Was interested in a letter in HJ's column on Saturday with regard to an owner who had been driving around with the delivery suspension blocks still in for, IIRC, 22k miles and over 2 years. Apparently this had been discovered when the car went in for its first service. HJ was rightly damning of the PDI from the dealer and highlighted the dangerous condition this had put the vehicle in.
This got me thinking that with the manufacturers' ever increasing service intervals perhaps the time has come to make MOT's yearly for all vehicles and end the 3 year grace for new vehicles. The argument that new vehicles get better servicing from main dealers in the first 3 years of life is surely being given the lie by these increased intervals imposed by the self same manufacturers, it is quite possible that a vehicle with a 24k service interval could be driven for 8k a year and only see the inside of a garage on its 3rd birthday for an MOT. I accept the argument that PDI's should deal with anything inherently dangerous but obviously some defects slip through. As an example, my brother had a new car a few years back that had the headlights set high, it was only when I commented when he followed me home one night that he should get his lights checked that the garage owned up that they didn't check because light heights were 'factory set, sir.' Only a minor thing, I know, but it could have been something worse. I realise that some will argue that new cars are inherently more reliable but are the potential long periods between checks becoming a hazard?
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I agree, cars are easily capable of clocking up a 100k in thee years. Let's do it.
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Hear hear!
Suspension is shot on my lease car at 48k and the lease co does not want to know until the MOT comes up.
Yearly MOTs are a must IMHO.
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Suspension is shot on my lease car at 48k and the lease co does not want to know until the MOT comes up. Yearly MOTs are a must IMHO.
It may be interesting to know how many cars fail their first M.O.T.'s - anyone know if there are any sources for this information?
S6 1SW
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if you are all so worried then get your wallets out and pay the £45 whenever you want to
Any mot man irrespective of year or mileage im sure he will be more than happy to take your wonga,in fact give him a straight £100 far more easier to count......what
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I have some old DRIVE mags from the 70s that actually did this. It wasn't encouraging then !
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Hgv's are tested after the first year. I recently came across a 20k mile 18month old LDV van with both track rod ends so badly worn that it was dangerous to drive.
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..Suspension is shot on my lease car at 48k and the lease co does not want to know until the MOT comes up.
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if it is a safety item, if it means you are endangering your and other road-user's wellbeing, then get it fixed asap (in other words - now !) either
a. by telling the lease company, or your fleet manager, what their legal duty is; or
b. at your own cost
ther is nothing in law that says you cannot get your car tested before 3 years. you can get it tested every day or every hour from the date of first registration if you so wish. just go along to a test station and tell them you want to subject your car to a "private-pre-mot" test, (emphasise that you do not want an official dval-mot test nor dvla-certificate. )
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Don't taxis have to be properly MOT'd, even if brand new? Which would also lead to running a diesel at full tilt, brand new...
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Hear hear! Suspension is shot on my lease car at 48k and the lease co does not want to know until the MOT comes up.
When you say it's 'shot', does it render the car unroadworthy? Suspension issues are often a matter of opinion, but if your dealer thinks it's unroadworthy then I'd refuse to drive the car. Your insurance company wouldn't be very happy if you had a crash and it became known that the dealer though the car unroadworthy.
In fact, in the Orion case I mentioned in this thread, the dealer couldn't fix my car at a days notice and wanted me to leave it over the weekend. I said I'd take the car and bring it back, but they wouldn't let me unless I signed a waiver. So I just hired a car and claimed the cost on my expenses.
Why is the suspension shot at 48K anyway - is the car unfit for the type of use its getting?
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Was interested in a letter in HJ's column on Saturday with regard to an owner who had been driving around with the delivery suspension blocks still in for, IIRC, 22k miles and over 2 years. Apparently this had been discovered when the car went in for its first service.
Going back a few years, I was given a 6 mth old Ford Orion as a stopgap when I started at a new company. The previous user (and there was just one) had done 25000 miles in it. Maybe the blocks are more substantial, or limiting, in the Orion, but it was *immediately* obvious on driving the car that something was seriously not right - it simply had no suspension. It was exactly like driving a go-kart - going around roundabouts was hilarious!
I took it to my local dealer and the car had to have its CV joints replaced, although what the connection is, I'm not sure.
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My Dad have a new Rover 827 Vitesse Fastback (wow) in 1990, this had yellow plastic-fingered inserts in the springs too! Lots of isolated incidents it seems!
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OK, if a car has to have an MOT after a year then this will still miss PDI errors for 12 months of motoring so if you extrapolate the point perhaps say it has to have an MOT before it is delivered to make sure it is built properly!
These errors are rare as are three year old cars of any mileage that fail an MOT on anything other than wear and tear items.
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Over ten years ago a colleague took delivery of a second hand Audi 80. Come the first time he had it serviced at an independent the shipping packing was found still lodged in the springs. This car had covered about 40,000 miles by then and had been serviced regularly - so even with annual services and MOTs this had still been missed.
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I agree. My Focus had 99k on it when it went back to the lease company at 3 years old. I would be really interested to find out if it passed its first MOT OK. There were no signs from the drivers seat that it wouldn't, but that mileage has to have taken its toll on bushes and bearings.
Cheers
DP
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My Mondeo was four years old in May and sailed through it's first and second MOTs at around 85k and 105k respectively without even an advisory.
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Cheddar - don't get me wrong I know a well maintained car is good for twice this mileage, and our Mondeo recently passed it's second MOT at 110k with one advisory (very slight play in a CV joint).
My car, and yours from the sound of it have been well maintained though. The problem comes when you have another 100,000 miler that's never seen a spanner in its life driving around completely legally as long as its not yet reached its third birthday.
In my view, either scheduled maintenance has to become a legal requirement (which is impractical) or the three year break for new cars has to be abolished.
Cheers
DP
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Nice one cockles but the logistics of MOT's for all cars don't add up. The stations are under enough pressure as it is and can now perform fewer MOT's than previously due to computerisation.
With build quality having never been higher, is it right to basically say we no longer have the confidence to drive a nearly new car for over a year without an MOT ? Its hardly a statement of techincal progress is it ?
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Nice one cockles but the logistics of MOT's for all cars don't add up. The stations are under enough pressure as iti s........
It obviously would not happen overnight but I feel sure that the market would respond.
...is it right to basically say we no longer have the confidence to drive a nearly new car for over a year without an MOT ? Its hardly a statement of techincal progress is it ?
IMO. The rate some road warriors must get through brakes, disks and tyres 3 years seems a long time to trust bean counters at a lease co.
At least some light bulbs would get changed and headlights adjusted.
Completing the PDI would also be a bonus.
>>...Technical progress???
Prior to my current car I have never had to change disks!
The technical progress I am waiting for is a good onboard tyre pessure monitoring system on ALL vehicles.
I have a failed bulb monitor and that should be a standard fit too.
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"The technical progress I am waiting for is a good onboard tyre pressure monitoring system on ALL vehicles."
Some of the Renaults have this. Do other makes?
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There are very few cars under 3 years old that do not see the inside of a garage regularly as the owner will want to maintain the warranty if nothing else. The majority of those that will do in excess of 60k inside three years will be on fleets and maintained accordingly.
I would suggest there are a far greater number of cars without a valid MOT on our roads, than cars under 3 years old with defects that would cause them to fail an MOT, and the former are far more likely to have dangerous faults. If resources are to be targeted anywhere it should be to get these cars off the road.
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There are very few cars under 3 years old that do not see the inside of a garage regularly as the owner will want to maintain the warranty if nothing else. The majority of those that will do in excess of 60k inside three years will be on fleets and maintained accordingly. I would suggest there are a far greater number of cars without a valid MOT on our roads, than cars under 3 years old with defects that would cause them to fail an MOT, and the former are far more likely to have dangerous faults. If resources are to be targeted anywhere it should be to get these cars off the road.
Agree 100%, well put!
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