The 95 flew through the MOT test again today. I'm a bit miffed to see that its picked up an Advisory for the first time though:
Advisory notice item(s)
Rear exhausts repaired with bandages, no leaks
The (stainless) exhausts are in fact heat tape wrapped where they pass close to the twin LPG tank installation!
Same garage (and Tech) that has MOT'd it for the last 3 years. Same tape too.
What's more surprising is that apparently once it's in the computer it can't be changed. The car now has a stain on its character for ever.
There is a process for reporting MOT stations for carrying out bad tests and giving inaccurate results but I'm not sure if this worth the effort lol.
Perhaps mention it to them at the next MOT so they're aware of it and don't pull the same thing again?
RutlandRover wrote:
There is a process for reporting MOT stations for carrying out bad tests and giving inaccurate results but I'm not sure if this worth the effort lol.>
Perhaps mention it to them at the next MOT so they're aware of it and don't pull the same thing again?
I don't think I want to draw down the wrath of the Men From The Ministry on their heads on this one. They're my local garage and have done all of the MOTs on everything that has passed through my hands in the last 17 years. I'd probably be ostracised in the village as well :)
With MOT history on line and accessible to all these days, if I decide to sell this one (still teetering on that) its forever branded as having been maintained by the sort of guy who would repair an exhaust with bandages, as opposed to
"13 months MOT- no advisories"
Yes it would be best if the MOT folks mentioned the advisories before issuing the cert...
(I had one -not P38- where they listed the lights as the wrong colour although it was OEM; Resolved/removed at the following MOT)
If/when you sell just explain these 'bandages' to the potential new owners.... and it's easy to prove thanks to the EAS !
Our local MOT station is very thorough and they're good mechanics but they insist on failing your car, then fixing it, then retesting it. Even if you take it in and say "it needs brake pipes and an MOT" they won't fix the brake pipes first.
Morat wrote:
Our local MOT station is very thorough and they're good mechanics but they insist on failing your car, then fixing it, then retesting it. Even if you take it in and say "it needs brake pipes and an MOT" they won't fix the brake pipes first.
That's a nice way to charge for 1 1/2 MOTs every time!
My local garage doesn't charge for retests, or at least they haven't charged me for a retest. They are pretty reasonable about terrible old farm machinery though, and I tend to try and bring it back in as soon as possible for a retest. I guess if it failed on something "big" they'd want a bit more but it's never really failed on anything drastic.
Exhaust repaired with bandages or even a bean tin and a jubilee clip, isn't a fail or even an advisory as the only reasons for failure are a leak or insecure. If the note has a number in brackets after it, then it's an actual reason for failure, if there isn't a number, it's a manually entered comment.
All, or most, places do a test, fail it, then do the work then a retest, it makes there figures look good and there's no retest fee as it hasn't left the premises. I took my daughters acr in to have two tyres fitted and an MoT. Rather than fit the tyres and then test it, they tested it, failed it on tyres, then retested it. My local guy got a VOSA inspection and they were concerned about his high rate of passes. He was asked what he did if someone came in with a blown lightbulb (which is the most common failure but he seemed to never have any fails on blown bulbs) and he told them he just fitted a new bulb. He was told he should issue a fail, fit the bulb and then issue a pass.
its one thing finding a bulb on a test, and fixing it, and another entirely if you bring it in and ask them to "fix the bulb" (or tyres) then MOT it...
I would be somewhat pissed off if i took a car in, specifically asked them to fit two new tyres then MOT it, and found afterwards they'd failed it on the tyres...
I suspect as mentioned its just to make their figures look better, as VOSA will expect a percentage of fails.
Aren't you present when the car is in for a test? Over here we make an appointment, bring the car in and having a chat with the tester while he does his job.
45 minutes later you are out again.
It once saved me a failure on a leaky rockercover gasket when I could show him a new one already in the boot.
you can be, they usually have a viewing area, and depending what i've got going on i sometimes do that and sometimes i'll just drop it in first thing and collect it later.
Depends on the place wether you can chat with the guy, some of the bigger chains want you properly out the way, others are more friendly.
A leaking rocker cover wouldnt fail here. :P I put mine in with what turned out to be a ruined seal on the oil pressure switch, with oil literally dripping of the bottom of the engine, and i got an advisory saying "Oil Leak"... The guy did tell me the leak was fairly significant though.