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MOT Stations (Garages On The Make)


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There is a council run station on Higher Road, Urmston,Trafford that mot's public and council vehicles

That's useful to know, not far from me. Although I'm quite happy with the garage I use.

 

I don't trust any garage offering cheap tests and I'm happier if there are old cars on the premises regularly. It's worked out so far.

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I went to Simon Greens in Horsforth, Leeds and they failed the Scirocco on a few minor bits and bobs which i sorted, but one was headlamp allignment. I did all the bits and tried my best at the headlamp and they said if it was out they would adjust it and pass it.

 

Ring up to see if I can collect the car and its failed on headlamp allignment. Explain politely that they were just going to do that for me if it was out, only to be told that 'once he has put it into the computer he cant go back, so it failed its second one so you will have to pay for the next one'. Check on the Vosa website and there is nothing on there (TBH, i was not sure how soon they update these things and it might have been put through and not showing up yet) so take the print off down to the garage and they admit not putting it through and pass it there and then. Sheisters.

 

For some reason I took it there the year after too, and they failed it on emissions. A mate came round and sorted it out and I took it back in. They failed it again on emissions saying it was about 6 times over the CO2 limit. Took it to another garage and it passed first time.

 

What a bunch of tossers. no wonder they can afford plasma TVs in the reception.

 

Also, Mr Scruff where 'Worthing-ish' were you? Some mates used to work in that depot servicing the council trucks. I used to take my cars there for MOTs as i knew i would get a favourable verdict.

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There is a council run station on Higher Road, Urmston,Trafford that mot's public and council vehicles

That's useful to know, not far from me. Although I'm quite happy with the garage I use.

 

I don't trust any garage offering cheap tests and I'm happier if there are old cars on the premises regularly. It's worked out so far.

 

Do you still use Alan Reece's?

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Being a Scouser I get most of my tests done over the phone, much more convenient than having to actually drive my car to a testing station at a pre-booked time. I simply collect it when I'm passing.

 

However I believe my local Ambulance station in Liscard does MOTs, not sure whether leaving £20 in the ashtray helps though.

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All the MOT centres here in Northern Ireland are government run (Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency NI) and with the exception of one time, I have found them very fair. They don't do repairs (in fact all employees are Civil Servants). When I took the S Type up for its test prior to going to its new owner, the chap drove the car off the ramp handed me the keys and the certificate, and said "Perfect, Sir"

 

Interestingly he failed the car ahead of me (a chrome-bumper MGB) and the one behind me (a Pug 206 HDi). The previous time I was up with the Rover, they men refused point blank to carry out the inspection on a FILTHY Volvo 400 series diesel ahead of me. There was diesel pissing out the arse of it, and the thing was producing more smoke than a Polish cement factory. From the look of it, someone had headbutted the windscreen, too.

 

The one time I had a problem was in the pre-computerised test days, when one old git poked a hole in my Escort boot floor with a screwdriver (they're not supposed to use screwdrivers). I had the car looked at by a mechanic, who gave me a headed notepaper report, saying that in his opinion the seam had been levered apart. I appealed the decision, and the car was passed.

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Barnet Council operate a M.O.T. testing station for public use at their depot in Bittacy Hill, Mill Hill, London NW7. It's opposite Mill Hill East underground station. I can recommend them very highly, as their examiners are very experienced and they're happy to make small adjustments to things the ordinary driver can't easily check, such as headlamp beam alignment. The tests are very thorough and they'll let you see why something's a failure, a serious failure or a dangerous failure. That said, they have no interest in failing a car to obtain some further work, since they don't fix anything other than council vehicles! I've used them dozens of times and they're really very good and helpful. Anyone in the north London area not too sure about their garage would do well to try them.

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I phoned the council one in Harrogate today to book the wife's car in - the earliest they can do is the 30th of March :shock: - so it's back to the Nationwide/Halfords Autocentre, and because of a club membership it's a free retest and 33% off.

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Also, Mr Scruff where 'Worthing-ish' were you? Some mates used to work in that depot servicing the council trucks. I used to take my cars there for MOTs as i knew i would get a favourable verdict.

 

Goring and worked on farms at Patching, Angmering and Poling. Small world!

 

Good call on the BTFleet garages from Trig 8)

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Having worked in the motor trade since before owning my first car, I've never had any MOT problems. I've had failures, but they have all been legitimate.

 

As a tester I can see things from both sides. People are under the impression that the test is some sort of high standard comprehensive inspection, it's not. The first thing that we were told on the testers course would that we will have to lower our standards, meaning that items considered unacceptable on a service will be adequate to meet the testing standard.

 

Even on car enthususiasts websites, people get confused:

 

They failed it again on emissions saying it was about 6 times over the CO2 limit. Took it to another garage and it passed first time.

 

CO2 is not a testable item, it never has been, its only use is in calculating the tax on post 2001 vehicles which is defined by the manufacturer through industry standard tests.

 

At work we book 7 test slots in a day for our full time tester, there is never any time pressure and certainly no pressure to generate workshop revenue through test fails. If anything he is harder on our used cars.

 

 

Customers saying this are more than welcome when I'm testing.

 

You can always tell the MOT station that in the event of failure you will be taking your car to another garage for repairs. This reduces the incentive to do a dubious fail.

 

It means that I don't have to mess about adjusting headlamps, replacing bulbs/wiper blades and don't have to feel guilty about not producing a PRS pass immediately after the test. I can then have the retest formally booked to allow for better time managemnet and might even have to fail it again if the repairing garage don't get the headlamp alignment right or don't fit a headlamp bulb correctly.

 

Some people are happy that their car fails, in that the repair transforms the way in which the car drives, as illustrated by the customer with a Corsa that failed on a track rod end, which the dealer did not spot on a service a few weeks before.

 

I had a garage bring a car back to me for retest with the comment that I just cost the owner £550 for a pair of tyres.

 

Tyre.jpg

 

(The inside wall looked like this with another longer cut further round, the other tyre was advised for wear.)

 

I thought, so what?, I might have saved his life and those of some other road user in the vicinity if the tyre failed and is £550 alot of money to spend on a £70,000, 155mph sports car?

 

Not all MOT testers who don't work for Council Depots lack integrity.

 

Actually its a requirement of acceptance that you are of good character and don't have a criminal record.

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Wanker garages:

 

Costright Automotive, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Lying bastards, they charge for work they haven't done.

 

Takely Performance, Takely, Essex. They "forget" to do work and said there was nothing wrong with the brakes on a Mini when the pedal went nearly to the floor and braking efficiency was half what it should be.

 

Kwik fit - but we know about them already.

 

Good garages: M.J Steptoe Motor Engineers, Shoeburyness, Essex. Not the cheapest, but run by enthusiasts who understand old cars and don't rip you off.

 

Shoebury Tyre and Auto. GR8 4 exhuasts and tyres, cheap, a nice bunch of lads who do a great job.

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Fair points, oldford.

 

I'll stick with my local - owned by the garage I've used for the last 13 years but in a separate location (and only 2 miles away, so I keep having to remember to warm the car up properly before taking it along).

 

Their tester is like the Moscow police - stern but fair. I'm a bit like the Corsa owner oldford describes - I'm happier if 'Cheery Eddie' picks up something that's serious although I do keep the cars maintained and try and pick up on the obvious areas. That said, I don't think there are many cars he puts through that don't have at least one advisory.

 

Accords' ticket is up near the end of April but I'll take it along in a couple of weeks to take advantage of the "month before" rule.

 

Contrast this with my next-door neighbour who never, ever services his cars (or even washes them) and then tells me that "his" place (another MOT tester on the other side of the village) always passes his motors with no advisories. Go figure. Reminds me of when I bought one of my 405s for £50 with an expired ticket and got it done by the seller's local place prior to driving it home - passed without any advisories - 1 month later and I found I had no handbrake, no rear shoes, and the rear subframe bushes were so shot it nearly fell out when I jacked it up...

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CO2 isn't tested, but CO is and I think that was what Hillman Imp was trying to get across, and very easy to fail a carburettor car on CO without tampering with the carb - pump the throttle lots or pull the choke out if it has a manual one.

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From what I know it's VOSA who have created a load of little Hitlers in the MoT testing bay. Like so many govt depts, they have taken up the 'more profit/results every year' mantra with zeal. The in house magazine is a true nazi-style publication, and along with their traffic light system and general demeanor is frightening smaller mot spots into failing cars which shouldn't be and creating 'advisory' lists which are there mainly to cover the person/garage doing the testing - not to help the vehicle owner.

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You can always tell the MOT station that in the event of failure you will be taking your car to another garage for repairs. This reduces the incentive to do a dubious fail.

 

If you're going to do this you might as well not mess about - just tell the tester the moment that you arrive that you don't trust him or his employer one bit. I'm sure that will really 'encourage' him to squeeze your car through the test.

 

I would consider that opening gambit quite offensive if I was a tester and would probably look a little bit harder for something to fail it on.

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Just to enlighten you all, my little corner of the world has a completely independant chain of testing stations.

They test and pass/fail but do no repairs. It is common to see a car for sale with "new VTNZ warrant " which means it is not a dodgy one

within the bounds of what they can check. I have seen a car with extensive rust around the windscreen, a fail, pass because the rust was filled and painted before the test and they will not ram a screwdriver into what looks to be an ok surface.

their website

 

http://www.vtnz.co.nz/AboutVTNZ

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You can always tell the MOT station that in the event of failure you will be taking your car to another garage for repairs. This reduces the incentive to do a dubious fail.

 

If you're going to do this you might as well not mess about - just tell the tester the moment that you arrive that you don't trust him or his employer one bit. I'm sure that will really 'encourage' him to squeeze your car through the test.

 

I would consider that opening gambit quite offensive if I was a tester and would probably look a little bit harder for something to fail it on.

 

Bingo. The testers I know all get more than a bit uptight with customers who say things like that, and they'll all look harder for fails in that situation. Stuff that would normally be an advisory will become fails.

 

All depends how it's said, but it's never a good idea to piss an MOT tester off. Some garages don't want to do any repairs, they'd rather just do 7 or 8 tests a day so they wouldn't take exception to that kind of comment - although you're still unlikely to pass unless the car is absolutely spot on.

 

Another thing to avoid saying to a tester is "It should be spot on, I've checked it all over and it all seems fine", to an MOT tester that's like saying "I've missed / bodged / broken something but you're not clever enough to spot it."

 

Be nice to MOT testers, makes life a lot easier.

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All depends how it's said, but it's never a good idea to piss an MOT tester off. Some garages don't want to do any repairs, they'd rather just do 7 or 8 tests a day so they wouldn't take exception to that kind of comment - although you're still unlikely to pass unless the car is absolutely spot on.

 

I just sit there gulping, praying in my mind for it to pass, which it inevitably doesn't.

I didn't get a retest today due to them being fully booked - it failed on a loose nut (related to a balljoint), and two bulbs which is an awesome result really seeing as the whole car was disassembled, and was considering taking it somewhere else rather than wait til Monday, but they'd only find other things wrong with it. I wish testers were more consistent!

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Fair points, oldford.

 

I'll stick with my local - owned by the garage I've used for the last 13 years but in a separate location (and only 2 miles away, so I keep having to remember to warm the car up properly before taking it along).

 

Their tester is like the Moscow police - stern but fair. I'm a bit like the Corsa owner oldford describes - I'm happier if 'Cheery Eddie' picks up something that's serious although I do keep the cars maintained and try and pick up on the obvious areas. That said, I don't think there are many cars he puts through that don't have at least one advisory.

 

Sums up my attitude (and my tester). I religously take clean (not spotless) cars with pumped tyres and the 60 second walk round bulb test too. I'm sure well cared car is the difference between advisory and failure.

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I haven't been a tester for quite a few years now (1981 - 2000ish) but do remember at one stage the powers that be wouldn't want any advisories on the check sheet (VT29/30?) and when MOTs cost £9 it was great for tips.

One thing that does make a difference between an advisory and a fail is not to tell the tester that you are getting a new ticket to sell it. One of the places I worked at used to have two lanes so quite often the MOT bods used to do the appeals (from other VTSs) at our place. Most of the appeals appeared to be by new owners complaining that the pass given was too lenient.

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I tested a car today and there were 6 things wrong with one tyre. Abnormal wear on both of the shoulders, inner and outer sidewalls with about half a mm shaved off the rubber over half the wall height, a nail in the tread and cracking in the tread. The tyre was scrap, but as there were no cords showing, the tread was above 1.6mm, the cuts were short and no sign of any bulges, I couldn't fail it. I did get it on a tyre, a pair of track rod ends, a number plate lamp and three badly fitted wheel trims though.

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I think the MOT system in this country is great. Its a very fair and reasonable test and in nearly 20 years of taking countless old shitters for MOT I havent had any fail where i felt it was not justified, i.e. I ended up agreeing every time once i'd got it all to bits. Its tighly controlled by the government and costs £50 max per year to have your car inspected and reported on by a technician who has been properly and independently trained and who has to regularly do a load of homework in order to keep up with the rules. Its a freakin bargain if you ask me.

 

OK I have never taken my car to Kwik-fit or one of those places but thats cos I dont like them.

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If you take a car to kwik fit then expect to have your pants pulled down - I've never heard a single good thing said about them and even when I used to go with my nan to get countless exhausts fitted on her mk1 astra when I was about 9, they invariably tried the YOUR BRAKES ARE UNSAFE YOU CAN'T DRIVE AWAY OMFGFGFGF bullshit and I saw through it even then, as did she. She still went back loads of times for some reason.

 

I've never been upset by MOT results other than emissions bullshit on newish (cat) cars where you're chasing a fault round. Luckily I don't have to worry about that kind of thing anymore. I'm actually almost looking forward to my upcoming MOT in a few weeks time, its nice to have a fresh set of eyes over the car and to get a neb at the bottom of the car when it's on a ramp and I'm not shuffling around on some grit.

 

I always take motors a month early so that even if they fail I can smoke about in them for a month while collecting the stuff to fix them and not panic. If they do pass then I end up with 13 months MOT and can confuse people with this and use it to chat women up in nightclubs.

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I always take motors a month early so that even if they fail I can smoke about in them for a month while collecting the stuff to fix them and not panic. If they do pass then I end up with 13 months MOT and can confuse people with this and use it to chat women up in nightclubs.

I thought a fail rendered the existing MOT sheet void. In the eyes of Plod and your insurer it's unroadworthy. Or have I been fed a pack of it.

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