Just wanted to share my experiences. Over the last few years I have always owned new or nearly new cars. So MOTs have never been an issue. However since we moved to greater London worries regarding safe parking, tight parking spots and a general lack of respect for others property by the locals has caused us to rethink our car ownership. Certainly wasn't worth the hassle of worrying about whether we would return to our 335i finding it damaged. That's where the Omega came into our life. Pretty luxurious, absolute value for money, safe, and no real worries about dents or bumps. But with this so called freedom came worries about reliability and MOTs. My last experience of MOTs was when my better half was learning to drive and we had a certain unreliable European compact.
So when MOT time arrived for our Omega, memories of failing parts, unhelpful testers and the lot came rushing back to me. Seeing a few posts here by people who were scrapping their car due to MOT failures and large bills did nothing for my confidence. My only hope was the fact that it was a well looked after single owner car that had done 20k and had a recent service with no obvious reported problems.
Then came the question as to where to have it MOT'd. My usual option would be our very helpful local Vx dealership, but they were booked up for weeks. Places like kwik fit and halfords were cheap and easy to access but not at the expense of reported unwanted work.
So off to the Internet and google's your uncle. No obvious recommended testers around where I live. And it wasn't sensible to drives miles and miles to a so called good one. All seemed lost till I stumbled on a website which was going on about council MOT centres. Council run MOT centres? Never heard of that before, but the reasoning was sound. These centres usually have no attached garages so extra work does not hold any inventive for them. And the few user reviews seemed to suggest the same. Cars which had been condemned by owners due to so called huge bills were passing the MOT at these centres.
So I duly used the search function found my local centre and gave then a call. " MOT sir? No problem. We can fit you in as early as tomorrow at a time that suits you." so I booked and the next morning turned up at this council centre which was quiet and secluded. Friendly staff. Sat down at the canteen, had a cuppa and 45 mins later the chap comes up to me and there are a few problems. Shocks are leaking slightly, brake disc corroded on one side and a oil leak around the air filter. At this point I am cursing myself wondering why I chose this place as it's not like they could sort this out themselves.
But then the guy looks up from his clipboard and says "none of these really constitute an MOT fail and your brakes are doing the job and oil level despite the leak is within normal levels. So your car should be ok to be on the road". Excellent news for me. Paid the full MOT price of £54 and left very happy. The oil leak turned out to be a leaky seal around the filter. Shocks are only slightly misty, so will be replaced in the near future.
So overall a very positive experience and I would recommend trying your local council MOT centre.
Yes you pay the full MOT price, but at least they don't try and mess you around with unnecessary work.
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Topic: MOT - What a pleasant experience! (Read 1636 times)