Dodgy MOT ?????

[Jimpster]

I purchased my latest Mk2, March/April this year and posted a few times for info to fix bits and bats. Recently it just hasnt felt right handling wise, kinda forcing its way round corners and a clunking metal on metal on full lock. Got it into my mechanic, threw it up on the ramp. Both rear bushes failing, both front bushes failing, sloppy front top mount passenger side [maybe drivers] and possibly shocks once he strips down. Says its not dangerous but needs doing sooner than later. My question, how were these items missed on the new MOT supplied when i purchased it, or could they fail in the 8-9 months since i bought it. There were no advisories on the paperwork.

Cheers Happy Crimble to all.

[StephenFord]

9 minutes ago, JImpster said:

I purchased my latest Mk2, March/April this year and posted a few times for info to fix bits and bats. Recently it just hasnt felt right handling wise, kinda forcing its way round corners and a clunking metal on metal on full lock. Got it into my mechanic, threw it up on the ramp. Both rear bushes failing, both front bushes failing, sloppy front top mount passenger side [maybe drivers] and possibly shocks once he strips down. Says its not dangerous but needs doing sooner than later. My question, how were these items missed on the new MOT supplied when i purchased it, or could they fail in the 8-9 months since i bought it. There were no advisories on the paperwork.

Cheers Happy Crimble to all.

MOTs are simply a snapshot of the cars health at that exact moment when tested. They are not a guarantee of any future failings, and the MOT center isn't obligated to advise on anything that although working when tested, may be on the way out. In essence, MOTs are of a very limited value when judging the mechanical soundness of a car when buying...

[TomsFocus]

If it was MOT'd on sales demand, the garage probably have an 'agreement' with the MOT tester not to flag up advisories.  Anything that's a genuine fail point should be picked up but testers don't all test equally, some are more lenient than others regarding 'wear'.  Plus, anything can happen in a month, let alone 9 months.

 

 

[Jimpster]

I know its only a legal requirement and only applies to that split second, all the places ive used over the years "HAVE" stuck a pry bar in and gave it a jiggle. Didnt know about the sales demand bit tho.

 

Cheers

[mrmetallica]

i remember many years ago i bought a fiesta lovely car they had it motd i was driving around and could hear a metalic sound when breaking when i had a look the brake pads had worn to bare metal !!

[Phil3747]

A good few years ago a mate of mine bought a Vauxhall Cavalier for a couple of hundred quid and ran it for a couple of months until the MOT was due. He took it to a local garage but when he phoned up to see if it had passed they told him it had failed and it needed £600 worth of repairs to get through the MOT, so he phoned me to see if there was anything I could do. To cut a long story short the bits I changed cost £30 plus a bit of fettling and he took then took it elsewhere and it then passed the MOT. Whilst some things are quite obviously an MOT fail (blown bulb, split in tyre, cracked windscreen etc) a lot of others are at the discretion of the MOT tester and unscrupulous ones will find any reason to fail it so they can charge you a fortune to put it right. 

 

[mrmetallica]

9 minutes ago, Phil3747 said:

A good few years ago a mate of mine bought a Vauxhall Cavalier for a couple of hundred quid and ran it for a couple of months until the MOT was due. He took it to a local garage but when he phoned up to see if it had passed they told him it had failed and it needed £600 worth of repairs to get through the MOT, so he phoned me to see if there was anything I could do. To cut a long story short the bits I changed cost £30 plus a bit of fettling and he took then took it elsewhere and it then passed the MOT. Whilst some things are quite obviously an MOT fail (blown bulb, split in tyre, cracked windscreen etc) a lot of others are at the discretion of the MOT tester and unscrupulous ones will find any reason to fail it so they can charge you a fortune to put it right. 

 

me and my x had a nissan stanza i took it for mot it failed on drivers front boot and ball joint did the work went back passed following year went same place for mot it failed on drivers ball joint and boot did the boot cleaned the ball joint never changed it went back and it passed never went back there again !!

[StephenFord]

30 minutes ago, Phil3747 said:

...are at the discretion of the MOT tester and unscrupulous ones will find any reason to fail it so they can charge you a fortune to put it right.

There are many things I dislike about the running of Northern Ireland, but one I do like is that all MOT centers are government run. They do nothing but testing, and do not carry out repairs. There is no financial incentive for them to 'find' something wrong so the test is carried out impartially.

[Corey65]

Indeed does happen and more common than people think, family bought my sister a first car from a garage that had an MOT a week before delivery, passed MOT with flying colours yet we owned it for two days and gearbox packed up on her at 60mph on a dual carriageway and all sorts went on it so while its at garage we had them throw it on ramp and redo an MOT and its failed on loads of different things...phoned garage for refund under consumer act got told to F off and like someone said above "MOTs are simply a snapshot of the cars health at that exact moment when tested. They are not a guarantee of any future failings" thats similar to what this garage said but there is no way all of that could of failed within a week of being delivered...unless someone robbed Wiper Blades and bulbs out car after passing MOT? please...or maybe someone disconnected hazards from working etc like they think we're clueless. 

Ended up looking into MOT station and had tons of negative reviews about false MOTs and they kept changing name and eventually closed down, dont think for a second this doesn't go on and its why you cant look at MOT history on gov site and use that to instore hope in the sale same as a service book anyone can get a mates garage and falsely stamp it, why you need to inspect the vehicle yourself and test drive it which we now do and we take our friend who's a mechanic to view every car before we purchase as trust me it could save you a fortune! made us realise you cant rely simply on a MOT history and service history as they can be faked and very easily. 

[StephenFord]

2 minutes ago, Corey65 said:

...unless someone robbed wiper blades and bulbs out car after passing MOT? please...or maybe someone disconnected hazards from working etc like they think we're clueless. 

 

?? Don't understand. You saying the car passed an MOT without Wiper Blades or working bulbs? Hazards are a part of the MOT, and gearbox is not part of an MOT.

[Corey65]

25 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

?? Don't understand. You saying the car passed an MOT without wiper blades or working bulbs? Hazards are a part of the MOT, and gearbox is not part of an MOT.

I'm saying the car was sold to us with tons of issues, some MOT related others not, wipers, horn, hazards, bulbs are all apart of an MOT check and the car passed without a single fault yet not even a week later we put it back through it failed as the wiper arms didn't have blades on them, hazards don't work, washers don't work, reg plate bulbs and sidelight bulbs missing, one dipped headlight missing and horn doesn't work, these are all fails on an MOT.

 

So in my response to the thread starter i was sharing my experience of being sold a car with a fake MOT and it happens an awful lot but yeah some things i listed are not checked on an MOT i was just explaining the state of the car lol.

[StephenFord]

1 minute ago, Corey65 said:

...yet not even a week later we put it back through it failed as the wiper arms didn't have blades on them, hazards don't work, washers don't work, reg plate bulbs and sidelight bulbs missing, one dipped headlight missing and horn doesn't work, these are all fails on an MOT.

 

I still fail to see how you picked up a newly purchased car and didn't see such obvious faults - I wouldn't have driven off without a full refund...

[Corey65]

39 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I still fail to see how you picked up a newly purchased car and didn't see such obvious faults - I wouldn't have driven off without a full refund...

Car was 80 mile away and we had it delivered as it was free, did test drive it and drove fine at first but never tested wipers or hazards and horn etc as was no need for them on and back wiper blade missing was easy to miss with us not using it or looking as the arm covers the blade but should of checked anyway, as for gearbox that packed up two days after test drive, was a case of being too trustworthy and i suppose ignorant to checks as it was from supposedly a highly rated garage. You're right though and if anything its something to learn from and why now we wont even put a deposit down unless we inspect it ourselves but doesn't change the fact the vehicle was sold with a fake MOT. As for refund we requested it not even a week into purchase and was denied it, tried using the useless consumer act which all they have to do is ignore and change garage name if small claims takes it on and you're thousands down the drain so its pointless, couldn't drive or have it towed up there and demand a refund as they'd just phone police and they'd send us home and say go down the route of courts...if anything always do your own checks as a pass and stamp on MOT/service history means nothing nowadays and we learnt the hard way.

[isetta]

Back to original post, one of the problems is the use of terms like there should not be excessive play without any real measure of what is excessive any rubbers bushes flex with a pry bar so it depends how hard you push the bar so that’s another thing which is not defined  .  You mention the shocks . The effectiveness of the shocks is no longer part of the mot test. It was in the past. They had to bounce on the car but now the test is only to visually check for signs of leaks, no bouncing them. An mot test is not to ensure perfection, it’s more to check it’s not unsafe .  There’s a big difference between perfection and the minimum safety standard the mot test demands

[isetta]

Ps, ineffective shocks would make a car unsafe. I can only assume they removed bouncing the car from the test as they could not prescribe a procedure for doing it as a lot of cars don’t really have a good place to push down on as the bodies are more flimsy these days. On a 70s car you could use each corner of the chrome bumpers.

[StephenFord]

9 hours ago, isetta said:

I can only assume they removed bouncing the car from the test as they could not prescribe a procedure for doing it ....

In NI all cars are driven onto a jig which shakes the bejesus out of the poor car!! I hate seeing my car going through this as it looks very violent and I'm always sure it'll fall apart LOL

[Jimpster]

I think thats the point for some or the carp thats on the roads 🤣

Last 5 years the place where i have my MOT's done knows i will only go to my mech to do any repairs, so not in his interest to fail on silly bits as they'll loose his custom. My mech is ex council tester and always errs on the side of safety and i'd have it no other way.

[Alex.S]

We all (well most of us) know a garage that’ll not add any advisories. Is it a legal requirement? No advisories if your about to sell it is ok for the seller , if your planning on holding onto the car no advisories is a terrible plan! 

[RMurphy195]

On 12/20/2021 at 5:32 PM, Phil3747 said:

A good few years ago a mate of mine bought a Vauxhall Cavalier for a couple of hundred quid and ran it for a couple of months until the MOT was due. He took it to a local garage but when he phoned up to see if it had passed they told him it had failed and it needed £600 worth of repairs to get through the MOT, so he phoned me to see if there was anything I could do. To cut a long story short the bits I changed cost £30 plus a bit of fettling and he took then took it elsewhere and it then passed the MOT. Whilst some things are quite obviously an MOT fail (blown bulb, split in tyre, cracked windscreen etc) a lot of others are at the discretion of the MOT tester and unscrupulous ones will find any reason to fail it so they can charge you a fortune to put it right. 

 

Especially IME K***-F*t