Car seats and MOTs

[Mylittlesandwich]

My car is going in for an MOT in a few weeks and I am about to ask some very stupid questions.

1 - is it ok to just leave my babies car seat in the car? I'll probably have to walk home/get a bus which would be quite difficult with his car seat in the car. DH will (hopefully) be working and so won't be able to look after DS for me and I'm not allowed to get a lift.

2 - roughly how much does it cost to get new break shoes/pads? I know nobody can answer that for sure but it's the only thing I think my car might need and due to Covid we are skint so a rough idea might help take the sting off.

3 - is there anything I should think off before dropping my car off? I know I'll need fuel so they can do an emissions test etc but is there anything else I should do? My last car was newer and so I didn't have it through an MOT.

1. Yes you can
2. If they fail on that, do not immediately get the MOT centrer to do it, shop around (my MOT people quoted me £400 to sort an issue they said was "huge" with my exhaust and a back

light that they failed me on. Mate of DH took a look, said "why on earth did he fail you on that, that's not fail worthy", and sorted it for £50 and a pint. They aren't all bad but I always get a second quote at least

1. Check your tyre pressure, treads and also your windscreen wash and wipers (I got failed on those before, bloody daft)

You can also get a pre-MOT if you have chance which will give you a good idea of what they feel it will fail on, then depending on worth of car you can guess whether it's worth bothering or better to scrap and replace.

If you take your car for an MOT and there is a child seat strapped in place using either the seat belt or ISOFIX, the tester is not allowed to remove the child seat. This will not fail your car's MOT but will be noted as an advisory because the seat belt cannot be tested legally

Put the seat in the boot.

Test all the brake/indicator/lights to make sure the bulbs work. No clue about costs, sorry.

Thanks for the tips. Last years MOT (done by the previous owner) had an advisory on the breaks. I don't know if he got them done or not so that's why I think that's a possibility. Yes to the tire pressure, the monitor hates me and I'd be so mad if I failed because of it.

Thanks for the info about car seats, happy to move it into the boot. Will it be safe enough in there? Don't want it to bounce about. He does still fit in his infant carrier (just) so I suppose I could just use that and clip it on to the base of his pram like I did when he was just wee.

If it did fail on anything how would I go about getting it to somewhere else to get it fixed? I really hope it doesn't fail. Should I get someone to look at the breaks now just in case?

yes, put the seat in the boot.

wrt what to do before:

• fill up screen wiper detergent
• pump the tyres to the advised level (there should be a sticker in the driver door that says what the right pressure for your tyres is).

and get the car washed. it shouldn't make a difference, but sadly it does. a clean car is more likely to pass the mot than a muddy one...

Ask friends, colleagues, neighbours for recommendations of an honest, decent local garage.

If you take your car for a test, and they fail it, and you then take it off their premises (as suggested above to get a better price for fixing things) then you have to pay for a re-test.
If you take it to a good quality local garage, then they will fix the things it fails on, and it will then pass without you having to pay for a 2nd MOT.

Beware some (am not saying all) will tempt you in with a low priced MOT, knowing they will then be likely to be given the job of fixing things, which they will then charge at a higher rate than you will pay elsewhere. Hence the best thing is to ask people you know locally for recommendations.

Theres 3 levels on MOT now: advisory (do not a fail but these are things which need attention before the next MOT), fail (so it's failed but not dangerous and you then have 7 days to fix either on site at the MOT place or off it then you pay a retest which should be less than the MOT) or dangerous at which point you can't remove it from the MOT site unless it's being towed as it's seen as so unsafe it's a danger to road users.
I know what you mean about tyre pressure, DH does ours and even he tries to keep it at arms length in case!
Yes though about washing the car, it's daft but true.

I took a 2 year MOT and service plan because it's still under warranty so I knew I'd have to get it serviced anyway so the actually MOT is paid for. Going to another garage to get it fixed would probably be cheaper. I do have a dent in the bodywork (not my fault but I can't afford to fix it) and I am a little worried that I'll be more likely to fail. The damage shouldn't cause me to fail but the overall look of the car might?

As long as your car is roadworthy, they won't fail it. Certainly not for aesthetic reasons.

It's really not a big dent. Someone threw something at my car. It's absolutely safe to drive it just makes me sad when I look at it.

Christ if dents were a fail mine would be screwed. A combination of dodgy local drivers and me carting my disco equipment in it (and accidentally bashing the bodywork with stupid big speakers and my booth cos it's a bugger to swing in the car boot) has left it rather weary looking.

I always leave car seats in, it has only been mentioned once - seatbelt couldn't be tested because of child car seat.