MOT Rip Off

[bmcecosse]

Daughter's Clio now has two new orange rear flasher bulbs, one new front sidelamp bulb, and a nice fresh jubilee clip securing the CV joint boot.....  It had failed on the orange bulbs 'not correct colour', the sidelamp bulb 'not sufficiently bright' and a CV boot 'loose'.  Garage quote to sort all that  - £145......  Errrrr NOOOO.!!  Total cost to fix it £3:50 and an hour and a half of my time - a good bit of which was spent searching for tools I didn't need  (ball joint splitter etc) ..  Of course  -I don't get a 'free' retest (it will be £19:50) since I took the car away - but then,  the MOT + 'Service' only cost £29 in the first place......  So I still think it's an 'ok' deal....but that £145 (which my dear wife thought we should just pay) had me shocked......

[MarkyB]

Who took it for the test?
I wouldn't go back there whoever it was.
Clearly some places still think that being able to issue MOTs is a licence to print money.

[bmcecosse]

I took it there - it was a good deal. But I think the only genuine 'fail' point was the loose CV boot - even there, the boot was fine, had not come off the joint - just loose and some grease had come out at the edge. My local place would have cost me £40 for the MOT, and would likely have put everything on 'advisories' - or even as 'fails' I would have got a free retest. But their 'service' is £69 , and even to do it myself with decent oil and filter would have cost me £25 in parts, and the Clio has an undertray that needs to be removed - and then the filter is really hard to get at, especially with my rather large hands! It was my fault for not spotting the grease from the boot - but I could see nothing wrong with the lights......

[mike.perry]

My wife's 78000 mile Focus has just failed on emissions and apparently it smoked the workshop out. Strange..I had never noticed excessive smoke before although I did have to top up the oil at regular intervals. Asking for some sort of diagnosis I was told that it could be anything from needing a new valve stem oil seal to a new short engine. My suggestion that a compression test might help was fobbed off.
As we now have a car with a failed MOT we cannot use it depite the old MOT having a week to run. As our regular garage has just relocated some 15 miles away this was the first time that we have used this establishment (and the MOT was only £32)
It does sound a bit tappity when starting up
Would the plug in diagnostics reveal anything?
Is it worth me doing a compression check, assuming that my tester fits the plug holes?
Shall I sell it on the cars for sale section?

[bmcecosse]

You CAN use it - it still has a perfectly valid MOT. It's not been declared 'dangerous' to drive or anything like that. In addition - even when you don't have an MOT - you are permitted to drive to a pre-booked MOT, and I believe, back home again - although that bit sounds a bit doubtful - but it is what I have been told.

[ian.mcdougall]

the problem with the orange bulbs is that the orange paint flakes off and when the bulb is seen through the clear lens it looks too white from a distance, but still does not justify the cost they wanted to do the jobs

[mike.perry]

[quote="bmcecosse"]You CAN use it - it still has a perfectly valid MOT.

Thanks Roy, you are indeed correct. The garage was giving me duff info, I won't be going back there again.
Fortunately the is a very good classic car testing station not too far away so the Minors are safe

[PSL184]

My wife's 78000 mile Focus has just failed on emissions and apparently it smoked the workshop out. Strange..I had never noticed excessive smoke before although I did have to top up the oil at regular intervals. Asking for some sort of diagnosis I was told that it could be anything from needing a new valve stem oil seal to a new short engine. My suggestion that a compression test might help was fobbed off.
As we now have a car with a failed MOT we cannot use it depite the old MOT having a week to run. As our regular garage has just relocated some 15 miles away this was the first time that we have used this establishment (and the MOT was only £32)
It does sound a bit tappity when starting up
Would the plug in diagnostics reveal anything?
Is it worth me doing a compression check, assuming that my tester fits the plug holes?
Shall I sell it on the cars for sale section?

Take it for a good blast down the motorway to clear it out. If it is chugging smoke it most likely will be the injection pump timing. Comp test will confirm the engine is in good order I would guess....

[C6Dave]

the problem with the orange bulbs is that the orange paint flakes off and when the bulb is seen through the clear lens it looks too white from a distance, but still does not justify the cost they wanted to do the jobs

Fit 'Chrome' bulbs then which have no coating at all to fade/peel but glow orange.

See what the tester says then..................

[simmitc]

Ah, progress. What about fitting plain white bulbs and having a coloured lens that doesn't fade

[ptitterington]

We dont have a MOT but i noticed black smoke from my 2007 transit. I spoke to the garage I use and his advise was priceless.
Drive till warm then revv the Shi* out of it, drive up hills in second even put a brick on the accelerator and leave for 20 mins. These things need to get hot and stop start in Jersey is really bad for them!!

[linearaudio]

the problem with the orange bulbs is that the orange paint flakes off and when the bulb is seen through the clear lens it looks too white from a distance, but still does not justify the cost they wanted to do the jobs

Fit 'Chrome' bulbs then which have no coating at all to fade/peel but glow orange.

See what the tester says then..................

Tried that on my Traveller! I wanted the old style glass oops I typed a naughty word sidelights (as fitted originally) Rather than the "modern" amber/ clear plastic ones. Bought a pair, and adapted to fit a "wedge" type sidelight bulb, and a chrome flasher, so I had amber indicators....Found that the light output of those chrome bulbs is pitiful, so ended up with the original set up of sidelights and white flashers! "GLOW" orange is the best description I can think of, also since when has t*t been a naughty word- well used in engineering circles!
I also have had the advice to thrash the wifes' diesel mercilessly for 10 miles, then bring it back to the MOT (DOE, VOSA) station while still hot....environmentally friendly "moderns"???

[bmcecosse]

Bee-hive is the word you are looking for on the Trav rear lights.
To round off the MOT story - this morning I took the Clio directly to the station noted on the Fail ticket - it passed, and there was no re-test fee. Turns out the 'Car Care Centre' I had used was subcontracting the MOT - and they were asking for the £19:50 retest fee, but the MOT station was not getting any of that passed on to them !

[RogerRust]

Only once have I used a cut price MOT centre and it failed on a few trivial points. I too was offered a masive estimate for repairs. Now I use a proper garage and never have any problems.

Moral - if it looks too good to be true it usually is!

[drivewasher]

Our MoT test's are £40 at the moment purley because thats what our competitors charge. I like to think we have the edge on service and the way we conduct our family business.

EG BmCeosse's car would have been 3 small bulbs inc fitting (£2.50 ea) Jubilee clip on cv boot as long as boot was in good condition about £5.00 fitted the origonal test £40 No retest fee (for any retest within 10 days left station or not) I would have done those repairs whilst car was booked on test (it's called PRS) the VTS device would then issue a pass and a fail during the printing of the cert
All above prices INCLUDE VAT so it would have been £52.50 Thank you Sir!

PS If a new boot was req I would have fitted a new car specific boot, not one of those stretchy over the joint ones, by removing the CV joint about £30 plus cost of the boot, but I would try a jubilee clip first.

[bmcecosse]

^^^^^ Exactly - that's the kind of service folks should expect and indeed we would have been happy to pay the costs you suggest. Although I fixed the problems for very little cost - I did have to do an early morning run back in to Glasgow, hang about for an hour (and buy breakfast for self and Mrs BMC ) and then drive the car home again.....

[itchypie]

Our MoT test's are £40 at the moment purley because thats what our competitors charge. I like to think we have the edge on service and the way we conduct our family business.

EG BmCeosse's car would have been 3 small bulbs inc fitting (£2.50 ea) Jubilee clip on cv boot as long as boot was in good condition about £5.00 fitted the origonal test £40 No retest fee (for any retest within 10 days left station or not) I would have done those repairs whilst car was booked on test (it's called PRS) the VTS device would then issue a pass and a fail during the printing of the cert
All above prices INCLUDE VAT so it would have been £52.50 Thank you Sir!

PS If a new boot was req I would have fitted a new car specific boot, not one of those stretchy over the joint ones, by removing the CV joint about £30 plus cost of the boot, but I would try a jubilee clip first.

40.00 is a decent price. My mot cost is 55.00

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam.

[drivewasher]

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam.

How do you make that out then? Please explain.
If it's aimed at me then no one on here knows where our garage is.
And itchypie is just letting us know how much he pays for his MoT test's.

[drivewasher]

Ah!
Now I see, the link in MOT test. How's that happened!