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MoTs.......


mike farrants

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Posted

not the move to once every 2 years - but the fact that a 2nd opinion really is worth it........

I took my aging T4 camper for its MOT in Jan and the failure sheet was over 2 sides of A4 - 27 separate fails - some simple stuff Washer jets, and some not so simple. I got quoted in excess of £1600 to fix and even then the garage said they didn't want the Job and wished me luck.

I had my suspicions about the MOT test as firstly - the garage didn't actually test on site - rather they used a 3rd party and didn't want/need the job. secondly some of the fails were a bit far fetched.... 

eg they failed it on not having seatbelts in the back - its a van - there's no seats - just a bed,

so i took it for a 2nd opinion today and was staggered to see the fail sheet was a quarter of the size - only 6 fails, 

the 1st guy condemned the brake pipes stating them all as "Excessively corroded", stated the brakes were imbalanced, exhaust exceeds smoke levels for a TDI and 'likely' to be impacted by a vac leak, etc etc

the 2nd mot agreed with the welding on the 2 rear suspension arms, the CV boot, ball joint, and head light adjustment. 

he actually stated that the brake pipes were fine in his eyes, and having seen them on the 1st fail sheet specifically inspected them closer and actually disagreed with the 1st test on a total of 14 previous fails

new quote is only £800. 

moral of the story - sometimes it is worth a 2nd opinion

(needless to say once i have an MOT on the camper it will be up for sale before it costs me any more!) 

Posted

Good work. Always worth asking for a second opinion. Except when it comes to my kids, who like to ask one parent for something, then go and ask the other if the first answer isn't what they hoped for 🤣

Posted
24 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

Good work. Always worth asking for a second opinion. Except when it comes to my kids, who like to ask one parent for something, then go and ask the other if the first answer isn't what they hoped for 🤣

This can and does get one into hot water!

Posted
13 minutes ago, JonC said:

Well I think it’s a terrible idea, there’s already enough sheds on the road that scrape through as it is. 
speaking of sheds, I just found out that my defender mot run out in October, I’ve been driving it around for 6 months without an mot. It’s booked in tomorrow. 
Fairly confident that it will pass, the garage I use understand the guidelines, like Mikes second place did. Things like brake pipes- it used to be a fail for any corrosion but now it’s only if it leaks ( I think). They’re not that big a deal anyway. 

I had the rear brake lines corrode through on that Disco I had. No MOT advisory on them beforehand... I was driving it at the time but luckily they went while parking, and I was just round the corner from my usual garage.

Posted
32 minutes ago, JonC said:

Brake pipes are the least of your worries on a Land Rover, it’s only a short section of rigid pipe that connects to a flexi, any decent mechanic (I don’t say fitter) can make them up in minutes. 

Yeah, it was more the potential consequences I was highlighting, and the fact that they can appear to be corrosion-free but still fail.

Posted
7 hours ago, mike farrants said:

not the move to once every 2 years - but the fact that a 2nd opinion really is worth it........

I took my aging T4 camper for its MOT in Jan and the failure sheet was over 2 sides of A4 - 27 separate fails - some simple stuff Washer jets, and some not so simple. I got quoted in excess of £1600 to fix and even then the garage said they didn't want the Job and wished me luck.

I had my suspicions about the MOT test as firstly - the garage didn't actually test on site - rather they used a 3rd party and didn't want/need the job. secondly some of the fails were a bit far fetched.... 

eg they failed it on not having seatbelts in the back - its a van - there's no seats - just a bed,

so i took it for a 2nd opinion today and was staggered to see the fail sheet was a quarter of the size - only 6 fails, 

the 1st guy condemned the brake pipes stating them all as "Excessively corroded", stated the brakes were imbalanced, exhaust exceeds smoke levels for a TDI and 'likely' to be impacted by a vac leak, etc etc

the 2nd mot agreed with the welding on the 2 rear suspension arms, the CV boot, ball joint, and head light adjustment. 

he actually stated that the brake pipes were fine in his eyes, and having seen them on the 1st fail sheet specifically inspected them closer and actually disagreed with the 1st test on a total of 14 previous fails

new quote is only £800. 

moral of the story - sometimes it is worth a 2nd opinion

(needless to say once i have an MOT on the camper it will be up for sale before it costs me any more!) 

 

Well done mike..........

My son MOT's HGV's, everything from a donkey box to Fuel tankers and beyond, he also conducts road safety certificates for MOD equipment (a whole new storey !), so being a civil serpent he has no financial obligation to answer to, whereas private vehicle MOT's to Class 7 certainly do.

Although there are some rules set out for the tester, 90% of the testing process is 'in the opinion of the tester, at the time of test'. He has said to me that where many new entrant testers fail is by using their own experience, by looking at a component and deciding it will most likely fail within the next 12 months, which is WRONG, because if the component is OK at the time of test, then it meets the current requirement.

My daughter has just taken her car in for MOT, I pre-MOT'ed the car and noted that the 2 rear tyres had plenty of tread but were beginning to perish on the outside edge, however, as there was no delamination it was not a fail, but hey would need changing in the near future. She picked her car up this afternoon and the garage had changed the rear tyres without any consultation. I rang them and was told the tyres were a fail, I then pointed out that although slightly perished on the outer 20% of the tread, there was no delamination, so it should have been an advisory. I offered them 2 options, either put the originals back on or supply the new tyres for free. I also suggested that they kept the old tyre carcasses for any DVSA investigation. Very quickly, they have agreed a 75% discount on the invoiced tyre price. !

Unfortunately, and rightly so, there are no hard rules regarding visual testing of certain components, it comes down to common sense, and is it in a acceptable condition ON THE DAY of the test. Brake pipes are a prime example, How corroded is corroded ? .......... I bet you could get 10 grease monkeys's look at some pipes, and they would all have different opinions.

Light and horn etc are easy, either they work or they don't, but is 0.1mm of play in a wheel bearing too much, or is some surface rust and general crud on a brake pipe too much ? ........ this is where the system fails.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted (edited)
56 minutes ago, JonC said:

Is the DVSA a privately run government executive agency? I was under the impression that it was. 

It is an executive agency, but not privately run, it is sponsored by the dept of transport, therefore all the staff are CS (same as Ofcom who I used to work for).

HGV testing stations are privately run, but can only test with DVSA testers, which they pay the DVSA for on a daily rate.

Edited by GPSguru
Posted
On 4/27/2022 at 10:17 PM, JonC said:

Well I think it’s a terrible idea, there’s already enough sheds on the road that scrape through as it is. 
speaking of sheds, I just found out that my defender mot run out in October, I’ve been driving it around for 6 months without an mot. It’s booked in tomorrow. 
Fairly confident that it will pass, the garage I use understand the guidelines, like Mikes second place did. Things like brake pipes- it used to be a fail for any corrosion but now it’s only if it leaks ( I think). They’re not that big a deal anyway. 

How the fuck do you not know your mot run out in October? if you had an accident and your vehicle was at fault mechanically you could be looking at a stretch lol 

Posted
7 hours ago, Dicky said:

How the fuck do you not know your mot run out in October? if you had an accident and your vehicle was at fault mechanically you could be looking at a stretch lol 

He's been constantly repairing it since October so the things not been on the road, I think Essex has been quite safe unfortunately. 

Posted
49 minutes ago, JonC said:

I hardly drive the thing, I obviously booked it in for a test as soon as I realised which it passed with flying colours. 
I understand from current examples of leadership that if you don’t think you are braking the law it’s ok and there’s far more important things to focus on going on around the world so stop looking at me. 

That is hardly a shining example of leadership to follow though Jon... It would break/brake my heart to see you have your collar felt for something so avoidable.

#ignoranceisnodefence

Posted
3 hours ago, JonC said:

I hardly drive the thing, I obviously booked it in for a test as soon as I realised which it passed with flying colours. 
I understand from current examples of leadership that if you don’t think you are braking the law it’s ok and there’s far more important things to focus on going on around the world so stop looking at me. 

Completely irresponsible. As a businessman you should be showing better leadership and taking absolute responsibility for your inept attitude towards life 😉😝🙄🤣

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