Volvo S60 - MOT advisories

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Tue 18 Sep 2018 15:37
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - Rob Owen

Had the following 2 advisories

  • Nearside Rear Shock absorbers has slight external damage to the casing (5.3.2 (b))
  • Offside Rear Shock absorbers has slight external damage to the casing corroded (5.3.2 (b))

I'm planning on getting rid of the car wwithin a few months and wondered how critical these were.

Thanks

Rob

Edited by Rob Owen on 18/09/2018 at 15:40

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Tue 18 Sep 2018 16:25
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - Andrew-T

Not. They are only advisory, and I doubt that 'slight external damage' to a shock absorber will deteriorate much before the next MoT.

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Tue 18 Sep 2018 17:56
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - KJP 123

Not critical but how are you going to get rid of the car? Probably not make much difference to PX value but it could put off private buyers if they check history; basically, they might offer less than the cost of replacing them yourself. Obviously, keep receipt for work.

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Tue 18 Sep 2018 22:48
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - John F

I think some 'advisories' are sometimes thinly disguised dual effect attempts by the garage trade to fleece the motorist. Firstly by getting unnecessary work done and secondly by reducing the value of the car if it doesn't get done. Heads they win, tails you lose. It really is about time we punters had a mass complaint about the MoT which has become grotesquely overcautious. I firmly believe it is now just a sop to the garage trade from a government comprised mostly of scientifically illiterate people who don't know the difference between a crankshaft and a camshaft. The AA and RAC are useless - seemingly more concerned with making a profit than supporting the ordinary cash-strapped motorist.

I have just returned from one of the most safety conscious areas of the world, full of advisory notices, prohibitions and personal safety concerns (California). Their demands on car manufacturers and road constructors and maintainers are draconian. Older posters will remember the seminal American book 'Unsafe at any speed' - by Ralph Nader. Yet there is no MoT as we know it, merely a biennial emissions check for cars over 6 yrs old.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 00:16
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - SLO76
Meaningless advisories in this case. If they function properly it’s of no consequence if there’s some corrosion on the casing, this is perfectly normal on any car over 4-5yrs of age. Could be an attempt to drum up business. Don’t let any buyer talk you down in price on the basis of this as there’s no imminent reason to replace said parts, they could still be fine in 3yrs time.
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Wed 19 Sep 2018 00:57
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - bathtub tom

I'd ignore it it if it were mine. I don't know of any other car buyers that check the MOT history.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 01:06
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - focussed

The solution is to have a national network of mot testing stations that do just that - test, appraise and report only, like local authority mot stations do now - they don't get to do any work required.

The present UK set-up is an invitation to the dishonest fringe mot garage to generate profit at the expense of the car owner.

We have this independant set-up in france, you just get a test, if it's ok it passes, no point in spurious fails, it's of no advantage to them, in fact it works in reverse, if a test station gets a local reputation for being picky about minor details, the customers go elsewhere!

Edited by focussed on 19/09/2018 at 01:07

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 08:07
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - hardway

Well one MOT tester that I used to go to had a thing for brake flexi pipes,

nothing wrong with failing/advisories on them you would agree,

safety issue,

but his thing was exessive rust on the steel ferules.

that's where the "rubber" is crimped on.

These things are 5mm thick!

more in places!

hardly an item to be compromised by surface rust pitting,

So when he advised I de rusted and painted them,

Possibly not what he wanted but he passed them anyway.

Advice is just that.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 08:10
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - Oli rag

Agree that some places give a lot of unnecessary advisories when doing an mot, some of them to generate extra work.

The trouble with weakening the current mot regime is that you just have to read some of the questions we get asked on this forum.Over the years we've had people who have had seized engines, worn clutches etc, tell us that it was only mot'd last april and EVERYTHING must have been ok at the time of the test so it must be the garages fault.

Unfortunately a lot of people don't so much as lift the bonnet on their cars, never mind carry out any sort of routine checks or maintenance, so I do think an mot is a way of stopping some dangerous vehicles being driven on the road.

Edited by Oli rag on 19/09/2018 at 08:43

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 10:28
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - Andrew-T

The solution is to have a national network of mot testing stations that do just that - test, appraise and report only, like local authority mot stations do now - they don't get to do any work required.

What about the opposite situation - testing stations which issue MoT passes to cars which shouldn't? Are there many of those?

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Thu 20 Sep 2018 01:01
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - focussed

The solution is to have a national network of mot testing stations that do just that - test, appraise and report only, like local authority mot stations do now - they don't get to do any work required.

What about the opposite situation - testing stations which issue MoT passes to cars which shouldn't? Are there many of those?

I'm not sure what you mean - are you talking UK or over here in France?

If you mean over here - I'm not aware of testing stations passing dangerous cars to retain customers, it's just that the average tester seems to use a bit of common sense, not just looking for items to generate a fail on.

Every system has it's faults to concentrate on, over here they are very hot on tyres - no chance of a pass if there are different makes of tyres on the same axle even if they are the correct size, rating etc, and if they have markedly different tread depths also means a fail.

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Thu 20 Sep 2018 12:24
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - sammy1

Why does the advisory have to de documented and written in stone? If my tyres are down but legal I know this. The non mechanically inclined will panic and spend unnecessarily, all good for garage trade.

Has anyone heard of failures whereby you are not allowed to drive your car away from the MOT station and how does this go down with the customer? Where does the MOT station keep all the cars that fail or do they fix them on the day or next day. What is the legal side of driving the car away as far as the MOT station is concerned ,surely they cannot confiscate the car?

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Thu 20 Sep 2018 15:48
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - Andrew-T

If my tyres are down but legal I know this. The non mechanically inclined will panic and spend unnecessarily, all good for garage trade.

The point surely is that the 'non-mechanically inclined' may NOT know about their tyres - and probably other things too. After the test it is their choice whether to spend.

When a friend of ours had an elderly Micra tested recently she was told it was not to be driven away. I'm not sure how she dealt with that, but she got a new vehicle.

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Thu 20 Sep 2018 16:26
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - Galaxy

Why does the advisory have to de documented and written in stone? If my tyres are down but legal I know this. The non mechanically inclined will panic and spend unnecessarily, all good for garage trade.

Has anyone heard of failures whereby you are not allowed to drive your car away from the MOT station and how does this go down with the customer? Where does the MOT station keep all the cars that fail or do they fix them on the day or next day. What is the legal side of driving the car away as far as the MOT station is concerned ,surely they cannot confiscate the car?

Regarding advisories then, yes, I would agree. Many advisories are completely pointless and have no bearing whatsoever on the future likely life of the car, e.g. worn tyres. That's why I always go to the same testing station for my MOT's - They give me any advisories verbally, not that I ever get any, anyway. I think I've had one verbal advisory in the past 10 years!

With regards to any possible MOT failure when you aren't permitted to drive your car away afterwards due to a defect which is defined in the newly-introduced MOT classification as "Dangerous" then, yes, I've wondered about this as well. And what about the council-run testing stations that only do tests and don't do any repairs? You would have to pay to have your car trailered away after such a MOT test fail as I've described as this would be the only thing you could possibly do in such circumstances. You wouldn't, legally, be able to drive the car away and couldn't get the necessary repairs carried out at the testing station because they don't do any repairs at all.

Or would you just say "Sod It" and drive the car away, anyway?

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Thu 20 Sep 2018 15:39
Volvo S60 - MOT advisories - Andrew-T

<< I'm not sure what you mean - are you talking UK or over here in France? >>

Sorry, Focussed, I forgot you were speaking from abroad. No, I was thinking UK, where there have certainly been places known for issuing 'questionable' pass certificates. Not sure which kind is worse, really ....

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