No reason why not but read on....when I turned up with my 740 I found, to my horror, that the usual tester was not there (difference of opinions, apparently) and the new proprietor (of a couple of weeks) was doing the tests.
I was swiftly ushered away into the waiting room (after so many years I'd got sufficient rapport with the previous staff that I did the second mans job during my tests) and could only watch while the poor old Volvo was subjected to the most severe rogering that it has ever experienced, I kid you not, it took as long for the man to type out the two failure and three advisory sheets as it did for the actual test, I suppose he thought at 21 years old and nearly a quarter of a million miles the car deserved nothing less.

Now you're all thinking I have had an easy ride for the last few years and of course this is true to some extent but even the garage foreman was embarrassed and apologetic about this result.

The potentially most expensive failure point was leaking front struts. Fairly sure these weren't leaking, I inspected them immediately on returning home and found that the gland nut at the top of the piston, under the rubber shroud, was both bone dry and lightly rusted. The 'leak' was the waste oil that I had previously applied to the spring seat plate, an easy matter to clear up if I had been present during the test. Because I know the car and had the mechanical knowledge to stand my ground I was be able to get this decision reversed. Without knowledge an unnecessary expensive part would have been fitted or the car would have been scrapped.

Were it not for the computerised system I would have simply got a second opinion from another garage, but I now really have no alternative but to get the car retested at this garage, however whether I ever return there in the future is another question. This establishment is well off the beaten track, so relies purely on word of mouth. Therefore if the proprietor gets a reputation for harsh testing he will lose most of his trade. The facilities are fairly low tech so his clientele are those, like myself, who run older vehicles. Luckily my P4 is not due for test for another nine months so I have a little time to find a 'sympathetic' MOT garage, otherwse at nearly fifty years old it has no chance.



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One mans junk is another mans treasure Read more

Awaiting my car being MoTd (+ minor repair) last week at my local independent I heard the following

A 54 Reg BMW 3 series was mis-firing. The plugs were BLACK. On looking at the service book it had not seen an service for 30K miles (18mths).

4 x new plugs and 1 x Coil seemed to fix it.

When phoned to tell him the mis-firing had been fixed with plugs + coil the owner did not want the car serviced as apart from the mis-firing it was going well!!

Not even an oil & filter change - £30 worth of materials & labour. The mis-firing was £100+ VAT - the coil must be the expensive bit as there was only 45 mins or so between start & finish of the work.

In true BMW style the owner had arrived with dipped headlights + spot lights on at 8:30
{And in true BR style, within 24 hrs of the last mention of lighting abuse, it gets yet another one ;0) - DD}

Anyone want to buy a 318, Silver, 3yrs old, 1 careless owner........................ Read more

Some lower form of pondlife pinched all 4 trims last night..just wondering, is there anything more secure than plastic ties to fasten then on with? Read more

On (mainly) M-ways with four or more lanes it really is difficult for anyone (even thoughtful, intelligent drivers) to make smooth progress by overtaking on the right at most times of the day.

The greater 'choice' of lane means that, unless the road is almost empty, individual vehicles are travelling at a greater number of speeds within a given range - there's more road space for the volume of traffic, and drivers are better able to 'choose' their speed (as opposed to having it dictated to them by a volume of slower-moving vehicles), and they do. They also have more choice as to which lane they use, and thus the extreme LH lane is often the least used...

So on these roads applying the 'overtake only on the right' rule means frequent lane-change manoeuvres - increasing the risk of accidents. It really is time that the rule was abandoned and 'undertaking' officially condoned. Read more

You have mail :-) Read more