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Yup (I bet you all guessed I would!!)

I took my car (When I was single and had a few bob and was able to fund silly mind games!!) to a certain garage in Carlton owned by an aquaintance of mine.

He had told me of an annoying employee of his (Who was the only qualified MOT tester) who had the habit of dropping other folks in the doo doo to get himself the extra bob or two that an MOT would earn him. IE leaving his apprentice to put something back together (Alledgedly under his own supervision) which would not neccessarily work afterwards, and he would invariably blame the poor kid rather than his own lack of supervision) He would also fail 'good' motorsand offer to fix them 'on the side' for a 'reduced ' fee!! obviously doing no work as when it went back to be retested it miraculously passed!!

The garage had a reputation as being the worst place to take a motor as they all inveriably failed no matter what age they were.

So in went my "Vauxhall Astra" which passed (Despite his grunting and groaning) with flying colours. No wonder as it was only a 2 month old company car!! It was worth the abuse I got from him , to see the look on the testers face as everything was pristine, and hear his work mates comments (Who where all in on it, even the apprentice), as he didn't realise till he came to do the paperwork afterwards. (He should have filled the relavent details in first but was in such a hurry to grab his extra few bob!!!) I would love to say he never tried it on again, but I can't (As I never went back there again!!)

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Theres an Mot test station here.

MOT failures always include at least one tyre requiring replacement?

Some years ago SWMO took her car there with a charging problem.

They charged her £200 for work on the alternator.

A few weeks later the fault re occurred.

I removed the alternator which required the cutting of the main pivot bolt which was inserted from the

wing side and not the engine side. Had it been the other way round I could have withdrawn the bolt fully without cutting.

When I stripped the alternator down I found badly warned brushes which I replace.

Yes the alternator had never been stripped and had in fact been on the engine since it was built, hence the bolt.

Those who know about such things will immediately know what the garage did.

They hit the alternator with a hammer to reseat the brushes and charged SMWBO 200 notes, Thank you very much.

No wonder in recent years they have been able to build an extension and add a few more branches.

Beware.

I now only use Trevor at Spondon MOT Centre, He does no work, Only MOTs

Bit of a misserable sod, but I trust him only to fail on things that require failing.

Oh he does not accept cards so take the cash. You do get a discount if he sends you a reminder

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A friend of mine had a car fail an MOT due to corroded brake pipes and had them replaced at the same garage. A year later, same car, garage and tester, it failed again on brake pipes. When he produced receipt for last years new brake pipes they were "suddenly" ok and passed the test.

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Why anyone would take a car for MOT at a garage that does work beats me.

Take it to a 'Tester only', one month before due and return it with any repairs done.

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Never take my motor in for MOT before 14.00, on the grounds that the 'failures' would already have been selected...

The fact I now never clock more than 2,000 miles per annum (formerly 40K+!) might be a factor in regular passes.

Although sometimes maligned, I always get a top job done at my local ATS...

Cheers

Robt P.

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Back in the 70's & 80's I was an MOT tester and, for a period, a Deputy Traffic Commissioner.

About once a year we would receive a visit from the Vehicle Inspectorate (now called VOSA) and they checked our records and observed us carrying out a test. Never had any problems, Alan Burton was from the VI and a nice guy to deal with.

I recall a story he told us. Within the VI arsenal for testing rouge stations they had a decoy car with a known number of faults on it. They would get some random office employee to present the car for a test if they believed a testing station was not operating correctly.

The car was duly submitted at a testing station and the test was commenced. Half way through the test the tester returned to the office saying "You are from the Ministry, aren’t you"? Well, the person presenting the car was rumbled and asked "How do you know"? The tester showed on the underside of the car, the previous testing station where it had been used had written in yellow tyre chalk - "MOT Ministry car".

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When our car needed its first MOT my OH foolishly took it to the main dealer where he`d bought it less than a year previously.

They failed it on a brakes thing with a mega-expensive repair to be done.

When Derek asked how it`d deteriorated so much when they`d sold it as perfect and he did such low mileage they assured him that he hadn`t done ENOUGH mileage to ensure that the brakes remained in good condition.

Eh?

We didn`t go there again.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well you guys wanted to hear what it is like in Spain.

We have here an MOT (believe it or not!!), but here it called ITV.

The best thing is that it is government run (no private cowboys). You go in, pay your 40ish euros and they test your car. There are no backhanders (unless you know the guy, of course).

If they find something wrong, they give you the rest of the day to fix it, (well, until they close that is). So, if you have your headlights set up wrong, for example, you adjust them, show them what you have done and they write up the sustificut and away you go.

The problem is that if you have something seriously wrong, they won't even allow you to drive out of the place. You have to call a taxi to get you home where you will call up the garage, who will then send the breakdown truck to pick up your car. On top of that expense are the repairs to the car to get it roadworthy.

This lunacy can be got round however, if you think there is something wrong with your car that would make it fail the MOT. I live in the Basque country where the MOT is really strict. If I think there is something wrong with my car to make it fail, I will drive the 60 miles to Burgos, (in the province of Leon y Castilla), where it is far easier to get a "pass".

Sorry if this long-winded but it gives a different view, I feel.

Tara

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