M.O.T. lottery

[Milkfloat]

There is no way the roller skate would fail on something obvious like tyres, Drago is ex Plod and so whilst quite a bit thicker than the rest of us, he is clever enough to give it more than a once over.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Fail on emissions, it's Smart it's done more than 600 miles it needs a new turbo

 

[Drago]

Mines the 700 with the more robust turbo. Emissions were superb last time, admits had 6 new plugs and a clean throttle body since.

 

[Spiderweb]

Suspension issues, front drivers side, £120 plus VAT

 

[Deleted member 1258]

It'll walk it, For the first time I had an advisory on my Suzuki Swift on the last one, rear tyres , edges worn close to the legal limit. The old Hyundai Getz I had spectacularly failed its last MOT, corrosion got it, about eight hundred quid to fix it, so I scrapped it.

 

[Drago]

Suspension issues, front drivers side, £120 plus VAT

Could be, they're prone to breaking front springs. I had one done last year, and I eyeballed both when I last cleaned the car and they were ok then, but it's a 5 mile drive to the test station...

 

[DaveReading]

When I got to the age (around 40) where the attraction of crawling under cars and doing my own maintenance had well and truly worn off, I started taking my cars to the local garage once a year for an annual service, with instructions to have it MOT'd at the same time.

Strangely enough, I've never had a car fail a test since, not even the 13-year-old Ford that I was driving at one point. It might have cost me a few, not strictly necessary, wiper blades and the odd brake pipe replacement, but I reckon I've had a good deal.

 

[Bazzer]

Oddly, the advisories on last year's MOT on my Golf, did not appear this year, despite me doing FA about them. - Largely because the car has done almost 200k and is 18 years old. Consequently I had resigned myself to a catastrophic fail. Weirdly, none of the advisories reappeared and it failed on track rod end bushes. - Which was easily fixable.

 

[classic33]

There is no way the roller skate would fail on something obvious like tyres, Drago is ex Plod and so whilst quite a bit thicker than the rest of us, he is clever enough to give it more than a once over.

Often the things you thought were okay aren't.

 

[Drago]

When I got to the age (around 40) where the attraction of crawling under cars and doing my own maintenance had well and truly worn off, I started taking my cars to the local garage once a year for an annual service, with instructions to have it MOT'd at the same time.

Strangely enough, I've never had a car fail a test since, not even the 13-year-old Ford that I was driving at one point. It might have cost me a few, not strictly necessary, wiper blades and the odd brake pipe replacement, but I reckon I've had a good deal.

Mrs D's Volvo goes to the dealer. It's a 67 grand motor so itd be stupid to spoil the ship for a hapeth of tar.

Whereas the Smart is worth perhaps £1200 on a foggy night to an enthusiast, and about half that to the general trade. They're quite complex and really beyond the scope of any garage other than the Mercedes dealer or a properly equipped specialist, which means a major service costs more than half the cars trade value. That's not really justifiable, considering I have the gear (including Wurth WOW so I can play with the electrics, adjust transmission settings and co figure new parts) I can do it myself for pennies in less time than it takes me to drive to the dealer and back.

My Volvo...we'll see, not due until August. I suspect I'll do regular serving on the basis of time and cost saving, but being AWD and having big heavy oily bits I think the garage can risk their own fingers if anything above and beyond needs doing.

 

[slowmotion]

You'll be fine. My 2008 Vauxhall van passed with flying colours last week. I've owned it since 2014 and it's never had a service or an oil change on my watch. It's a runner.

Yes, posting that really is tempting fate.

 

[Milkfloat]

Often the things you thought were okay aren't.

Are you talking about Drago or his Tonka toy?

 

[snorri]

So what do you reprobates reckon?

Oh come on, a man in your postion must have an address for MoTs by return of post.

 

[Drago]

Well, chatting to Mrs D and I'm definitely going to give it to my niece for her 1ith birthday in January. Therefore, I am hoping that the good lord smiles upon my sweet good nature and grants a clean pass.

 

[DCLane]

@Drago - son no. 2 wants an old Land Rover for his 17th, which he'll pay for. The question is whether he'll be able to get insurance for it.