Are MOTs worth the paper the're written on?

[kevin316i]

The 318iS I brought in from the UK had a current MOT, but I noticed that there was some surface rust on the brake lines underneath. When I got it home to Ireland, the mechanic said ALL the rear lines had to be replaced and also the front flexible lines. When he did the back lines he said they were so rotten that they fell apart in his hands!

If this car was properly MOT'd, then why wasn't this caught?

I have a good mind to report the garage that did the MOT to the appropriate authority , as they are either incompetent or dishonest.

[Richy325iTouring]

mot only valid for the time its writen but something like that can be reported to the ministry as it shouldnt have got a ticket if thebreak lines were that bad

[johnono]

did u see the lines fall apart in his hands? coz it could be your mechanic trying one on

also i wouldnt pay too much attention to mot reports as they are never as thourough as they could/should be..

just hang around on the Zone a bit longer and u wont need to worry about either

[buster]

unfortunately no they arent.When i bought my range rover the front disks where that worn through that they had cracked,the dampers were leaking and the battery wasnt even secure ! try and report it if you can like,it sucks that some arsehole sold you a car knowing fine well it was unsafe

[wilkos]

Dude mots are a tricky subject basically there valid for the day as long as everything covered by the mot meets the standard that day then the car will pass, eg the brakes are checked for operation but the wheels arent taken off so the discs and pads could be worn out but it would still pass cause it meets the standard. how much mot did it have on the car when u bought it? even tho a car has an mot its not saying that the car is in a1 mechanical condition.

[LOOPYLEE1965]

when i had my car motd recently the tester passed it but warned me that the rear pads were low and would need changing soon but they were still within the legal limit and were working/performing properly i suppose it can be just how strict the mot station is where you go mate a bit luck of the draw

[smithy318i]

It depends on the place you take it to!

One place I used was strict as fook

'thats 29mm, FAIL'
'thats blowing too much, FAIL'
'that needs replacing, FAIL'


Another place
'I advise you to fix that, that, and that. = PASS

[Turbo-Brown]

When I bought mu Triumph, it had rotten sills. I took it for an MOT ant it failed which was to be expected. I took it down the road to another MOT station and it passed, despite having holes about 2 feet (yes over 600mm) long and big engout to fit your hand in!

Worth the paper? nay way!

[Ziggy]

Sounds like your situation is dodgy Kevin; if the brake pipes were that bad, there's no question it should have failed. On the other hand, lots of bits are down to interpretation - "excessively" worn etc. If you find someone who's reasonable, they'll fail it on things that make it unsafe, not on what the book says exactly.

What Triumph was yours TB?? My spitfire had virtually no sills left at one point, which was blatantly silly, but not an MOT failure as they're not structural...

My MOT man is the same one I've been using for years - he knows I'll do virtually any work myself so there's no point in trying to rip me off! He also knows my Mum for example'll take her car there to get serviced if he's nice to her. So on her last MOT when a tyre needed replacing he did it FOC cos he had one there! A good garage is a rare thing these days though it seems... So many cowboys, ripoff artists, & people who look at an old car with the attitude that it's gonna fail, now lets see how badly that can be...

[H35-IAN]

if it s really this bad m8 i would report it to trading standards , and the dept of transport its a offence to pass a car thats not safe at the time.

theres to many wankers out there these days just trying to rip everyone off ive proved this to myself this week m8 if u need any help just let me know m8 ian.

[Turbo-Brown]

Mine's a GT6 ziggy.

Lots of MOT people and garages etc think that the sills on the spitty and GT6 aren't structural because the Herald/Vitesse had non structural sill, however, they also had chassis members instead of sills whereas the spit/GT6 didn't.

It really deserved to fail

[Brianmoooore]

It's not unknown for knowledgeable car owners to polish up rusty brake lines with a bit of emery paper a couple of weeks before an MOT. Rub a bit of mud in, and by MOT time they will pass without a second glance from the tester.
Defective ball joints can be tightened up with a centre punch, handbrake drums can be roughed up, holes filled with pollyfilla, etc,etc.
It's only got to last for a few miles to fool the tester.

[Zayyan]

I don't see the point in all these tricks

Surely you'd want a car with brakes that work?

Though I suppose some chav idiot thinking "it'll be fine" will try to get away with such things

[Brianmoooore]

The point is : Selling a car with a long ticket produces much more profit than selling one without. MONEY, that is the point.

[Geeman]

My 318iS had a brand new ticket the day I picked it up. What a joke.

The wipers were stuck to the windscreen when I tried them, there was no water in the bottle, both brake lights were out, the off-side front anti-roll bar mounting point was missing, it had 3 15" wheels and one 14" wheel, one of the wheels was so badly bent on the inside that the alloy had cracked, it had a headlight out, and the horn didn't work...

I'd say that car should have failed... you reckon?

[Brianmoooore]

My 318iS had a brand new ticket the day I picked it up. What a joke.

The wipers were stuck to the windscreen when I tried them, there was no water in the bottle, both brake lights were out, the off-side front anti-roll bar mounting point was missing, it had 3 15" wheels and one 14" wheel, one of the wheels was so badly bent on the inside that the alloy had cracked, it had a headlight out, and the horn didn't work...

I'd say that car should have failed... you reckon?

This is a case where action should be taken against the testers, but the point I'm making, is that it's possible to get a ticket for a seriously defective car, even with a vigilant and competent tester.

[Zayyan]

The point is : Selling a car with a long ticket produces much more profit than selling one without. MONEY, that is the point.

Oops, didn't think about it in a selling situation

You've still gotta be pretty callous to knowingly sell a dangerous car

[Jos]

MOT Cert technically is only valid for the day it is issued, the law says that a car must be capable of passing an MOT at any stage it is on the road.

Kevin are you Northern Ireland or Southern?

The MOT2 in Northern Ireland is VERY strict, it's not run by garages but by DVLA (DVLNI) run testing centres. The whole system is computerised and they set the guidelines according to the manufacturers spec then add tolerences to allow for age. There is still a manual inspection involved done by a mechanic type bloke, everyone I have been to seem very knowledgeable and they know what to check for on certain models of cars. I would imagine that they would spot a brake line problem, they managed to notice the brakebias valve on my 206 was sticking slightly, when I checked to see what it was like it was indeed sticking very slightly, he passed me regardless of it as it was functioning at the time, but he did say to give it a grease/oil to ensure it was ok. The rest of the testing, brakes, suspension, headlights balljoints, steering, emmisions is tested by computer and if your car is outside any of the allowed parameters the computer simply will not pass the car.

As far as cowboy garages go: a mate of mine had a 730i which he sold to a guy from Cork, he rang a couple of weeks later to say the Cats had been removed from the car, we informed him that it simply wouldn't have passed MOT (1 month prior) with them removed, not to mention the ECU would be a little upset by the lambda readings. AS to what happened to the Cats.. well the only thing we can assume is that the garage he took it to removed them..... I guess we will never know..


Quick search on Google for 'liability selling cars privately' turns up some damn interesting reading...

[320Touring]

My car 'passed' an MOT when I bought it (done by the Mrs's cousin)-four weeks later and it needed 2 new brake pipes and discs and pads

also discovered that exhaust is holed and blowing(defo a fail)

have told mrs to tell heim to stay outta my way or i'll have to have a quiet word

[Gwynleym10]

Think MOT are going to be tightened up aren't they? with a centralised computer system.

There has always been a problem with MOT's i remeber in a 86 autocar magazine they took an old lancia (which was obviouslyrusting to bits...) to 6 garages for MOT's. It failed in four and passed in two. I bet much hasn't really changed in the last 20 years