No Pass, No Fee MOT.

[5speedracer]

As the title says, The Test Centre; https://www.thetestcentre.co.uk/ offer no pass, no fee MOTs.

So your car fails there is no fee and you take it away for a minor as possible repair and it fails again, so again no fee.

How long can this go on before they say you're taking the piss?

Great for decision making whether to bridge or not though.

[sierraman]

Bad sign to be honest. Suggests somewhere desperate for work which is a red flag for a garage. 

[Cheezey]

Did you see this on Salvage rebuilds? 

[Cheezey]

5 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Bad sign to be honest. Suggests somewhere desperate for work which is a red flag for a garage. 

I don’t think they carry out any repairs. MoT only. A bit like council garages. 

[Sham]

Seems like a god awful business model, unless there's a catch or they're passing things that they shouldn't.

 

They'll be spending a lot of time watching bits of cars fall off for free, otherwise.

[Rust Collector]

5 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Bad sign to be honest. Suggests somewhere desperate for work which is a red flag for a garage. 

According to Companies House, Selstone Ltd (the company that trades as The Test Centre) has been running since 2007 so you'd hope they're not doing too badly. In their 2022 accounts they had net assets of £1.1m, of which nearly £1m was cash at bank.

I've been considering using them since the last time they came up in a thread - if I remember/have the time, then I'll take the Proton there as an experiment, I like the idea of a long shake down run prior to the test.

[sierraman]

I’ve read the site, no repairs. Doesn’t sound a very good business plan to be honest, it’ll attract skinflints who as we know will bring it in with bald tyres, brakes down to the linings etc. I’ll stick to taking it the same place I’ve used for the last 18 years and not contributing to the race to the bottom. 

[5speedracer]

37 minutes ago, Cheezey said:

Did you see this on Salvage rebuilds? 

Yes I did, not too handy for me as I'm in Aberdeenshire but just wondered on it as a business model.

[Jazoli]

43 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’ve read the site, no repairs. Doesn’t sound a very good business plan to be honest, it’ll attract skinflints who as we know will bring it in with bald tyres, brakes down to the linings etc. I’ll stick to taking it the same place I’ve used for the last 18 years and not contributing to the race to the bottom. 

You are hilarious sometimes, the business is a huge success for the owners and they are continually expanding, its obviously a very good business plan for them, but you know best 👌

[sierraman]

1 minute ago, Jazoli said:

You are hilarious sometimes, the business is a huge success for the owners and they are continually expanding, its obviously a very good business plan for them, but you know best 👌

I’ve not sat down blow by blow and gone forensically through their accounts I apologise for upsetting you. What a prick. 

[beko1987]

Surely the work has been done to inspect the car though, their just throwing away the labour time... 

Good for a promotion but as said, doesn't sound the best long term business model. I do free diagnosis on the vacuums I repair but there's always a bill at the end of it, even if it's a token £10 for a silly little thing

[BeEP]

Unless I'm reading this wrong, they'll make almost as much as any other MOT garage/centre.   I take my cars to my local garage, pay my fee and barring a few exceptions (car fails badly and gets scrapped, my tame welder isn't available to fix rot I missed before the test) if it fails I'll take it back within the free re-test period.  One fee paid.

With the above model if it failed I'd still take it away, fix it and return for a pass, at which time they'd be paid their fee.  One fee paid.

They will only lose in the case of a bad fail where the car is taken away and scrapped, or if the car keeps getting presented without all the fails being fixed, and as mentioned above they probably have a piss take limit!

[SiC]

1 hour ago, BeEP said:

piss take limit

"What's the reg mate?"

"Ah hi again. Sorry can't book you in for another 3 weeks..."

Rate limit the piss takers. Around here the earliest I can get an MOT at a trusted place is 3 to 4 weeks now anyway. I imagine the south east is similar for a busy garage. 

In my experience, a straight MOT place rarely has any major fails on most modern cars. Also if someone has a long list of fails or something complicated/expensive then it's probably an older car that then gets scrapped anyway and they've only lost that one fee. But probably get repeat custom from the satisfaction it was free and relatively risk free test.

[grizz]

I hate getting involved in these sorts of discussions.

But, I have used them a few years for varying cars etc.

They run a tight ship, I have seen them fail people, they advise as well, and  their play is above board. 

They get inspected as much as any other shop, if not more.

They would not risk losing their business, would they.

And they shut at 5.30 but the boss tested my car that had an immobiliser glitch in their Carpark for three hours at 6.00pm so that I did not have to come back the next day.

Like many business practices we do not always understand, maybe theirs works just because they have no incentive to fail you, except if you bring a POS to be seen. 

Don’t you think others who want to see them fail have looked for shit before and possibly failed. 

[Wgl2019]

Is there anywhere that shows what percentage of test result in pass/ fail?

[SiC]

22 minutes ago, Wgl2019 said:

Is there anywhere that shows what percentage of test result in pass/ fail?

Not publicly on a per test station basis. However the DVSA keep a close eye on such statistics and often go visit centres that have too many passes/fails. 

[stuboy]

i was tempted to use the one near me, but as same price as usual place, im kinda loyal and there big ford fans.... capri, escorts etc etc

[Fabergé Greggs]

I used these guys loads when I lived in london and I’d thoroughly recommend. Immaculate premises too. 
 

Their “no pass, no fee” policy also extends to motorbike ULEZ testing which is fucking great in my book. 
 

Here’s a pic of the Saab of many shiters in their bay  

[New POD]

Let's imagine that 60% of cars pass first time. They get paid. Let's imagine that 80% of the 40% that failed pass second time, within the time limit, so they only have to inspect the failure point. 

So that's 92% paying for a test. 

Let's assume of the 8% that didn't pass second time within the time limit there are 50% that decide that it's not economical to repair, so that's 4 % that you did an inspection but don't get paid.  Ah well, they'll be repeat customers and the next car they bring will probably pass first time. 

The 4% that missed the time limit, so it has to have a full retest ?  So they end up paying once for 2 anyway 

[timolloyd]

Surely we should all welcome this? Seems like a perfect way to collect some old MOT-less rammell and drive to a pre-booked test, without having to pay the fee.

[Rustybullethole]

I have or more than one occasion failed a test. Working full time rather gets in the way of getting back in time for a free retest sometimes. My last fail was on a transit for rust (no really). Id done a fair bit of welding the previous year and decided to chance my arm.  Was shocked to learn that my step and rear spring hangers had gone crunchy, both nasty areas for am amateur welder to tackle. Although it was a great pleasure to see the surprise at it returning and gaining a pass I now choose to use a place that doesn't charge me twice. They gained my custom for being fair and honest and most importantly for a curb fettler letting me climb in the pit to have a look myself.

[grizz]

35 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

I have or more than one occasion failed a test. Working full time rather gets in the way of getting back in time for a free retest sometimes. My last fail was on a transit for rust (no really). Id done a fair bit of welding the previous year and decided to chance my arm.  Was shocked to learn that my step and rear spring hangers had gone crunchy, both nasty areas for am amateur welder to tackle. Although it was a great pleasure to see the surprise at it returning and gaining a pass I now choose to use a place that doesn't charge me twice. They gained my custom for being fair and honest and most importantly for a curb fettler letting me climb in the pit to have a look myself.

Another interesting aspect of these guys, I see them taking owners of Lexus and Mercedes Benz in under the ramp to point out faults.

The Benz guy was a real Max Power type and clearly his mods were not quite as good/safe/legal as he may have thought.

They were not nasty at all, just to the point.

I also asked permission to get pics of the underside of the last three cars they tested and when the Astro goes, I will ask again. It is great for record keeping and my Turd Polishing threads.

Their ramps it seems cost like £20k each, but are amazingly fully computerised, and once the test is started, everything is recorded and reported. 
 

 

 

[Rustybullethole]

17 minutes ago, grizz said:

Another interesting aspect of these guys, I see them taking owners of Lexus and Mercedes Benz in under the ramp to point out faults.

The Benz guy was a real Max Power type and clearly his mods were not quite as good/safe/legal as he may have thought.

They were not nasty at all, just to the point.

I also asked permission to get pics of the underside of the last three cars they tested and when the Astro goes, I will ask again. It is great for record keeping and my Turd Polishing threads.

Their ramps it seems cost like £20k each, but are amazingly fully computerised, and once the test is started, everything is recorded and reported. 
 

 

 

If the underside if my vehicle looked like that id have the pic framed and hanging on the wall. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

15 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

If the underside if my vehicle looked like that id have the pic framed and hanging on the wall. 

Wouldn't you just flip it over and eat your dinner off it?
That's the cleanest I've seen on anything other than new - wonder if it ever went out in the rain?

[grizz]

16 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Wouldn't you just flip it over and eat your dinner off it?
That's the cleanest I've seen on anything other than new - wonder if it ever went out in the rain?

LOL. Thank you, and yes….. it was clean.

Thread hijack…..

I built it, and have driven it like a normal car since then, no mercy. 

The MOT was done with about 2 miles of farm road testing, then drove 6 miles to the test centre 

And yes, they all took a look, tester could not find anything to fail, obviously it was like a “New Car”

Started with a pile of poo and built a decent, polybushed MX5 powered thing.

[EyesWeldedShut]

Just now, grizz said:

LOL. Thank you, and yes….. it was clean.

Thread hijack…..

I built it, and have driven it like a normal car since then, no mercy. 

The MOT was done with about 2 miles of farm road testing, then drove 6 miles to the test centre 

And yes, they all took a look, tester could not find anything to fail, obviously it was like a “New Car”

Started with a pile of poo and built a decent, polybushed MX5 powered thing.

I did wonder if it was yours - didn't you report the build on the Berlingo forum awhiles back?

[grizz]

1 minute ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

I did wonder if it was yours - didn't you report the build on the Berlingo forum awhiles back?

I have very varied interests….. don’t we all.

I write or contribute to 11 forums including adventure bikes etc. 

I may have posted on the Berlingo forum, but don’t anymore. 

Not sure why. 

Maybe I flounced, maybe they were not interested. 

FULL BUILD THREAD:

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/215488/grizz-purgatory-rezin-rockit-summertime

[SiC]

Given we are talking about it, it generating enough interest to provide free marketing. That possibly is a reason enough to justify doing it and driving business to them. 

[rusty_vw_man]

When I lived in Lewisham I used to use the original one in Deptford arches all the time. MOTs and air con re-gas is all they did. About the only thing I miss about London!

Spotless premises, fair tests and they definitely failed people (well at least they did me!). You knew where you stood though as there was never any conflict of interest with the test. I think they should all be like this to be honest. 

They also did early to late hours and courtesy cars, so it couldn’t be easier to get a test. They had a load of lanes, so I suspect it made money by shear volume. 

[grizz]

24 minutes ago, rusty_vw_man said:

When I lived in Lewisham I used to use the original one in Deptford arches all the time. MOTs and air con re-gas is all they did. About the only thing I miss about London!

Spotless premises, fair tests and they definitely failed people (well at least they did me!). You knew where you stood though as there was never any conflict of interest with the test. I think they should all be like this to be honest. 

They also did early to late hours and courtesy cars, so it couldn’t be easier to get a test. They had a load of lanes, so I suspect it made money by shear volume. 

 Michelle, the boss of the one I use, was brought up by her dad In the one you used to use.

She was so worried about going big with this, and yet, they have already doubled their premises 

Hard work will be rewarded.