Mot

For those on t'other side of the pond, this is a yearly check-up on one's car, which is obligatory in the UK.

Anyway Katy (I call her Katy because she has a KT in her number plate) had to go for her yearly check-up today. I'm sure most folk would agree that it's always a tense time of year, wondering what the car might fail on and how much you're going to have to spend.

Anyway, my car is 10 years old and she failed on windscreen wiper blades, which I knew about anyway!

That old lady will outlive me!

Anybody got any tales about MOT tests or car problems in general?

Re: Mot

Wow! car problems, where do I begin. After over fifty years of driving I have had far to many problems with cars to write them down here.

One of the most baffling was a Standard Vanguard that kept getting the gears stuck in nuetral and no matter how much I took the gearing apart and rebuilt it I never did solve the problem.
The 'big end' went on it so I filled the engine block with a tin full of treacle and sold it in part exchange for another car.

Re: Mot

We too here in Spain have to have cars ITV'd (equivalent to your MoT). It's different here insofar as you have to take your vehicle to the ITV Testing Station, of which there are only 3 within a 50km radius.
The testers are not mechanics, they are trained monkeys.

For some strange reason which no-one seems to be able to explain, I now have to have my car tested every 6 months. Why? because the computer says so.

I bought the car new 10 years ago and as an extra had Bull Bars fitted on the front and defenders to the rear light clusters. Because these did not arrive before I took delivery of the car and had to be fitted a couple of weeks later, the car had to be ITV'd. They didn't just check that the bars where fitted correctly it had a FULL ITV, with 500km on the clock. Typical stupid Spanish.

At the last ITV in March it failed on the Rear Defenders, because they weren't shown in the paperwork. Really? so how come that's never been mentioned on any of the previous 10 tests.

At least in the UK you are dealing with reasonably intelligent people who are mechanics and know what they are doing, here they are just a bunch of bloody idiots.

Re: Mot

This is a reason why I change my car every 3 years as soon as its ready for an MOT at 3 years old I change it in for a new one. I could not be bothered with all that MOT nonesense.

Re: Mot

The MOT, it is a waste of time as far as I am concerned .

Some years ago I had my car MOTd one day and went on a long journey the next. The brakes on my car failed on a steep hill and it was only luck we were not all seriously hurt.

The garage who sorted out the brakes said they were in a bad state. I returned to the garage who carried out the MOT and remonstrated with them only to be told the brake problem would not have been evident during the MOT check so was is the point of it...

Re: Mot

What irritates me is an MOT is out of date as soon as its signed almost.

Re: Mot

Well, not many years ago, I had a Cortina Mk V Estate and I loved that old lady very much indeed.

Yes, she let me down on a couple of occasions like when her timing belt went on me a few yards from my home. I was afraid that the valves had been damaged, but they hadn't. I had to have a new clutch at one point as well and got her home without a clutch but, bearing in mind that when these things happened she was around 18 years old, I didn't think I'd done too badly.

What angered me once though was I took her in for an MOT to a garage I'd used for years. When I went back to pick her up, I was told that the cylinder head had gone because, on start-up, she filled the garage with exhaust.

I was fuming and told the garage boss that there was nothing wrong with the cylinder head but that the carburettor was knackered, so I took her to another garage, and didn't mention what had happened.

She passed with flying colours, even the emission. I never took her back to that garage ever again.

Re: Mot

Getting my own MOT done soon - have to have an MRI scan.

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There are rumours that the MOT could go to every TWO years instead of yearly.
The reason?
The powers that be have decided that, as the failure rate is so low theses days, cars are in a better condition.
Nobody's told them that if your car fails and that garage repairs it and it then passes OK there's no record of it failing at all!!
The failure details are held on computer locally only and updated when the work is done and the car passes.
I know.
I used to check the VOSA Computers that came in from MOT Stations with faults. stevmk2

Re: Mot

I was told that 2 year MOT rumour by the Garage who did mine a couple of months ago. I think I'd still have a yearly check though if it does come in.