then are suprised when the car fails it's MOT?

[Petrolhead_Rich]

*Al* said:

Just imagine the amount of people a mis aimed headlamp has pissed off! Simple to fix but annoying on the road, why don't people realise their headlamps are all over the place and then are suprised when the car fails it's MOT?

Mine were too low, and as said on a repaired car, not changed from the donor car (assuming they would be something like! but yes I agree with this point, badly adjusted headlights are annoying!

[muley]

My MOT tester routinely adjusts the headlights as a favour. On more than one occasion he's replaced a bulb - for free

Mind you he nearly always passes my cars which proves he knows bugger all about cars