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How much confidence can be placed on an MOT?


Wingman
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Hi All

Ok, so I am a bit paranoid it comes with the territory of working for 20 years in Security roles!

My wife has seen a car she wants to buy, it looks very straight in nice condition and from a "reputable" used car dealer.  The dealer also has a service and MOT department so today they have at our request MOT'd the vehicle and its passed with no advisories.  Why am I suspicious?, well surely if a used car dealer has an MOT function then they would have a vested interest in making sure the car passes so it can be sold.  So my question is whether the MOT process could be bent in favour of the seller or are there checks and balances in place that make this unlikely?  Having not purchased a car for the last 10 years (due to having company vehicles) I am a bit unsure of the process, I remember back in the day stories of bunging the tester a few quid to make sure the car passed!

Cheers all, stay safe! 

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5 minutes ago, washerboy said:

Have a look at its previous mot history on line. 

Yep, done that car is 6 years old so had a few advisories last time and a previous fail due to a damaged tyre and a child seat stopping the tester from being able to test the seatbelt!

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Best way in this instance is to take the car to a council run test centre. They do not carry out repairs or recommend where to have them carried out. I advised my sister in law to do this as she was feeling very unsafe after the local garage had been advising her that her car was in a dangerous state and that they ought to get her another car. One visit to the council test centre and the car passed with no advisories. This put her mind at ease and she has had it running fine without any problems since. 

FB

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MoT testers can be checked by VOSA with a no notice inspection at any time. This can be in the form of a request to carry out a test on a car that the inspector has brought with him/her or they will book a test for a car that has faults.

Vic.

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Mot isn’t all that (it’s the minimum requirement to be on the public road) get an independent inspection not sure if AA/RAC are doing them at the moment but they are much deeper than an mot.... Or buy a brand new car cause they never have faults........

Edited by HDAV
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first thing is the BIG NO NO  is for a garage to issue a mot pass to "promote the sale of a vehicle" whilst not making the vehicle is 100% acceptable to mot standard (which by the way is itself a grey area as it states the vehicle reaches the minimum standard to achieve a pass ) vosa will immediately suspend the station from testing if it is found to have passed it just to make a sale . most paces like you describe i.e car sales incorporating workshop and mot station will not list the advisories (even tho they should by law) as most people will see the listing of things that have been advised and query why its passed or add hey will not continue with the deal until all the advisories have been repaired therefore reducing the profit from the sale .

but having said that there is more reputable dealers than not but you never know . 

when I tested... the car sales pitches in the area that used the station I tested at hated me as I would list everything that needed to be listed .

on more than one occasion they would ask if it has advisories to just put them on a "bit of paper" and not to list on the pass certificate as nearly always the buyer would take a vested interest in getting all the advisories fixed .

if you have any worries my advice would be get your mechanic to give it a good going over or better still if your in the AA or RAC get them to insect the vehicle prior to purchase  as an mot is an examination to make sure the vehicle reaches the minimum standards to be safe to use on the road and only that it reaches that standard at time of test and should not be taken as a statement into the overall vehicle condition 

I was a tester for 25+ years before my back packed in 

Edited by hodge911
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I have my machanic pre mot my car a few weeks before then if anything needs doing it will all be done. So in 3 years I haven't had a fail or even an advisory. 

I would still buy the car you have in mind, then have it checked over. If it has issues and isn't fit for purpose then you can take it back 

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4 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

It goes the other way too, some MOT stations "find" problems then charge you to fix them before they will pass it

It certanly does, Most of those that offer a discounted MoT Test are the ones that will find work to make up the shortfall.:rolleyes:

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Back in the day , I would mot my own sales cars , and I would fail anything that was anything less than perfect ( even things that I might pass on a mot for a member of the public) . I didn't only do it as a matter of integrity,  it was also to cover my own back . If a testing station gets caught putting dodgy mot tests on their own sales cars , they'll be in a whole world of grief , yes some will do it , but most places aren't that stupid.

I used to put a new mot on every car that I sold (even if it had 12months on it when I bought it), it was for my own peace of mind .  It's just easier to do things right , than take the risk of doing it wrong.

When I used to sell the trade ins to other traders , I would go through a full mot test , and record all faults , and the buyer would sign on the dotted line that they bought the car with the faults . It's just the easiest way to sleep easy at night.👍.

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On 24/05/2020 at 07:29, Vince Green said:
On 24/05/2020 at 07:29, Vince Green said:

It goes the other way too, some MOT stations "find" problems then charge you to fix them before they will pass it

That is also a big no no in vosa rules .

If you think that a vehicle has failed on something it shouldn't you can request vosa to check vehicle and if they find in your favour the garage will be in the do do .... a mot station can NOT make you have the repairs carried out by them its up to the owner where the repairs are done .

The station I was at was a dedicated one only carried out the test no repairs 

 

Edited by hodge911
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On 22/05/2020 at 14:00, Wingman said:

My wife has seen a car she wants to buy, it looks very straight in nice condition and from a "reputable" used car dealer.  The dealer also has a service and MOT department so today they have at our request MOT'd the vehicle and its passed with no advisories

That's the minimum you would expect from a dealer at that end of the market.  Fresh MOT, no advisories.

As others have stated, don't get hung up on the MOT, it really is a minimum standard for a vehicle to be roadworthy.  It does not, never has, and never will, guarantee that the car is 'safe' - whatever that means.

The onus remains on you to ensure you have a roadworthy vehicle, at all times.

It is only a visual inspection (ok brakes/emissions/headlamp alignement are checked on dedicated kit).

It also tells you nothing about the condition of the engine, whether the vehicle has been looked after, etc.

Do yourself a favour and pay for an RAC/AA inspection if you feel it necessary.  But honestly, if you're buying at that end of the market, the dealer will offer a warranty included in the price.  If you like it, buy car, drive car.  In case of problems, take back to dealer.

Edited by udderlyoffroad
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