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MOT Advisory information
Jimmy Connors
Posts: 117,882 Forum Member
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Have the MOT tests changed over the past few years?
My car had its first MOT today, and the list of advisories reads like a bloody book.
Since when did having an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror and having to change the position of the internal headlight adjuster (turning a switch) become an advisory?
They also wrote the cars rear centre seatbelt was missing. Yet the car doesn't come with one (it's a four seater) 1.8 million examples of my car on the British roads and not one of them have this mystery rear centre seatbelt. The tester said he had checked, and it was missing.
I know two other people that have had advisories on this too.
All these advisories will look bad when I try to sell the car soon.
Should I take it back and get them to remove the seatbelt advisory, do you think? Or does it mean nothing when selling a car?
My car had its first MOT today, and the list of advisories reads like a bloody book.
Since when did having an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror and having to change the position of the internal headlight adjuster (turning a switch) become an advisory?
They also wrote the cars rear centre seatbelt was missing. Yet the car doesn't come with one (it's a four seater) 1.8 million examples of my car on the British roads and not one of them have this mystery rear centre seatbelt. The tester said he had checked, and it was missing.
I know two other people that have had advisories on this too.All these advisories will look bad when I try to sell the car soon.
Should I take it back and get them to remove the seatbelt advisory, do you think? Or does it mean nothing when selling a car?
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Don't know if you can ring VOSA and ask them about the seatbelt advisory.If you're trading it in,all they'll be bothered about is the length of the MOT.They don't concern themselves with advisories..
The latest MOT certificates have the advisories on the same certificate.Swines!:D
It's attached to the MOT on the same sheet of paper. I can't hide it.
Hello, and thanks U.
I guess the air freshener was classed as potentially obscuring your forward view.
The headlamp leveller was not having your lights angled at the correct level.I.E. they were probably set at 'heavy load',meaning they were pointing too high.
It's Health and Safety gone mad i tell ya!.
Ah, right, I get the air freshener now.:eek::eek: But the headlights are now blinding on coming drivers as he set them to number 4 (I had them on number 1) as per the manual.
Whoever said owning a car was stress free, was lying.
Don't believe those Suzuki salesmen Jimbo.They're better off sticking to selling motorbikes.
What are you thinking of trading it for?.Going trade in or private?.
I matched my car on Auto Trader U, and none of them have this mystery seatbelt either.
I have seen a nice Honda Accord Coupe
, or maybe an old Prelude. :cool:
I'll know better next time. I'll put it in my pocket.
:eek:I did not know this!!!!
Well, as much as it is a pain, I think it's a good idea (for a buyers point of view, not sellers
You can also check the MOT history of a vehicle online. Very useful when it comes to confirming a mileage.
http://motinfo.direct.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp
Yes, the MOT rules are there, and are there for good reason. However, at the end of the day, many of the rules are open to interpretation by individual testers.
As you appear to have found, some choose to interpret them to the letter!
Exactly, they just want to see the MOT pass certificate which has changed from the blue form to a strange white form that could easily be photocopied imo!:eek:
How sad that the MOT tester didn't have the decency and common sense to remove the air freshener and to turn a switch before assessing that part of the vehicle.
Unbelievable.
The new certificates also record the mileage from the 3 previous mot tests if it has had more than 3 previous mots.
Having an air freshener on the mirror is a fail as is anything that obscures vision....it has been a fail for several years!
The seat belt is ridiculous in my opinion, as is the advisory about the light height adjuster switch....you are perfectly within your rights to re-adjust the switch when you drive away from the mot station, however, you could be liable if you cause an accident by blinding another driver with badly adjusted headlights.
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It is because the tester had to adjust the switch that he gave an advisory....the headlight aim check on the mot test has to be carried out with the switch set at zero!
An mot tester is not allowed to interfere with any property in the car or to do any repairs during the test.
Happened to me twice - once with an air freshener. The next year I remembered to remove it but I was failed again because I forgot to remove the mounting for a sat nav:rolleyes:
However on both occasions the garage - a main dealer - failed the car but then removed the offending items themselves and did a retest immediately - telling me later when I picked up the car. (I had a red failure sheet along with the pass sheet which was how I found out.) So there no impact on me whatsoever.
I think they were just doing things strictly by the book as they were a main dealer and didn't want to risk any comeback?
edit - reading the comment about not being allowed to make repairs in both cases the MOT was part of a service which is why I'm guessing they made the changes.
I once had a failure at a MOT testing facility because a rear seat belt had slipped under seat:rolleyes: I had to lift the seat and replace it myself to get it passed...
It also shows up on the on-line search facility.
It is extremely easy to explain this to any potential buyer, it could even be a bit of an icebreaker, to ease the sales process, as you both chuckle over the absurdity of the officiousness of the MOT examiner.
Maybe that was why it was only on the advisories. It may have been close to a failure, because it still had a bit of residual smell. If it had been totaly odourless, it might have failed its MOT completely .
The MOT "certificate" you are given now is virtually just a receipt which says the test has been carried out and paid for! Yes, they are easy to copy and it's very easy now to make an MOT pass certificate for any car you fancy! Prospective car purchasers please take note.
The meaningful information is that which is held on the VOSA database, which is what the DVLA, police and insurance companies will look for. Prospective car purchasers, as I've already mentioned, should also use this source for vehicle information.