From what i remeber, Officially the MOT is only valid at the time of the test. ie you could theorectially drive out of an MOT station, and a brake pipe split or spring snap after hitting a pothole in our wonderfully kept roads.
So although it's used as a roadworthy certificate for 12 months if a car fails the following year, WHEN did the suspect part fail. 1 week, 1 month, 6 months after.
I know general maintainence should pick up most faults. but some people do not take care of their cars.
I took my son's car to the local garage yesterday because it seemed to be a bit more bouncy than I would have expected. In fact, it's been like that since I got it on 27 May. I thought the shocks must be worn out or leaky or something, but I wasn't too worried as it passed its MOT on 8 May, and I was pretty sure that was one of the things they checked.
It turned out that 3 of them were OK and the 4th was completely buggered - push car down, it stays down, pull it up, it stays up. "And", said the mechanic, "that brake pipe is so rusty, it should never have got through". He then reminded me that the MOT is only a statement of the condition of the car on the day the test was carried out.
OK, I may not have inspected the car very thoroughly when I bought it, but at least I can take credit for recognising that something's not right, and at least I'm going to get it fixed before allowing the lad to zoom all over the country in it.
It's going in to be fixed on Wednesday - I wonder what else they'll find
