Response from an Independant garage/MOT station!
Firstly, Vosa and the general public has a real problem with the standard MOTs are carried out to. Vosas interpretation of the test is 'a Minimum safety standard'.
When testers are trained they are told 'Imagine a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being a new car, 1 being a scrapper. If you were to service a car you would want its condition to be 7 or 8, not as a new car but in full working condition. When you MOT a car it only has to be above 3 on this scale.'
On the back of an MOT it states 'An MOT test pass confirms that, when the vehicle was examined in accordance with section 45 of the road traffic act 1988, it met the minimum kegal requirements for those items prescribed under the act.'
Its a minimum safety standard. However, in the real world, sadly the MOT test isn't conducted in such a way. Fast fit centres, car dealers etc. have sales targets to hit. They realise, as the MOT is a legal requirement the customer will feel obliged to have any and all work done to pass the test. Its sad but true but at least once a week we hear the same story! 'I went to Fast fit/car dealer and they want me to spend £500 on new brakes/suspension bushes/tyres etc.' then when we check it, it needs nothing!
We had a customer a few weeks ago. He had a BMW Mini. The car was just out of warranty and had gone in for its first MOT. They told him it needed £500 worth of work. New rear discs and pads and 4 new tyres. We had a look. The rear discs had a bit of rust round the edge and all 4 tyres were wearing on the outer edge. The tyres were stil over 1.6mm across the centre 3/4 of tread. The rear brakes worked well without judder, grab etc. and had a decent efficiency. Now this guy had the good sense to question the station but how many just pay for the work? Madness!
Next thing! Our labour rate is £30 an hour. We have a good reputation, both our workshops are close to the town centres and we have clean, modern well equiped workshops. As far as smaller garages in our area they charge between £20 and £40 an hour. I'd say this was pretty much a nationwide average. Dealers about here charge up to £110 which is fairly typical too. For £150 an hour I'd expect to be able to hire at least a B grade celebrity to fix your car!
When it comes to older cars/imports many testers take the huff. Every MOT must be done in pretty much the same way, checking the same stuff in the same way. If its an older car it could take longer to check corrosion or brake pipes. If it fails badly it takes longer to enter the reasons for rejection. Testers want an easy life, older cars take longer and involve more work. They start the job with a bad attitude!
As some have said, having a bit of prior knowledge helps. If your car fails always ask to see what its failed on. Always ask to see the parts that are needed and read the wording on the failure.
You only have to fix the stuff on the failure. An advisory note is 'in the opinion of the tester'. If you wanted to, as the tester you could advise the car would look better red, you could advise magic trees are better than the little traffic lights etc. Its just an opinion, not legally binding!
You do not need to have the work carried out by the MOT station. When your car fails you get 10 working days to have the repairs done before you have to pay for a full MOT again. You can have anyone you want carry out the work. If its too dear and you can't do the work yourself shop around.
Don't be intimidated by the garage, there are still decent ones out there! Unfortunatly we are all tarred with the same brush. grr
