Where To Get Your Car Moted?

[Hoovie]

Well, I know, but just a little reminder and note to those who may not be aware or forget .....

You local council runs MOT stations which can carry out the MOT inspection but is not allowed to make any repairs, so therefore they have no interest in exaggerating any work that could be required.

Example: Last week, I took the Suzuki in for an MOT, it having covered a mammoth 3,000 miles since the last MOT. The council tester passed the car with no advisories noted, but mentioned to me the the brake discs had some uneven wear patterns and might be an idea to do something in the spring time (so wait for the winter grime and salt to just attack old discs rather then brand new ones). He also said that there was a split in the bush on suspension arm which *could* fail but unlikely and if it did it would not be dangerous, just need sorting.

I mentioned I happens to be heading to Suzuki dealer next and the tester said "oh, they would have told you replacement suspension and discs...."

So I left the MOT place and went to the Suzuki garage as we are getting an occasional squeal fom the fan belt that could be belt or could be alternator and they could advise which it was. Anyway.... Told them we had this squeal and they went out on a test drive to analyse and came back after 30 mins with a big list of things that must be fixed. Yup, you have probably guessed ....

New suspension arms due to split bush, new front brake discs and pads, rear brake deglaze, and a rear wiper blade (no mention of alternator or belt though?!).

To put this back on a Toyota theme, when I had my Celica, I took it to the supplying Toyota Dealer for the MOT and they failed it on a worn suspension bush, and cost to repair would be £700 (that was over 15 years ago as well). Took it to a Jap sports car specialist to get another quote and they said yes, it was a bit worn, but it didn't need any work to pass the MOT and processed it.

[steve_lj]

Do ALL councils run the MOT test facility ?? Wasnt aware of our local council doing so - but will investigate.

cheers

[dwilson]

My local council do MOTs and I have wondered about using them but have not done so yet!

Our RAV is MOTd at the Toyota main dealer at the same time as its service and I haven't had any issues yet but there again I want to keep it in tip top condition so I just have to trust them!

I do have a 17 year old Micra and that is serviced at a trustworthy independent local garage and they take it elsewhere for the MOT. The last time it needed some welding before it would pass and it has an advisory on something else so I think I will have to say goodbye to it soon.

David

[Hoovie]

Do ALL councils run the MOT test facility ?? Wasnt aware of our local council doing so - but will investigate.

cheers

I think it is a legal requirement that they do so. I am in a very rural area and I know of 4 council run stations within 30 miles of me!

[firemac]

Do ALL councils run the MOT test facility ?? Wasnt aware of our local council doing so - but will investigate.

cheers

Check the local council's website. If it doesn't specifically mention MOT's under the "Transport" or similar heading then just type "MOT" into the site's search engine & it should come up. Our council (Cheshire East) has a centre that is available to the public.

Like David above, I've always had MoT's done by Mr.T with an annual service and, so far, I've never had reason to complain - my local dealer is pretty good and has always offered discounted MoT fees. They are also sensible about advisories and related work. In fact on one of the few occasions where the RAV needed something doing & I'd OK'd the work, once they got into it and cleaned up the component (it was a section of corroded brake pipe) they found that they could treat it and reseal it at much less cost that replacing, even though they had ordered the parts in and could have just gone ahead at a much greater cost.

They do seem to actually care about customer relations.

[KPARRIS-JONES]

I haven't heard of my local council running them, I usually find they're too busy towing broken cars out of potholes....