Taking the car for another MOT

[Nemoeinstein]

Car went in for an MOT today, got a call to say it had failed and had numerous big things wrong with it and a large list of advisories. Advised to not bother with the repair work (£1000+). Not issued with an MOT failure certificate and not charged for the work despite offering as apparently it took less than an hour to check. I asked them to write down the main things that were wrong with it but it looks fairly generic to me (corrosion, handbrake not performing well, steering leak fault etc). I’m a bit confused, should I not have got a failure certificate? Not used this garage before so now I’m concerned they just didn’t want to bother with the repair work or haven’t even undertaken the MOT properly. Is it stupid to go get another MOT done by another garage? Clueless about cars!

[Nemoeinstein]

Also think it’s strange they didn’t charge me? Maybe they were feeling sorry for me if the problems were that bad?

[Kinneddar]

My car failed a couple of years ago but I never got a fail certificate. Check your car out on vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.10943350.357213716.1615484717-1466081818.1592996990 The failure should be recorded

[LIZS]

Was it an mot or a pre-mot check? A failure and Advisories are recorded online if former.

[maggiecate]

You should get a failure certificate according to the gov.uk site: www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test. If they haven’t given you one and haven’t charged you I’d be a bit suspicious tbh. Have they offer to “take it off your hands” by any chance?

[Nowayhozay]

Sounds like they were just trying to do you a favour, you would have had to pay for the MOT if they had failed it.

[jendifer]

I’ve not been charged before when it failed and they said it wasn’t worth the work. They offered to buy the car off me, and said the MOT cost was effectively for the certificate. They said I could get it checked elsewhere so I rung a different garage who spoke to this one and they agreed.

[EmilyEmmabob]

Garages are advised not to give certificates at the moment, you can check online and the details of the failure will be listed on the electronic certificate.

MoT failures and advisories are always generic because the tester has to use a phrase bank to avoid any discrepancies between what constitutes a fail or an advisory. It is also a generic check, so they'll test the efficiency of the handbrake and brakes and they'll report on what they can see, but it doesn't involve stripping the car down to see exactly why they aren't efficient. If the tester can see corrosion then he would report that.

[Changemaname1]

It sounds like they did a check over before they actually did an MOT which is why they didn’t charge u

[User0ne]

If you want a failure certificate you'll have to pay for it; the garsge have to pay a fee to register the mot.

You could take it somewhere else and ask for a cost to repair ready for an MOT which will give you an idea. Unless you've taken it to a garage that mainly works on new cars (less than 5yrs old) though they've probably given you a reasonable assessment

[Nemoeinstein]

@Kinneddar the existing certificate doesn’t expire until the end of this month so I don’t think it’ll show up on there but thanks.

@lizs pretty sure it was an MOT, atleast that’s what I asked for.

@maggiecate ahhh interesting, sounds like I should have definitely been given one! I’ll email them over the weekend and ask whether I’ll be receiving one from them and maybe this will give some insight.

@Nowayhozay yeah they might have been, I’ll get some more info off them. Don’t want to excuse them of anything if they actually were in the right and trying to save me money too!

[EvilPea]

I think there’s also legalities about driving it away if it’s failed as it’s not considered road worthy. If i remember rightly they technically shouldn’t allow you to drive it away. So if they haven’t tested it officially they may have done you a favour.
What’s it failed on?

[Nemoeinstein]

@jendifer @EmilyEmmabob @Changemaname1 @User0ne all really helpful responses. Thank you so much! Looks like it’s legit then and they are just an extra nice garage

[EvilPea]

The new official test would mean it has no MOT regardless of the date of expiry for the old one.

[sunflowersandbuttercups]

It should be online. Even if your previous MOT hadn't expired yet, if it's been assessed again then it'll be on the website.

All you need to do is put your reg no. in and it'll tell you what it failed on.

[Nemoeinstein]

@EvilPea they said it was safe to drive until the certificate expires. Fail on Something to do with handbrake, something on the steering rack(?), corrosion and power steering leak I think

[sunflowersandbuttercups]

[quote Nemoeinstein]@EvilPea they said it was safe to drive until the certificate expires. Fail on Something to do with handbrake, something on the steering rack(?), corrosion and power steering leak I think[/quote]
If it's failed it's MOT I'm pretty sure you can't drive it.

That sounds very dodgy to me.

[sunflowersandbuttercups]

Hang on, you can, depending on what faults were listed.

Were any of them listed as "dangerous"?

www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test

[ETPhoneHome19]

If it has failed you shouldn’t drive it. MOT testers have been advised not to give out certificates due to Covid and it’s all available online.
Not quite sure how your car can fail an MOT but be safe to drive until the certificate expires. That’s dodgy to me and I work in the motor trade. Take it to another garage maybe?

[Kinneddar]

If the MOT has been done it'll show up. It shows as valid until but it should show a Fail under todays date. My car is always MOTd before the due date and the MOT site is updated literally instantly. Just check your car out. Takes seconds to do and then you'll know for sure

[Nemoeinstein]

Ok so no record of today’s MOT on the database...

[Kinneddar]

I'd definitely get onto them. When my car failed the fail showed up before the garage had even phoned to tell me. They did the work and the pass was recorded instantly too. Sounds very odd

[ETPhoneHome19]

@Nemoeinstein

Ok so no record of today’s MOT on the database...

Means it hasn’t been logged. A failure would always be logged. Strange

[pumpkinpie01]

As they didn't charge you I would say they have done a pre MOT. If they had charged it would be logged, the system doesn't often update until the next day anyway

[JaceLancs]

They’ve done you a favour because now you can still drive until current MOT expires
Unless you know a cheap mechanic I would listen to them about it not being worth repairing
DP works on all our vehicles and depending on age of car might well say enough is enough with a huge list of faults and that’s when I’m not paying labour charges

[murbblurb]

Something odd. The MoT appears on the database very soon after it is entered. There's no magic point when something safe will turn unsafe. You've been told you have an unsafe vehicle. Fix or scrap, don't drive.