49 replies to this topic

[Hughes]

Having been on here a couple of years now it never ceases to amaze me how worked up people get about MOT's. I know allot of it is 'tongue in cheek' but there still seems to be this fear of having your car inspected each year!

Fair enough, owning a Mini means each MOT is likely to mean spending money BUT if your Mini is unsafe to be used on the road wouldn't you rather know about it?

If my Mini was a daily driver and I wasn't able to check it over myself, I think i'd seriously consider having it checked over more regularly than every 12 months.

H

[sazal]

It's not so bad with minis as they're always quite easily repairable, but we've lost 2 cars to the crusher since they weren't worth repairing. We get very attached to cars too!

I personally don't like taking my mini for an mot, just in they case they find something nasty, or wreck my engine revving the balls of it when doing the emissions test

[danie garry]

i think its more the work u put into u'r car thats being tested and thats what gets people worked up

its worse over here, basically if u dont know bout cars u can pay a garage over the odds to check for the test, then pay them to do the work or pay €50 for the test, then if it fails pay to have it fixed and then as long as u'r getting the retest within a month pay another 25 for the retest. at least in england the tester could be the person fixing the car

[Roo]

I spent £900 to get phoe passed her latestest MoT. I didn't want to spend that at all. So yeah I fear the mot everytime.

6 attempts later and I've come away with just an advisory which is stone chips in the windscreen.

It's the worst feeling ever to come away with a big red fail certificate, after all the time and money has been put into it, to pass it's MoT.

[Hughes]

Yeah I do understand the fear of a big bill. No one wants to spend £900! BUT there must have been faults with the car that deem it unsafe for you to use on the road to carry other people in it.

An MOT is hardly a nut and bolts inspection.

[Roo]

Actually the 1st mot had a dangerous fault. Leaking brakelines. That was the garages fault as they ownly replaced them a week earlier.

2nd failure was exhaust noise. Does that make a car insafe to drive?

Luckily another mot station picked up the rear radius arm having excessive play.

It does show that even tho your car has passed an MoT, how do you know it's actually safe to drive? Some stations miss things that others will not.

[Joloke08]

Another thing to consider is if they jack your beloved Mini up in the wrong place
Most Mainstream MOT station dont care
If your Lucky though and get an Mini Friendly MOT testing Station your OK though

Luckily Boris Passed with No advisories last year but i never take it for granted,if he wasnt safe id want to know about it but i think what upsets and worries us Mini Owners is when we know the car is Safe but it fails on silly little things,you fix the silly little thing and something else silly fails and you have to take it back for retest after retest

you then see a Boring Eurobox on the road with rustholes big enough to climb through,smoking like a chain smoker and with half the lights out

Mot testers seem to fail Classic cars just because they cant be Bothered
Whereas theres lots of Boring Modern and Dangerous cars on the road that apparently have an MOT

I could say the same as Hughes but wait until your Mini fails one year and see if you still feel the same?

[taffy1967]

The fear is that you're going to have to pay out lots of money and feel quite depressed when they start poking holes in the sills or wheel arches etc.

Yes we all want our Minis to be safe and sound, but that doesn't mean we won't have nightmares about what the MOT results will be.

[alfie]

I dont understand why people worry. it seems some people just dont know what their doing and just make things worse, meaning it takes longer to get a ticket. if you do it right the first time then there is nothing to worry about. and if your a bit of a muppet get a proffesional to sort it.

[998dave]

I had a few dodgy MOT experiences, when I bought the blue Mayfair it came with it's MOT failure sheet, I fixed everything, and got another dozen failure points to fix as well. The garage was very good though, put it back on the ramps, and pointed out exactly what they wanted doing, then commented on my work when it was done.

I took them my Red Mayfair MOT as well, and they showed me the advisories, and were more then happy with everything else.

As they know me, and the cars, I think I'll be sticking with them, especially to give the Hornet's their first going over's when I've restored them, don't want to miss anything when putting a car back on the road after 8 or more years!

Dave

[gordioda]

I think a lot of the time its people who have a bad experience (dodgy testers with bad habits) which is fair enough, just have to try and find somewhere decent and stick with them, small independant businesses usually take better care of their car's/customers as they rely on returning customers and word of mouth rather than spending loads on advertising

and no MOT station should be 'revving the balls of it when doing the emissions test' the only reason i can think of that they might do this is to get a bit more heat into the cat to help it pass the test if it was just on the limit

[jamesie]

You should see what has to be done to prep an LGV for VOSA MoT inspection.

[gordioda]

You should see what has to be done to prep an LGV for VOSA MoT inspection.

we were getting our big flatbed ready for it's MOT when one of the con rods had an argument with the rest of the engine and came shotting out the side of the block, we decided maye it wasnt quite ready to be tested...

[Hughes]

Im quite lucky in that my current MOT station is one of my customers so when I have the Mini done they let me watch the inspector do his work.

However with all other cars in the past it didnt concern me. Obviously I hoped/prayed it wouldn't be a large bill. BUT, if it needs work just to make it safe for me to drive and more importantly for me to carry other people then so be it. Its a consequence of owning an older car.

People should look at MOT's as piece of mind.

[taffy1967]

Yes it's piece of mind, but when you don't have a great deal of money (like many a young Mini driver) it can also mean your Mini will be off the road until funds are saved to get it sorted.

To me it's like visiting the dentist and you're just quaking in your boots with worry that they'll find a cavity or whatever. It's essential, but still a worrying time.

My local MOT tester has a little side room with windows so you can watch them inspecting your Mini. So that gives me extra piece of mind.

Edited by taffy1967, 08 February 2010 - 07:56 PM.