Beware cheap MoTs

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I always take my cars to a place on Dunsfold that only does MOT's they give it a proper check and show you anything that is a fail or is getting worn and may cause problems next time. Thay are great and have no incentive to fail anything to get work as they dont do it, or even recommend anyone else to do it
 
Still worth reporting the sharp practice to the VOSA inspector for the area . Local trading standards would be another good place to visit .

This is straightforward dishonesty , the garage clearly tried to give the impression the car had faults it did not , either to drum up unnecessary work , or to try to give the impression the car was worthless and obtain it below market value .

If this story corroborates other similar complaints , VOSA will sometimes submit a pre-checked test vehicle anonymously ; if it is not dealt with correctly the garage can be struck off .

I can guarantee VOSA would be very interested to hear of this complaint .

Agreed :thumb:
 
Have had MOTs done in various places and always paid around £50-£55 (I guess that's Central London prices).

Never had a issue. Had one advisory back in 2004, and recently a failed bulb... but that's about it.

Wasn't there something about MOT garages not lowed to carry out repairs..?
 
When my car is serviced at PCS Olly takes it to the MOT station opposite his workshop. Never had a problem. Then again, nobody knows a Merc like Olly. As I do very few miles each year, and my car only asks for a service every two years I take my car to my work, BT Fleet, for every other MOT and they certainly aren't trying to drum up business as they can barely cope with fixing our own fleet of thrashed and abused vehicles
 
I've used my local (South London) Kwik Fit for MOTs for years. Last two years I have booked online and it has cost me £30. Thorough check and no messing about. Very happy.
 
MOTs are a lottery.
There's a garage on the main road between Richmond and Mortlake that offers FREE mot with an already very cheap service. I know where they take the cars for MOTs and I know what goes on. That garage is making a fortune through dishonesty and I seriously hope that those who realise they've been ripped off do indeed report it to trading standards. trading Standards will only get involved once they receive multiple complaints so everyone who feels they've had a poor service at whatever garage should ALWAYS report it to TS in case other are affected too.
 
spanner said:
MOTs are a lottery. There's a garage on the main road between Richmond and Mortlake that offers FREE mot with an already very cheap service. I know where they take the cars for MOTs and I know what goes on. That garage is making a fortune through dishonesty and I seriously hope that those who realise they've been ripped off do indeed report it to trading standards. trading Standards will only get involved once they receive multiple complaints so everyone who feels they've had a poor service at whatever garage should ALWAYS report it to TS in case other are affected too.
d name and shame or PM me as I work in that area
 
I have not paid for an MOT for a long time.
No problems so far.

Also please don't tarnish all MOT centres with the same brush.
 
When my car is serviced at PCS Olly takes it to the MOT station opposite his workshop. Never had a problem. Then again, nobody knows a Merc like Olly. As I do very few miles each year, and my car only asks for a service every two years I take my car to my work, BT Fleet, for every other MOT and they certainly aren't trying to drum up business as they can barely cope with fixing our own fleet of thrashed and abused vehicles

Mrs Dm had a Fiat Tipo which She kept 16 years, maintained mainly by me...never failed an MOT.

It's not rocket science.
 
When buying a car with a years ticket and no advisories always be suspicious, especially with an older car ( 10 years plus )
And also be suspicious of free/ cheap mot offerings.
I would in no way tarnish everyone with the same brush, but be careful.
An obvious stunt is to add on 15/20 pounds for headlamp adjustment!
 
I can guarantee VOSA would be very interested to hear of this complaint .

A few years ago I went to a different garage near me for an MOT as my regular was fully booked for the week.

My car failed on the ball joints and a bulb not being yellow. I got the failure certificate, followed immediately by a quote of what it would cost to fix it.

Disheartened, I brought the car home, with the intention of doing the work at my regular place. The week after, I brought it to my regular garage and asked them to check the joints and get them sorted before an mot...

Oddly, I was told the joints didn't need any work, and that the bulb did need changing (it's was those bulbs where the bulb is tinted orange), which they did for free and the car now had a clean MOT.

I complained to VOSA next, whereby I got told that as my car had "work done" on it, they couldn't do anything.

Since then, I've decided to stick to my regular garage, and don't really expect too much from VOSA...
M.
 
The last MoT I had done was on my Porsche and it was priced at £27. It ended up costing me over £40k! It was at my local MB dealer in Peterborough. They treated me very well, and didn't suggest any work needed on the Porsche, so I was happy to go back to them to buy my new C350.

I'm sorry, I don't understand. They didn't suggest any work needed, but it cost £40K? It does not compute, Captain:confused: I'm missing something, I think.
 
Personally, I can thoroughly recommend Punters in Hillingdon. I've taken all my cars and bikes there for the last twenty years, and before that, on and off (depending on where I was posted) since 1978. They've never tried to rip me off, ever.
 
We regualary do "re-tests" (not strictly a re-test, but a new test) on cars that failed at Halfords/Kwikfit etc after a "free test", but they failed on headlamp adjust/wipers/bulbs/exhausts (i.e. stuff they can fix) but the owner thinks its OK. Most are OK.

We also have the guy with a £200 banger which is clearly unmaintained but thinks we are ripping him of when it fails on rust/no brakes/lights out/emissions. Usually the best advice is to scrap it.

I get annoyed when people say the MOT is a rip off because it cost s £300 a time not the £30 or so advertised.... ONLY BECAUSE YOUR CAR IS UNROADWORTHY!!!!!

If you saw some of the cars submitted for tests you would see the revalue in maintain what is a good system which still only catches cars once a year and only counts for the time and day the MOT is issued.

Finally, as an owner of an MOT Centre, good business is build on trust and repeat customers. 5000 MOTs per year tell me my brother (the guy who actually runs it) can't be doing a bad job at all.
 
I took advantage of free MOT offered by Mercedes Stratford for my very old E230 210 estate .. it was worth around £700.

Mercedes told me it needed £4000 worth of work to pass MOT.

I took the car somewhere else, all it needed was some welding on an exhaust bracket to pass the MOT.

Mercedes Stratford (London). From my experience of them, they are lying, devious, deceitful, disingenuous shysters and gits of the first order, so no surprise to hear them 'at it'. JMO.
 
Personally, I can thoroughly recommend Punters in Hillingdon. I've taken all my cars and bikes there for the last twenty years, and before that, on and off (depending on where I was posted) since 1978. They've never tried to rip me off, ever.

Funny that - they're one of my 2 regulars, depending on vehicle! Punters get my motorbikes, and bar their informal advisories are really good. (They don't record some advisories, but give you a scribbled paper with them - which is good and bad. One advisory I had was that my fairings were the wrong color, as I have a few sets and swap them when I feel in a different mood :p)

The place that suggested I needed extra work was on Lees road, just around the corner (behind the Texaco) and is one to avoid!

M.
 
I agree that we shouldn't tar all cheap mot centres with the same brush. I have my mots done at the Hyundai main dealer round the corner for £29 and they have never found any work that bumps the price sky high. They even picked up the 124 from my drive ( it's on a sorn) and dropped it back off washed and vacuumed in the price. It's not even that they are not doing a thorough job because they pulled the Alfa up on something that I knew about but had not got round to fixing that wasn't an easy spot ( and rectified it for a fiver). Like I say not all the cheaper testers are after fleecing you.
 

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