Mot

[CMR]

Quick question, its the first time I have to put my merc through a MOT. Do I just go to my nearest one or do test garages vary? Are some dodgy maybe? What should I look out for (national franchised places or your local 'been doing it for years' type garage) or does it not matter? Any thoughts much appreciated. Chris.

 

[S80]

Hi Chris,

For many years now I've taken my cars to a testing station which does only that - i.e. doesn't do any repairs.

I've always worked on the principle that they have no vested interest in failing a car just to effect repairs which may not really be necessary.

Incidentally, they've never offer any discounted rates on the test - my cynical view is that 'fast fit' places will use them as a 'lure' to trap the unwary

 

[CMR]

Thanks S80 that is a very valid point.

 

[mlc]

You need to use a test station that you trust, if you dont know one then ask your friends until you find on that is recommended.

Lots of the tests are subjective, so you need to find a tester that is reasonable in their views, they need to enusre that the car is safe and legal but at the same time accept that some wear and tear can be present.

Sadly too many test centres see the MOT as a money cow, and even more sadly lots of the "fast fit" chains are the worst offenders.

Good luck.

Mark.

 

[mlc]

You need to use a test station that you trust, if you dont know one then ask your friends until you find on that is recommended.

Lots of the tests are subjective, so you need to find a tester that is reasonable in their views, they need to enusre that the car is safe and legal but at the same time accept that some wear and tear can be present.

Sadly too many test centres see the MOT as a money cow, and even more sadly lots of the "fast fit" chains are the worst offenders.

Good luck.

Mark.

 

[CMR]

Right I visted 4 places on my way home just to see the kind of place set up etc. Unfortunately all test places had garages services attached. One was a place the person from who I bought the car from (indie dealer) recommended which seemed to specialize in bodywork. In the end though, I decieded to use a Merc Indie who has been reccomended on this forum. (West Loondon). Now my point is that when I asked about total cost, it turns out it is the MOT PLUS a £20 fee for driving the car to and from the test station. Is this normal? or is this taking the p***? Can anyone give me their thoughts on this as it is bugging me a bit and I dont know whether to cancel? as it would seem I am paying someone just to drive my car, although the plus side of things is this garage seems very exprienced and specializes only in mercs.

 

[television]

Surely if you drive the car there yourself there can be no £20 driving charge

 

[CMR]

You would have thought so, but its one of those 'were're so booked up we can fit you in if you leave the car at 8am' then p/up at 6pm kind of thing, not a while you wait. So it seem I either use them or not if that is their policy? Just wondered if this is acceptable or is it playing on reputation?

 

[kid-jensen]

CMR,

If you're in West London then Heathrow can't be too far.

This place is highly recommendable:

Berkely MOT service Ltd. 718 Bath Road, Cranford.

It's in Berkeley Avenue, somewhere near the middle of this page...

http://multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?...ble=&ovtype=&zm=0&scale=10000&up.x=286&up.y=6

It's an oasis of calm and civility in what's generally a ****ty area. They do free retests and don't have a workshop, so no reason to "invent" work to charge you for.

They even have free coffee and a dip in the Quality Street.......what more could you ask for?

I've been going there for 15 years or more..

 

[television]

CMR,




They even have free coffee and a dip in the Quality Street.......what more could you ask for?

I've been going there for 15 years or more..

I nice lady ???

 

[rf065]

Right I visted 4 places on my way home just to see the kind of place set up etc. Unfortunately all test places had garages services attached. One was a place the person from who I bought the car from (indie dealer) recommended which seemed to specialize in bodywork. In the end though, I decieded to use a Merc Indie who has been reccomended on this forum. (West Loondon). Now my point is that when I asked about total cost, it turns out it is the MOT PLUS a £20 fee for driving the car to and from the test station. Is this normal? or is this taking the p***? Can anyone give me their thoughts on this as it is bugging me a bit and I dont know whether to cancel? as it would seem I am paying someone just to drive my car, although the plus side of things is this garage seems very exprienced and specializes only in mercs.

I've had a similiar experience, turns out the garage was not registered to do MOT's, but their sister garage in the next town was. So they drive to that garage, MOT it, and return it to the original garage where you left it. Hence the £20 fee, and why you need to drop it off at 8:00 and dont get it back till late. In my case they did not charge the extra £20 though.

Garages that do MOT's and do not do repairs, are sometimes run by the local councils. Some obscure reason about councils MOT their own vehicles and have to offer the same service to the public. They only fail vehicles for good reason, as they have no interest in repairing them, you need to check with your local council for the nearest one to you.

Russ

 

[CMR]

Great thanks for that PaulG, its not too far and does sound very good - I welcome oasises of calm particularly living in London! Unfortunately because of time, by lunchtime I'd gone for the dealer recommended one (bodyshop shop) as I had to get this done soon but I will definately check that place out. Cheers.

 

[CMR]

Interesting rf065 will explore that avenue

 

[rf065]

A more detailed explanation from the money saving expert, Martin Lewis;

This is all about using Local Council/Government MOT test centres. Many local councils have their own MOT testing stations for council vehicles (i.e. buses and ambulances). Yet by law these test centres must be open to the general public. As they only carry out tests, and not repairs, there's no incentive for mechanics to find faults that don't exist.

Thousands of savvy MoneySavers have used these test centres and report their cars consistently passed the test or were told they needed fewer repairs than when compared to having MOTs done at other garages.

So while you may miss out on the special ‘cheap MOT testing' deal, the money you save in repairs should make up for it. Of course there are no guarantees, you may go to a Local Council test centre and be told repairs are needed, which is good, as its for your safety and you always want to know if your car's got a problem.

Hope that explains it better,

Russ

 

[television]

A more detailed explanation from the money saving expert, Martin Lewis;

This is all about using Local Council/Government MOT test centres. Many local councils have their own MOT testing stations for council vehicles (i.e. buses and ambulances). Yet by law these test centres must be open to the general public. As they only carry out tests, and not repairs, there's no incentive for mechanics to find faults that don't exist.

Thousands of savvy MoneySavers have used these test centres and report their cars consistently passed the test or were told they needed fewer repairs than when compared to having MOTs done at other garages.

So while you may miss out on the special ‘cheap MOT testing' deal, the money you save in repairs should make up for it. Of course there are no guarantees, you may go to a Local Council test centre and be told repairs are needed, which is good, as its for your safety and you always want to know if your car's got a problem.

Hope that explains it better,

Russ

Sounds like Sweden where they are all state run, good system though

 

[Rory]

In the end though, I decieded to use a Merc Indie who has been reccomended on this forum. (West Loondon). Now my point is that when I asked about total cost, it turns out it is the MOT PLUS a £20 fee for driving the car to and from the test station.

This is completely pointless from the point of view of trusting the test centre - you've got no idea where it's being done, and no chance to question the tester first hand.

As others have suggested, the council run centres or any others doing MOT's only should be best. I noticed that our local BT depot does MOT's.

 

[CMR]

This is completely pointless from the point of view of trusting the test centre - you've got no idea where it's being done, and no chance to question the tester first hand.

As others have suggested, the council run centres or any others doing MOT's only should be best. I noticed that our local BT depot does MOT's.

I'm not sure if I understand this point. My original idea was that this is a well reputed Merc independant who put countless vehicles through their chosen MOT test centre so should the car fail I thought you may be in a better hands to have any work done rather than franchised 'mr clutch tyre and exhauts et al' having a go (it was the £20 fee I was originally questioning). Are you actually suggesting that there may be a reciprocal agreement between the garage and MOT centre whereby if the garage puts 'x' amount of cars through the MOT centre, in turn they (the garage) get 'x' amount of failures to content with?. I do agree about test only centres and I have looked at my council's website and looked quite thoroughly but find no mention of council MOT centres, I suppose I could ring them to check. Thanks for your points anyway.

 

[kid-jensen]

Malcolm Wrote:

(Quote) "They even have free coffee and a dip in the Quality Street.......what more could you ask for?"

I nice lady ???

Wouldn't we all.........unfortunately, despite Houndslow being "tart central" there's only respectful older mechanics in clean overalls to be seen.

The British Airways Hostess-hangout is just along the road though, if uniforms float your boat........

 

[television]

Malcolm Wrote:

(Quote) "They even have free coffee and a dip in the Quality Street.......what more could you ask for?"

I nice lady ???

Wouldn't we all.........unfortunately, despite Houndslow being "tart central" there's only respectful older mechanics in clean overalls to be seen.

The British Airways Hostess-hangout is just along the road though, if uniforms float your boat........

I do know that area very well, think that I will stick it out down here and just dream

 

[Rory]

I'm not sure if I understand this point.

Your original question was about whether some MOT's test centre's might be 'dodgy'.

The point I was making is that, while it's difficult to answer that, it strikes me that you're even less likely to know if you don't even deal with the test centre directly, but instead go through a 3rd party.

Are you actually suggesting that there may be a reciprocal agreement between the garage and MOT centre whereby if the garage puts 'x' amount of cars through the MOT centre, in turn they (the garage) get 'x' amount of failures to content with?.

I hadn't even thought of that, but it's a good point!