Earlier this year I bought a car that had a few months Tax on it and about 7 months MOT. I took a while inspecting it and did all the usual checks, I had a quick look underneath but didnt take too long, partly because it was freezing and lying on the floor wasnt very pleasant, but mainly because it had an MOT certificate with no advisories. It was painted with some sort of rust proofing and looked pretty solid.

However, Its MOT recently came up for renewal so I took it in and it failed spectacularly! Two pages of dangerous corrosion including a hole you can fit your fist through on the inside of one of the chassis legs and serious corrosion where the chassis mounts to the body, amongst other things.

I feel as though it is unlikely that such a level of corrosion has occurred in the 11 months since it was last MOT'd especially as there were no advisories. So I suspect that the previous owner has had a mate in a garage who has done him a favour so that he can sell a car that would otherwise be an MOT failure. What do you reckon? and should I inform VOSA of my concerns? or is it possible that the car has got into this state in under a year?