Hi all,
I will shortly be selling my trusty Pug 405 TD estate and to make it even more of a bargain I am thinking of getting a new 12 month ticket on it (current one expires early August). A certain well known fast fit outfit is offering MOTs at £25 when booking online which seems a bit of a bargain...but I am unsure if they are more likely to find "faults" to get the retest fee, extra work etc than a "proper" MOT garage.
Does anyone have any experience of using these places for MOTs, or am I being overly supsicious?
cheers all,
Mark
|
I might be wrong but I feel you've answered your own question!
Strongly suspect the £25 MOT will end up costing much more than £25. The fast fit aren't doing this from the goodness of their hearts, they're doing it to make money.
Personally I'd avoid and instead go to a garage I know I can trust, even if, initially, it cost me more money.
By the way, if you get the timing of the new MOT test right, you'll have a 13 month MOT, not a 12 month one!
|
Even my own mother calls me a cynical git but I now only ever use MOT only places.
Everywhere else always seems to come up with a £100 job that can be done there and then no bother and no re-test fee.
Any sort of cut price or even free inspection type deal is obviously a selling opportunity.
|
I had my last two MoTs done for £30 at different independants, and none found any jobs that needed doing, nor did I ask them to service it.
£25 does sound cheap, but when you consider the job can take only 1/2 hour, it doesn't seem to bad, and they (Kwik-Fit?) can easily make a profit on this without having to tell you your brakes/exhaust/tyres are done for. Go when they're busy and on a Friday afternoon and they'll easily let you go for £25.
--------------
Mike Farrow
|
|
I took my peugeot to be tested recently at a good local independant that also does repair work and although it failed they did not seek to find extra work for themselves - indeed a couple of things that i thought it would fail on they didn't mention.
|
|
|
|
The test really should take about an hour,including paperwork,and there should ALWAYS be 2 employees,the MOT man,and probably an apprentice to press the brakes,work the lights etc..£25 an hour for 2 men,and all the expenditure on paperwork and equipment isn't really much of a profit...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Can't say I've ever had a problem with them.
|
My Peugeot just got done at the local Express Fit for £25 (don't think it's a general offer) and it passed first time - I'm sure they'd have had plenty of things they could have recommended if they'd felt the need to upsell.
So they can be genuine but if you know an MoT only place that you trust, it's only a £15 saving anyway. Whatever you do, if the car is well prepared - clean, with all the obvious things like tyres, bulbs, wiper blades and so on sorted out - the tester is more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and accept that you know the state the car is in.
|
My (ex) Renault main agent reported at a service that the brake pressure distribution valve had seized and needed replacing at a cost of around £260.
I was not so sure (they'd also just told me that the sump gasket needed replacing -- £230 -- yet amazingly I had a perfectly clean garage floor).
An MOT was due, so I waited to see what my local 'MOTs only' tester would come up with. He too reported that the valve was seized, but reckoned that the problem was not likely to be the valve itself but the pivot of the operating link, and took me under the car to show me. He then suggested that a squirt of WD40 followed by a Mole and some wiggling and greasing may be all it neede. It worked. I took his advice to keep it greased, although it does not appear in the service schedules, and the question has never come up at a service or MOT since.
|
|
Our last three MOT's have been at the local fast fit place and to start with I was extremly cynical about their motives. However, we havn't been failed once with no sign of profiteering. That said my stepson took his Clio in and they told him he needed £100 worth of front discs and pads. I think it helps if they see you as a streetwise customer rather than someone who can be told anything.
|
|
|
|
I used to be a tester for a large (the biggest) fast fit chain,and really when you are doing a test,you are really working for VOSA,and not the depot,bonuses are given for the amount of tyres etc a fitter sells,but a tester gets bonus for the amount of tests he does,not on the outcome of the test.Its really down to the honesty of the tester and his manager,but I was never pressured into touting for work,although you can advise on tyre condition etc,the law is the law,so a tyre at 2mm would pass,but then the customer would be advised that his tyres were only just above the limit.What you have to remember as well is,most fast fit centres will not get involved in welding,electrical,or major suspension work,or any mechanical repairs,so it is of no benefit to them if your car fails in these areas.
One worrying aspect to me is that a tyre fitter with a few years under his belt,can be put forward to be an MOT tester.I joined as a time served mechanic,but most of the other testers had always worked in fast fit.I disagree with this,as I feel you need the experience as a mechanic to be able to test cars properly.
|
|
|
Normally I wouldn't stray onto this section (I stay on the tech side) but this one struck a cord!
My "significant other" decided, against my strong advice, to take advantage of the special offer at the "jumping blue overalls" fast-fit place and have a £25 MOT done. Car is a SEAT Leon SE TDi 2002. She booked online (although then had to phone to confirm as no-one got back to her about the booking!). The car was checked over by me the morning it went in (36 years experience of vehicles of all shapes and sizes) and was deemed fit in most visible respects. Bright summers morning (that's important!).
Car arrives at workshop and she is parted from car and herded away to a distant part of the outfit.
She is then presented with the bill: £42.10.....!!! "Ergh, hang on?" says S.O, "wasn't it £25?" cue, sharp intake of breathe from monkey man, "Ah yes madam, but we found a headlight lamp had blown and we replaced it for you for only £17.10 and that included the VAT"
I nearly blew my own gasket when she got home.......that car had perfectly working headlights when it left here (that lamp had just been replaced by SEAT two weeks previously during the service!). Fast fit centre deny any wrong-doing as they would...
My advice? AVOID the jumping monkeys at all costs: very strange how the final bill just "happened" to work out to be the actual cost of an MOT. Or am I just being cynical :-)
|
Yup. Spot on Mr. Stan.
Any cut price deal is a selling opportunity and like as not to cost you more.
MOT only places are the way to go.
|
I've used the Lyon Lane, Chorley branch of National for the last two MOTs on my 1999 VW (the Ormskirk branch doesn't do the tests as it doesn't have the facilities); both cost a few pence over £20 and the car had a clean bill of health apart from last time, when it mysteriously blew both rear stop lights during the brakes test (replaced on the spot). Neither bulb gave trouble before nor have since...:-)
Each year National sends me a reminder just before the MOT test is due again and always with the half-price offer.
I watch the test being conducted from start to finish and the last tester was an ex-VW dealership technician who passed on some very useful hints and tips regarding the car whilst doing the examination.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
I was under the impression that repairs during an examination was not allowed. And if the motor had a failure point.Customer should be shown.then asked if they want the job done there and then.I would think it suspicous if repair was done without asking.And want to know why as you dont have to have job carried out by them..
--
Steve
|
|
My thoughts exactly Steve.O ! I still suspect that it's the old "women know nothing about cars" syndrome and if significant other hadn't been in a real hurry that morning she would almost certainly have not missed her opportunity to give them what for. As it was she decided to say nothing as she felt she'd got an MOT for it's usual price. I keep meaning to check that lamp just to see if it even was changed!!
|
>>I keep meaning to check that lamp just to see if it even was changed!!
Bit late to worry now.But one reason their are only 2 garages where I live I use.In fact they are not local just outside my town
--
Steve
|
|
|
|
