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Crapping myself over MOT
Central cake
Posts: 5,625 Forum Member
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I have a 2001 Ford Focus 1.6 Ghia. Its in fairly good nick and passed its last MOT with two advisories. Corrosion on the back springs.
The MOT is this Tuesday and my mechanic friend had a look with me a few weeks back to see if anything would fail.
I knew of a few things that would fail or be close to which I have replaced (One tyre, one bulb and I was dubious about my tinted rear lights so I put originals back on) but my mate said there was a bit of movement on one of the front wishbones and the trailing arm on the offside rear but he was unsure if it would fail.
I took it to a garage who put it on the ramps to have a look at the wishbones and trailing arms and they said they was a bit of movement but nothing that would fail an MOT but I am still crapping myself over it
Anyone else ever get the same when their MOT comes up?
The MOT is this Tuesday and my mechanic friend had a look with me a few weeks back to see if anything would fail.
I knew of a few things that would fail or be close to which I have replaced (One tyre, one bulb and I was dubious about my tinted rear lights so I put originals back on) but my mate said there was a bit of movement on one of the front wishbones and the trailing arm on the offside rear but he was unsure if it would fail.
I took it to a garage who put it on the ramps to have a look at the wishbones and trailing arms and they said they was a bit of movement but nothing that would fail an MOT but I am still crapping myself over it
Anyone else ever get the same when their MOT comes up?
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I get this all the time from customers when I take their cars for mot....the relief on their faces when the car passes
On the Focus these front and rear bushes are very common problems!
Most likely get advisories if the garage said there wasn't much movement.
I have 2 cars to take for mot tomorrow for customers...a Corsa and a Micra
Last year the MOT people mucked up my brakes and failed my car, I got it fixed but they failed it again cause the dash board said the brakes needed fixing, got it checked again, failed again cause the message was on the dash, paid a fortune to get the message off the dash, got the the MOT centre and it flashed up again, burst into tears, pulled the level and it went off and the poor mechanic passed it just to get me to leave.
Pretty sure I passed for good attendance...
Luckily I bought a car with a clean MOT for 12 months.
Perhaps unnecessary to get too stressed about it. 13 years is close to the age-expiry on most modern cars - certainly in terms of economic viability. As a general rule, you you should aim to be budgeting towards a new vehicle from about 8 years old and above to get the lowest cost motoring.
That's in response to those who think that having a new car is the 'be all and end all' of car ownership.
You mean to tell me that the MOT centre relied on the car's electronics to tell them that the breaks needed fixing.
Did they not look at the breaks to see if that was the case.
I think they mean that the MOT will fail for any warning lights on the dash (give or take) under the recently changed rules.
I used to do MOTs but in recent years, I've found it cheaper to replace with newer cars before they're required, so haven't had to go through them. But when I was younger, I don't think the initial outlay would have been feasible, so they are a necessity.
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My cars are always serviced on time and never fail the test. I always get advisories for daft things though. I once got one for hanging an air freshener from the rear view mirror. Another for not having the headlight leveller on the correct number. Both of these would take a second to rectify, but no they typed them on the MOT advisory page.
I also got an advisory for a missing rear centre seatbelt. Yet the car is only a four seater and doesn't have a centre seat. They refused to remove it from the certificate, even though I had proof from the manufacturer that it is a four seater.
It does depend on the MOT tester. Some are very particular, where others aren't.
I expect the worst and hope for the best with regard to MOTs. Mine's due next month. I expect advisories galore.
I had an 02 1.8 Focus Ghia which only just scraped through the MOT last year with similar advisories to yours. I certainly wasn't going to spend any money on it and as i'd had it for five years, plus i have a Motorhome so the car wasn't getting used much, i decided to let it go in January.
It was MOT'd until September but i've just checked DVLA database and it's gone to the scrapyard in the sky now!
I just tell them to put any problems right.
Why would I sell the car unless it costs me an arm and a leg to pass the MOT? This 13 year expiry date nonsense is just LOL! if you look after a car its fine. It has low mileage for its age and only 3 owners including me.
I don't exactly have the money to go out and buy a new car but I do need my car and the Focus is a reliable car. My mate always said. Come the end of the world there will still be a Mark 1 Focus pottering about. And I believe him.
Anyway thanks to all that did reply.
This could affect me as some older Mercedes have a factory fitted fault on the electrics whereby from time to time one of the stop lights fails - even though the filament is ok, . Usually rectified instantly with the reset control. It can be fine for weeks and then could come up several times a day. Will just have to chance it will be fine on the next MOT.
My attitude to owning cars is a reliable POS is way better than a new car, especially if you have a good LPG conversion hiding in there. If the car doesn't look great people tend to hit you less and you really don't worry about it soo much, if it happens it happens!! Making the exterior of the car immaculate is just asking for it.
My Car has over 16 years old with over 200,000 miles on it and it just keeps going, except the one time it stranded me less than half a mile from home when the clutch went. I Maintain it myself on the whole except when I don't have the necessary tools. A 320mile round trip these days seems to cost around about £24-£30 depending on were how cheep and were I get my LPG. I've paid 45.9p and 50p a litre in Birmingham recently. The added bonus and curse, my car doesn't have a check engine light or any engine management warnings.
The only problem is that picking up a second hand car and making it reliable again can take a fair bit of time and money even if you do all the work yourself.
Mine is 15 year old and I have no intention of selling before I need to.
That said my car is going in for MOT this evening and for some reason this year I'm freaking out big time.
Probably because since I got very serious about running it's my lifeline for race travel, notwithstanding the fact that I have to travel for work and train times are a bit meh.
Fingers crossed for tonight.
BIB - Couldn't agree more, absolute nonsense. I always panic. Never really had a bad experience but it still makes you worry....
Your car needs to be in a safe condition to keep you safe and the people around you. If you're worried about items failing the MOT then why are you not sorting them asap to ensure the safety of the vehicle?