Bogus MOT Legal Question

[Adge Cutler]

Here's the deal..

 

A female friend of mine has just bought a second hand car; £5k VW...She carried out all the checks, had a paid *** inspection and it has a full service History. The private seller had it MOT'd in good faith with a local testing Station/Garage.. the seller was genuine, pleasant Lady apparently who happens to be a GP. So pillar of Society type.

 

Said friend Knows I have a dealer friend and asks me if he would give the car a Full service and a look over, because it needed a service and also 5k is quite a lot of money for her to spend. I arrange a discounted service and called in and repaid a favour or two so everyone happy.

 

Friends technician subsequently finds 4 things wrong with it which are MOT failures... and 3 advisories... !!

 

Now technically she doesn't need to get these done because the car has a Valid MOT. However 2 of them are safety issues and the cost is likely to be around the £500 mark.

 

Question is has she any recourse and who is liable. ?

 

I have my opinion but would be interesting to know someone else's, especially if you have had a similar situation in the past.

[bluesj]

The problem you could have is that the mot is only really valid at the time of inspiration and is one persons view. Plus if as you say a number of things have been high lighted as safety issues then the driver could be seen to be knowingly driving a car unfit for the road!

[Rewulf]

+1

One MOT testers idea of a failure may not be anothers.

Are there any advisories on the MOT certificate ?

If there are not ,and there is obvious wear or defects,then it might be worth having a word with the MOT station and/or the seller.

If she is indeed a good person ,there may be a solution.

A shot across the MOT stations bows wont hurt either.

 

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

Edited November 3, 2016 by Rewulf

[Fuji Shooter]

My lad bought a 1960's Beetle from from a dealer who insisted on putting a 12 months MOT on it. We then drove it around the corner to be fully rebuilt only to be told by the restoration company that the were no bolts holding the body to chassis and the from steering box also had no bolts in it. We telephoned VOSA who came and performed an inspection on it and took action against the MOT station.

[Rewulf]

My lad bought a 1960's Beetle from from a dealer who insisted on putting a 12 months MOT on it. We then drove it around the corner to be fully rebuilt only to be told by the restoration company that the were no bolts holding the body to chassis and the from steering box also had no bolts in it. We telephoned VOSA who came and performed an inspection on it and took action against the MOT station.

 

For the record ,I am not an MOT tester,but I work in the motor trade.

I have noticed that often when a car is tested,certain things that are not immediately visible,can not really be tested.

For instance ,if a car has been fitted with side skirts/spoilers ect,it may not be prudent or feasible to remove such things to inspect for rot ect.

Like wise ,if in the case of the Beetle the missing bolts may not have been obvious until the car was stripped.

Just my opinion.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Rewulf

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Ultimately the work should be carried out for her sake, but getting either the garage that issued the MoT Certificate or the seller to pay will be next to impossible.

[Fuji Shooter]

 

For the record ,I am not an MOT tester,but I work in the motor trade.

I have noticed that often when a car is tested,certain things that are not immediately visible,can not really be tested.

For instance ,if a car has been fitted with side skirts/spoilers ect,it may not be prudent or feasible to remove such things to inspect for rot ect.

Like wise ,if in the case of the Beetle the missing bolts may not have been obvious until the car was stripped.

Just my opinion.

 

Actually the restoration company called us is and showed 2 guys lifting the body free from the car

[four-wheel-drive]

This is one reason why I prefer to buy a car/truck from a reputable garage as they will usually try to protect there reputation by putting faults rite at lest for three months after you buy it from them.

 

The first thing that I do when I see a car/truck that I like is look on the internet at the gov MOT history firstly they cannot clock it as you can see at what miles it was MOTd in the past and you can also see what it needed doing in the past to get it through also what adviserys there are or was.

Edited November 3, 2016 by four-wheel-drive

[Rewulf]

 

Actually the restoration company called us is and showed 2 guys lifting the body free from the car

 

Not doubting that at all,but whilst driving it nothing seemed amiss?

Like I say, if its not obvious ,or the bolts arent visible,you could potentially have a death trap on yours or someone elses hands.

An MOT tester follows a set procedure, Im sure one of them isnt attempting to lift the body off the chassis.

[four-wheel-drive]

My lad bought a 1960's Beetle from from a dealer who insisted on putting a 12 months MOT on it. We then drove it around the corner to be fully rebuilt only to be told by the restoration company that the were no bolts holding the body to chassis and the from steering box also had no bolts in it. We telephoned VOSA who came and performed an inspection on it and took action against the MOT station.

I can only assume that someone had painted underseal over the holes as it would be clear to see if the there was no bolts in the holes but anyway it is just daft even a fool would not do something like that as it was bound to come back on them.

 

I always like to think that there is a good reason for things like this and it could be that the person who was restoring it was ill or even died and someone elce took it over and just assumed that it had been bolted on.

Edited November 3, 2016 by four-wheel-drive

[Vince Green]

The car I am driving now came with a long MOT and only about 300 miles since. When I bought it I put it into a highly respected Mercedes independent who I have used for years to check it over. He flagged up quite a few things like seriously rusty rear brake pipes, ball joints etc that should have been picked up at the MOT.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Vince Green

[Vince Green]

To be honest, I don't expect that MOT examiners see enough Beetles these days to know what to look for. Technically they don't have a chassis they have a floorpan, but I'm not actually sure that the body fixing Is a fail item (?). All the structural stuff bolts to the floorpan. The steering is a different matter.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Vince Green

[Fuji Shooter]

I'm not actually sure that the body fixing Is a fail item (?). All the structural stuff bolts to the floorpan.

Instant fail apparently which is why they called vosa in.

[scutt]

the magic word is excessive = corrosion . wear. play. movement, noise, emissions that's when M.O.T. testing comes down to the tester. In over twenty years as a tester and QC. I only had one refresher course .This was an attempt to standardise testing. .If anyone is unhappy with a test result then the local guv test station is the place to go to flag up any problems with the testing station, not your favourite garage or dealer and have them repair it.

[Vince Green]

You have to remember there are dodgy MOTs that go the other way as well, try taking a car to Kwikfit for an MOT

[scutt]

You have to remember there are dodgy MOTs that go the other way as well, try taking a car to Kwikfit for an MOT

VERY TRUE. not happy then contact GUV testing centre

[HDAV]

Most councils run mot test centres with no vested interests either way

 

Discounted service you say.....?

[bornfree]

The Polish boys at work all get their cars tested by emailing the log book and £60. The garage doesn't even see the car. One garage got shut down but another has opened up apparently run by Lithuanians.

[hodge911]

there is a line of action she can take she needs to contact vosa and ask for a decision from them for weather or not the car should have passed the general rule of thumb but not 100% is that if the faults are mechanical i.e ball joint track rod ends shockers etc if the test was carried out within a month of the complaint then vosa take a dim light of it or if its corrosion then the complaint should be within 3 months of the date of test .

she could get the garage who have found the said faults to jot them down go back to the original testing station and ask them if they would like to take a look at the faults with a view to put them right before she gets vosa involved or she can go onto vosa web site

or use this form

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449313/complain-about-an-mot-vt17.pdf

[gustaff]

i own a testing station which my son runs any issues not 100% are logged as advisories acording to vosa guidlinesand the tester has to stand buy his/her test results for corrosion wear assesments for passes for three months as vosa wiil penalise tester and station heavily if complaints are justified

[Lord O War]

From a private seller she has zero come back. A case of you pays your money and take a chance. As for the MOT well best case there will be the station gets into bother for poor standards.

[db135]

I'm a mot tester for 20 years last mot refresher course I went on was told any uncertainty on any testable items the customer always gets the benefit of the doubt and always refer to the testing manual if needed in 20 years never had any complaints ether way

[db135]

The last van I bought got it off eBay had just been mot the week before I bought it traveled all the way to Blackburn for it got it back home had it on the ramp the next day engine had a monster oil leak drive shaft boot split looks like been like that for ages now one advisory at all so any conciliation it happens to the best of us lol

[kyska]

I think the moral of this story is not to trust a Dr, my wife is also a poisonous bitch

Edited November 4, 2016 by kyska

[alendil]

So My quick story.

I was made redundant and gon about working on the farm asap ( milking, tractor driving etc.)

Cos i was using my vectra to go to and off the farm it was getting a lot of abuse and muck inside.

i did have 3k to spend and after long serch found nice l200 for sale

i thought i did my research so i gone for rely nice and clean 52 plate Thai import with 2.8 na motor ( avoiding turbo and cam belt problems )

 

any way car is nice and does drive spot on ( to me anyway ) But instead advertised 75 k miles on the clock there is 145 k miles

 

and vehicle is clocking in miles for good knows how long ( perhaps for ever) also heater was on full blast ever since and aircon is non existance.

 

i was naive and did like truck to much. Long story short Ben Bucks from A1 garages at york sales dodgy motors.

 

You always better of with big company than local small garadge.