I’ve noticed a few signs posted around faraway industrial estates for “walk in MOTs” or “no pass no fee” type deals. No price mentioned, but I’m thinking it would indeed be jolly convenient to be able to get one’s motor done there and then, rather than ■■■■■■■■ about waiting a week or two for a local appointment.
My questions are “does anyone have any experience of dealing with such walk-in services”, and “where’s the catch of course”?
My current MOT is coming up for expiry not until next month, but suddenly I’m finding trouble locally getting anyone who can both do the test and fix any problems found within that next month?!
I’ll put it down to “nice weather” etc. which if the case, bodes well for a nice high turnout at next month’s election.
I’m expecting to find out that with my old banger that my car will be automatically disqualified from driving in the LEZ as of November, if I understand the new stricter emission rules correctly that surely only apply to inside the north/south circular?
The thing runs like a sewing machine though, so I’ve got no intention of letting Khaaan bounce my car off the road outright, not if I’m prepared to boycott London in future with it.
Comments and usual critique please folks.
I don’t think I’ll ever be buying a 15 plate or newer. Not until around 2030 or so anyway.
Many of the MOT places round here do no pass no fee but only up to 10 years old, then they hope you come back for the retest and pay up. It doesn’t actually cost them to do the test except the time, so its worth trying to get you in the door.
Best places I found for MOT are those which only do MOTs not the repairs else some places will find faults which magically appear on the test. Still happens even round less dodgy places.
trevHCS:
It doesn’t actually cost them to do the test except the time
And £10000s to get the MOT area set up, additional business rates on that space, several grand of test equipment and £1500 a year service contract for that.
trevHCS:
Many of the MOT places round here do no pass no fee but only up to 10 years old, then they hope you come back for the retest and pay up. It doesn’t actually cost them to do the test except the time, so its worth trying to get you in the door.
Best places I found for MOT are those which only do MOTs not the repairs else some places will find faults which magically appear on the test. Still happens even round less dodgy places.
Quickfittie and the rest are all the same, the car will always need either brakes/exhaust/tyres/battery etc to pass. Lucky its the type of jobs they can do
mrginge:
Quickfittie and the rest are all the same, the car will always need either brakes/exhaust/tyres/battery etc to pass. Lucky its the type of jobs they can do
Always treat the motor trade in any form as organised crime, particularly franchised dealers.
A friend who I work with took his bike to a well known local fraudster, failed on fork seals front discs and pads and corrosion on the exhaust.
I recommened a local garage that only does MOT’s and as if by magic the bike passed with no advisories.
The in out tyre and exhaust fitters (Halfords Kwik Fit) and so on seem to be the worst offenders, you always need an exhaust a battery or shock absorbers■■?
The problem with VoSA’s interpretation is that they want the tester to pass everything until the point when he has written out the test certificate, which is when they decide it should have failed.
I guess the hardest thing to fix if it goes wrong is the emissions test part of the MOT.
It would be nice to have a free test, and if it fails on something that is not economical to fix - scrap the car, no other money laid out to find out that news.
A free test “with a full service” wasn’t in the small print where I saw it advertised, nor “only on cars under 10 years old”. They would both defeat the object in my case of course.
I would like to avoid getting a car failed on some stuff which I pay to have fixed, and then later finding that they didn’t actually do the full MOT testing at the first occasion, so then later failing it on something they didn’t establish the first time around.
In the bigger picture of things, the computerized aspects of MOT uploaded data et al would mean that for the world of old bangers - Mickey Mouse MOTs of some description are going to end up being made available.
For example, in reference to future and present LEZ rules - if your car isn’t going anywhere near London - when is someone going to get caught going say 1% past the emissions limit for phlegm, tar, or bad breath and other stuff that an old banger might fail on.
cav551:
The problem with VoSA’s interpretation is that they want the tester to pass everything until the point when he has written out the test certificate, which is when they decide it should have failed.
Winseer:
I’ve noticed a few signs posted around faraway industrial estates for “walk in MOTs” or “no pass no fee” type deals. No price mentioned, but I’m thinking it would indeed be jolly convenient to be able to get one’s motor done there and then, rather than ■■■■■■■■ about waiting a week or two for a local appointment.
My questions are “does anyone have any experience of dealing with such walk-in services”, and “where’s the catch of course”?
My current MOT is coming up for expiry not until next month, but suddenly I’m finding trouble locally getting anyone who can both do the test and fix any problems found within that next month?!
I’ll put it down to “nice weather” etc. which if the case, bodes well for a nice high turnout at next month’s election.
I’m expecting to find out that with my old banger that my car will be automatically disqualified from driving in the LEZ as of November, if I understand the new stricter emission rules correctly that surely only apply to inside the north/south circular?
The thing runs like a sewing machine though, so I’ve got no intention of letting Khaaan bounce my car off the road outright, not if I’m prepared to boycott London in future with it.
Comments and usual critique please folks.
I don’t think I’ll ever be buying a 15 plate or newer. Not until around 2030 or so anyway.
Book your car in at your nearest council mot test centre. Straight tests as they don’t usually do repair work so no incentive for them to invent needless work.
As many have said, go were they only do mot’s, they don’t need the work but will ‘recomend’ somewhere,
Before presenting your car for test, check as much as you physical can, e.g. tyres,lights,wipers front AND rear, screenwash, make sure you take it for a good Italian tune up before you go. Anything below £30.00 they aren’t making any money, Vosa set an advisory minimum price, don’t know what that is now days.
New training regime introduced this year. Much as with the DCPC expect a lot of the older guys to quit because they don’t want to pay £75-£100 per year to do the online training and assessment. It’s also going to be harder for new testers to qualify.
