Practically Classics Forum

I accept that an unroadworthy car should get a fail and that there are two sorts of garage ones that will look to pass, such as my usual outfit charging a bit more for the test but changing a blown bulb or sticking a put of putty on an exhaust joint and tightening up the odd exhaust fastener is all in a days work and those that are out to fail come what may.

Upon presenting at the usual firm I was advised that their tester was not available today off with a bad back but they could recommend another firm. I think I found one of the latter outfits yesterday and the daily driver car was returned with two failures and one advisory.

1) Rear plate illegable
2) Rear plate bulbs non operational.
Advisory nsf tyre near limit( the tyre is 3-3.5mm with the exception of the inside shoulder which is nearing 2mm)

2 points I put to the tester, the first was that he took the vehicle registration from the rear plate and whilst I accept it is stained It is clearly legable. The second was that the bumber plate bulbs are operational so how could he fail on that point.

His reply was that he had to look at the plate to read it (??? Don`t we all??? or are MOT testers now superhuman!!!) and whilst he accepted that the rear plate lights are operational they are a bit dim and might do with a new set of bulbs?

I challenged him on the two points and his reply was that he could fail a car plate for any of 40 reasons and that was that and that whilst the bulbs worked his decision was final. I think it was at that point he realised that what ever he quoted my custom was not coming his way.

Anyone in Hutton Essex ? I know where I would go and 1 MOT test station that I would avoid like the plague!!!!!!! The only time I will return there is on Monday to re present the car with new plate and a new set of rear bulbs over it.

It almost rates as high up as a failure that I had on my first car (an old Pug 104) which failed on the type face being wrong notwithstanding that the plates had been on the car since new in 81!

I'd contact VOSA and get their opinion on both the number plate and the fact the bulbs actually worked.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... DG_4022113

Garages that try it on boil my blood, and its the main reason I will always take my car to the same place I have been going to for years as I know I can trust them. If it fails then it's a justified fail, and not a way for them to get a few quid extra in repairs, especially as they know I do all my own work 99.9% of the time rather than book it in with them.

Rob,

Totally agree and if it were worse would be tempted to go that route however for parts that cost less than £20 is it worthwhile???

Think not?

Could be interesting to see what other triviality other people have been failed on though

I have failed on having my number plates in an illegal font before, i bought a replacement pair from the garage for £20, didn't even bother fitting them and got a pass. (i still haven't bothered)
"windscreen washers ineffective" because the idiot didn't realise that you had to pump the water manually in the mog, no horn because he couldn't find it (it's in the middle of the wheel where it is in most cars!), also no horn in the range because a wire had fallen off the switch.

Then the usual things such as split boots, worn bushes, a freyed seat belt, excessive corrosion in LOTS of places (range rover) ineffective handbrake, no visual warning for hazards, ABS warning light non-operational (car didn't have ABS but had the standard dash with the space for it). I'm sure there are more.

My Volvo 345 had picked up an advisory for "Horn emits a slightly poor tone" on the test that had been done before I owned it. I would love to know how to retune a horn to a different key or maybe just from a flat to a natural, as it was it may have been a little sharp but was plenty loud and audible from quite a distance.

Two of the last four Rebels picked up advisories from the same tester for having their chassis numbers written on the bulkhead in permanent marker.
1) Both were old enough not to have a visible chassis number.
2) they'd been built that way.

One of my A60-shaped BMC Farina-bodied saloons was given a fail for having "flattened" back springs. Just the way they came from the factory in fact. I appealed that one and won.
My only Ford out of the many (total now standing at around 80) cars I've owned, a MK2 Cortina 1300DL (quite the slowest, least fuel-efficient car in the whole world, but that was the nature of the beast) picked up a fail for having a "totally ineffective parking brake". Er, Hello! The handle just below the dash rail was the one that applied said parking brake, fortunately, the young tester's efforts to bend the gear lever - mounted above the parking brake lever and sprouting from the column shroud, not the underside of the dash - were unsuccessful and his boss laughed almost as much as I did when he realised what the pillock had done.

More recently, an equally young tester had to abandon the Cinquecento's first ever MOT (it's been stored since 1973 and was under a year old when put away) as he stalled it in his panic to avoid dropping one or the other pair of wheels between the sides of the pit and, when faced with two identical levers on the floor, one of which is the choke and the other the starter, he'd found precisely the right combination of the pair to flood the thing and once that wee b****rd floods, there's no way on earth it'll start before the battery dies. The perils of keeping a car hundreds of miles from home and recommissioning it by telephone.

Fortunately, Eric Christer and sons (Byker, just by Newcastle), at 30 miles to the south my closest competent test premises, have done most of my MOTs when I've been living back up in the region and they're careful, knowledgeable and enthusiastic when it comes to performing tests on older and/or unusual cars so when the next local project is ready to go for test, it'll be going there.

Below is a rant from a local forum board, not a fail but a PASS............. All said I have used this guy for a few bike MOT's and he has always been pretty much spot on, sensible, and although he doesn't always come across as "professional" (old school mechanic) is very observant, and notices little faults you wouldn't expect.

I'll admit he likes to sell you something rather than give you a fail, which is fair enough in my experience, a £1 reflector for a fiver seems worth it if its needed and you get a ticket, but this fella dosen't seem to happy at all.................... though with the modern day computer system I don't know how true this actually rings, Is it possible??????

All the ----------- are where I have removed names, as I myself have never had a problem with the garage being slated here and I thought it probably best..


Attrocious customer service!



I would like to make the members of the Caithness forum aware of an experience I had with the owner of the ------ Garage yesterday morning, Mr. -----------------.
My car was booked in for an MOT at 10:45am. ---------, the mechanic told me that "---------" would be doing the MOT and at 11am "-------" (---------) turned up and drove the car onto the ramp all ready for the MOT. I won't go into great detail about the actual "MOT" test as that warrants a seperate thread but just let's say, he didn't perform 90% of the MOT check points as he should (didn't test the brakes, the emissions, the wheel bearings etc. etc.) and I know this as I watched everything he "wasn't" doing.

He called me over and drew my attention to the offside headlamp which was slightly out of alignment and asked me if I'd like him to adjust it, I told him I would. I actually fitted these brand new headlights myself a few weeks prior to this MOT and had already aligned them (using pro equipment / they settle after a few hundred miles so was expecting them to require a slight re-adjustment) so was very aware of the vertical and horizontal alignment adjusters.... funny thing though, he started fumbling about with the lamp..... I pointed out that he could adjust the beam using the adjusting rods and he replied with "I've been adjusting headlamps for 30 years, the lamp is probably unseated".
I'm trying to get to the point of this post as soon as possible but it's essential that the reader understands that I am 100% acquainted with these particular headlamps, as I fitted them myself, and knew what he was doing wouldn't achieve a result. I didn't say another word, he stripped off the rubber shroud, out with the lamp and spent a good 15 minutes fumbling about trying to get it back together again... it was starting to get embarrasing so I went to the door for a smoke..... as soon as I was out of sight I heard the bonnet being closed.

I came back in and asked him if he'd got it fixed, he said "£60 please, you've passed".
I asked him for a copy of the emmissions report as I was "interested" in that type of thing and he told me he had ripped it up as I didn't need it..... believe me, you feel uncomfortable just "looking" at this man (let alone attempting to talk to him) so I handed over the £60 and he gave me a --------- Garage mug with my MOT pass certificate inside it (apparantly everybody gets a mug)..... I was happy to get out of there, from the "second" that man drove my car onto that ramp I could smell a rat.

Here is where the "MOT" experience turns VERY sour so please read on....... The moment I got the car into my garage (I live about a mile away) I popped the hood, got my lamp and zoned in on the headlight.... as expected, he had ommitted to put it back together correctly.... actually, it was all "correct" APART from the rubber shroud which was missing and the rubber shroud is probably the most important part (apart from the lamps) as it prevents water ingress into the light unit...... Raining heavy? night time? No rubber shroud? Water gets in? your lights go out.... all depending on where you are you could either drive off the road or smack into an oncoming vehicle.... this is a VERY important part of the lighting system and something that is there for a reason.
I was STRAIGHT back along there! I was quite calm (though boiling over inside) and told him he'd forgotten to put my rubber shroud back on.... he replied " what rubber shroud?" I told him the rubber shroud that he had taken off when he was trying to get the lamp out...... "it must have fallen off" he tells me...... I told him there was no POSSIBLE way it could have "fallen off" as the main wiring connector runs directly through it.... what happened next (INSTANTLY) is what this post is all about......

He told me to get off his property, he then made his way INTO my car and wheelspinned it like crazy (I was told today he did a "doughnut") round and round, there was smoke coming from the tires, stone chips from his "forecourt" flying about all over the place... the man had gone CRAZY! I just stood there in absolute SHOCK watching this (four of his "henchmen" assuring me that "that's just -------, leave him be").... he burnt a strip of rubber onto the main road, stopped the car, "booted" the door open and came back over to his garage screaming out "get off of my property, you are barred you English weed"...... He was up for a punch up, goading me to get into a fight with him (and probably the other 4 blokes) but I just walked away telling him I'd see him later, "sometime" .

I was fuming, I was raging, I was absolutely STUNNED but I walked away as cool as a cucumber from this stupid man... I can CONTROL my temper and certainly don't expect / nor intend to be scrapping on a forecourt with the owner of an MOT test station when I find he has turned my car into a potential deathtrap due to his incompetence adjusting the main beam of a headlight.
ALL he had to say was "wait a minute, I'll have a look and see if the shroud is in the workshop" but to save face he tells me that "it must have fallen off rubbish" and then almost trashes my car when his anger at being "sussed" kicked in.... I'm sorry, there's no other way to put it, that man is not FIT to A: work on a persons car, B: Perform a car safety check (MOT) or C: Be considered as anything other than liar..... If I did things like that to my customers equipment I wouldn't be able to SLEEP at night.

I calmed down and thought the best course of action was to report him to the police (which I have) and ALL the relevant motoring agencies (which I have)..... the Police went along to see him and his story had changed.... he told them that the rubber shroud was NOT on the light, they asked him "how" he knew that.... he told them he was working on it, they asked him why he didn't inform me it was missing etc..... Basically, NOTHING they could do.... his word against mine.

I have secured a few witnesses to him doing his best to trash my car with his "doughnut" exhibition (and what a doughnut he looked) and they are all willing to give statements, BUT............... to what end? Absoloutely pointless going through the legal circus, he'd probably end up with a slap on the wrists for abusing or "breaching the peace" of a customer's car without permission.
I don't want anything to do with the man and would certainly not waste any time chasing a piece of rubber up from his dustbin.... the wheelspinning and him wanting a punch up is all water under the bridge.... the main thing here is SAFETY. You entrust your vehicle to people like ---------, to maintain your car so it is not only performing to the "max"... it is also SAFE to drive. You certainly don't expect to take your car in for a MOT and it actually "PASSING" when all he checked was the lighting system and then actually MADE part of that lighting system LESS safe!
Yeh, sounds great..... £60, free mug and you've passed.... 20 years ago I may have thought that was cool but nowadays I not only respect my OWN life, I respect others.... how DARE this man make my car "LESS" safe (remove parts and then not be competent enough to refit them) , not perform the actual MOT test and charge me for it without any recourse to the law? It's obviously a money thing for him and he's been getting away with it for years.... 10 minutes in a pit, titting about doing NOTHING and YOU should be honoured and grateful to have passed your MOT.... nudge nudge, wink wink style?
Erm.... not how I operate.... I prefer to be honest and competent, it makes sleeping at night so easy.
I could take this further (in my mind) and escalate.....

"it" to a "what if" situation.... "what if?", for example, he had smashed my car into a wall when he lost his temper? "what if?" he had run me over? "What if?" he had smoked my tires onto the main road and collided with an oncoming vehicle?
This is no joke.... all of my friends have been amazed that I walked away from that place without doing a mud dance with that man but I would NEVER hit an old man, half the size of me, who had a limp..... not "my" style. I went to get an MOT, not a life sentence.... little angry leprechaun who is putting "other" people's lifes at risk DOES bother me (BIG TIME!!)......
Safe motoring

I reckon that must be the longest rant ever over passing an MOT

i had a car fail because it was so filthy he was unable to check for rust....a quick visit to the jetwash & it passed with flying colours.......
i used to wash cars once a year if they needed it or not that & coupled with living half a mile up a dirt road i understood the testers problem

The pump operated washers on my Rover were a bit weak and feeble one year I was informed by the tester but I just claimed that it was a drout year and it was a water saving device, the tester just grinned and wrote out the pass ticket - my type of tester!

I had a rover p6 fail because its "sills" were bolted on and not welded

Even a return trip with the workshop manual showing them to be a bolt on cover panel would'nt change the fellas mind either

I had a car fail the local equivalent because the boot lid springs were too weak and it would not stay open by itself on a windy day.