Where do we stand, re:MOT

[ReformedWaywardTeen]

We have an older car that we bought second hand about 5 years back.

DH is fastidious over tax, MOT, insurance all of it. After all, to not get these things done is a costly and dangerous mistake. Also, he drives our DCs and especially since we buy secondhand we like to know the car is 100% safe.

Anyway, car was up for MOT in November last year. Unfortunately, our usual MOT person had retired which was a shame as he was very reliable.

We took some recommendations online and went to a firm that are also mechanics.

Car passed, few minor issues but very cheap fixes and not to do with safety.

In February, DH got a letter from DVLA, warning of a fine as our MOT was not done when due.

DH thought it was a simple error and contacted the MOT centre. They said it was a error that happens sometimes with the system but don't worry we will reupload it to the relevant site. They said they did it while they were on the phone to him.

No harm done or so we thought.

Finally decided to sell our car and upgrade a little. Firstly, bought the parts mentioned on this MOT as needing doing, took to a friend who is a mechanic - there's nothing wrong with this part, at all. No cracks, marks, dents. Nothing.

Then, on getting photos for the car and putting our Reg number in to check the date the MOT runs out for the advert via the DVLA website, it says it run out in November 2022.

So, we have potentially been driving around, risking a fine, points and a seized vehicle or fees to get it out of police seizure. Not only that but our local police shame people online pulled over for this as it invalidates everything.

Not only did they lie about the part needing fixing, they lied about the MOT, twice.

DH says we should just let it go, it's parked up off road now and declared SORN but I worry that may trigger a fine as it wasn't before.

I think we should report the MOT place as they're clearly cowboys.

WWYD?

Of course you report them.

Report to VOSA. They are the government body which administers MOT tests and MOT testing stations.

Did you not get a printed MOT pass certificate with the advisories? Surely this proves it was done? It will have a reference number that can be provided for the DVLA?

Report to DVSA. They may well have done the MOT but registered it under the wrong vehicle. They were talking nonsense when they spoke to your DH and pretended to sort it while on the phone. The only people who could have done that are dvsa.

Thanks all. I will tell DH what to do when he gets home later and suffice to say will be finding a new MOT centre next time.

They must have given you a certificate surely and how did you get insurance without an MOT?

You don't necessarily get a certificate these days. It's all online.

Can your dh not ring dvla or whoever himself and send a copy his MOT certificate that he'll have been given?

How do you know they lied about the advisories?

Unless there's lots of reviews of the garage with the same issues from other customers are you sure it's not an admin error or something with the dvla? I don't know if that's even possible but I know they do make mistakes.

If they're a cowboy business I'd imagine their reviews and reputation would reflect that and I'd be a tiny bit suspicious that your husband would rather let it go and not only lose money, not just because you've paid for an MOT you don't seem to have but also on the value of selling the car.

Can I just check if this was near Plymouth.
We bought a car we were told had MOT and advisories done from a garage, according to the gov website, it ran out six months after purchase.
I've done a huge number of miles unwittingly and apparently without an mot.
We haven't received any letters from the DVLA

We've never had a reminder for MOT when we've accidentally left it undone (once for 5 months, and last year for 6 months - not proud of either of these!) so I'm surprised at that. But I'd be looking for my money back from the garage that lied to you, and reporting to VOSA.

I wouldn't worry about it triggering a fine now it's SORNed. Our garage said that he's not heard of there being any issue ever for anyone once they'd rectified it in similar circumstances. The first time this happened, it was the police that brought it to our attention as we were parked outside a burgled house (dh used to leave it there to catch a free bus to work) and pointedly told me he was heading off in the other direction when I said I didn't know how to let DH know not to drive it home until we got it booked into garage... which was a helpfully pragmatic way of dealing with it.

The only other issue that came up for us with the recent one was that it meant we had done 30K miles in 18 months on a car that previously did 4K a year (other owners and then covid) and it triggered an 'are you sure that mileage is right?' alert on the MOT system when the garage was uploading it - he'd never seen that before. But wasn't a problem.

It's in my OP.

He bought the parts for the job that came up as an advisory. They offered to do it at the time for £250 including parts.
As DH has a mechanic friend, he said no thank you as he knew he would do it cheaper.

So we held off due to finances, and bought the part last week online for £25. Took the car to mate this week as he was free, he cranked it up and said why did you think these needed doing, there's literally nothing wrong with them at all.

So it's safe to say, they lied. He also said it wasn't a £250 job even without mates rates.

I don't think DH got given paperwork, they told us it's done online now. We assumed this to be correct as obviously everything else has gone online now.

No not in or near Plymouth

We had never had a reminder before as DH would always take it earlier in case it failed! So we had time to fix and retest too.

But then we had a reliable, old school, MOT person who wasn't attached to a garage/mechanic.

You don't get mot reminders unless you actively sign up for them yourself. It's different to tax in that you're unlikely to get in any trouble unless you're actually caught driving without an MOT.

Might be worth checking on the MOT history site - the one that shows only MOT. If it shows on there but not on the DVLA site then there's a problem with the data carrying over to the DVLA. If it's not on there either then there's definitely no MOT on your car (whether or not one happened on the day).

It wasn't a reminder, it was a your MOT expired in November if you've not done it or declared SORN you can be fined I think it was at least a 1k possibly more.

DH said not to worry, he would phone the centre they said it happens sometimes and they had sorted it

You can check online. Just put your registration number into this website and it will show you the MOT history for the car.

www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

What you need is proof you paid for the MOT and then report the garage. So long as you can prove you paid for the MOT you are basically innocent in all of this. The garage needs investigation.

I work in an MOT station. This doesn’t sometimes happen. If the MOT was done there would be a paper trail. Unfortunately we only have to keep the papers for 3 months, but it would have been uploaded to the database instantly.

Phone the garage and ask them for the proof that they carried out the MOT test as if they saved the emissions on the computer (it usually has to be done this way!) they should have evidence of that at least.

Then ask for a copy of the MOT certificate, which they can log on and obtain, and then when they can’t get hold of it, speak to VOSA immediately.

I can help with contact information if you’re in the south east.

Why would he accept their word that there is no paperwork, when he received paperwork every other year and is fastidious about the MOT? At the very least there would have been a receipt. Is the registration shown incorrectly?

It's in my OP

I don't know how I missed that, I apologise, In my defence I'm on day three of sickness and shits from hell and am on some heavy painkillers too and my brain seems to have missed the bit where the mechanic friend had a look. I'm mortified because I usually have a bit of an eye roll when I see someone asking a question that's clearly mentioned in the OP and now I've done it myself

my car got MOT'd in march and i still got a certificate

You are very unlikely to be fined if you aren't driving it. Dp has forgotten to mot one of his and not been fined as long as you get it done before they pull you over!

Unfortunately there's cowboys out there, do report as it protects others.

When my car goes in for the MOT I sit on the .gov website hammering F5 to see if it's done or not!

It's all online, TAX and MOT is easily visible - if you haven't checked before you really should, as it not only tells you if it has a valid MOT it lists all the past failures and advisories.

He has called them, they made more excuses. So he said to them, about the lies about the work that needed doing, which meant we bought parts we didn't need. Also said we could have been fined or pulled over and had the car seized.
The attitude I heard was "oh well it's sorn now" and DH told them he will be reporting them. They got a bit aggressive and said well you've got no proof, so DH pointed out he does as he paid by card for the test They put the phone down, so DH has now contacted the relevant body who are looking into it. They're clearly not the full ticket and utter scammers.

Lesson learned but imagine if we hadn't decided to sell the car. We would've been none the wiser and got into all sorts of trouble with the police. He drives every day so he's lucky he's not been pulled over.