MoT Question

Why does it matter if a fail is recorded?

Once you resolve the failed item and re-test, you're back to having an MOT, so what's the problem?

Mate of mine drives old bangers around. He used to be in the habit of MoT'ing his cars of the order of four months before he needed to. If it failed expensively but not on anything that could reasonably be considered dangerous*, he would flog it on with just the remaining MoT and keep schtum about the failure. Bad I know, but it's not for me to tell him how to run his his life.

Anyhow, he feels he can't risk doing it anymore because all it takes is for the buyer to look at

and they find out they've bought an MoT failure and therefore it wasn't a legal sale. And we got into a discussion over whether he could get around it by getting the tester to abort the test rather than fail it, and I didn't know what the answer was.

(*e.g. failed catalyst; some other expensive-to-fix emissions problem; corrosion within whatever-it-is distance of a structural member even though it's blindlingly obvious when you look at it that the structural member isn't at risk itself)

Vim Fuego ( snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You may like to reconsider that, bearing in mind that the only fail criteria for "Vehicle Structure, Body Security and Condition" are...

1. Any deliberate modification, excessive corrosion, damage, fracture or inadequate repair not within a prescribed area which adversely affects braking or steering by severely reducing the strength or continuity of a main load bearing structural member.

2.a. Excessive displacement of the body relative to the chassis which might lead to loss of control of the vehicle when driven 2.b. insecurity of the body or its supporting members to the chassis so that it is clear that there would be a danger to other road users.

1. Any deliberate modification, excessive corrosion, damage, cracks or inadequate repair of a load bearing body or chassis member which seriously affects its strength within 30 cm of the body mountings.
2. A sharp edge or projection, caused by corrosion or damage, which renders the vehicle dangerous to other road users, including pedestrians

Whatever. I'll tell him that example's bollocks then. The one he told me about was corrosion near his fuel tank which was held to be a failure even though if you looked at it there was no way it compromised anything. But it's off the point, really.

Vim Fuego ( snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Apart from the suspension mounts within 30cm...?

Look, we all know shonky testers have always tried it on with iffy fails - the computerised ticket stops 'em doing that, because they actually have to pick the fail item(s) from a list, rather than just scrawling something about the spare wheel...

"Vim Fuego" wrote in news:Moheh.1552$Dr3.522 @newsfe2-gui.ntli.net:

Never knew that, must have a look about, and a wee chat with my local Motter.

'Once a test has been started, it must be completed to its full extent'

- MOT Testing Guide, 6th edition.

A test can be ABORTED under special circumstances - ie MOT equipment failure, MOT tester becomes ill or has an injury, etc. In these instances, no test fee can be charged.

An MOT test can be ABANDONED if a fault is found on the vehicle that makes it dangerous to continue. A partial fee is charged in this instance.

If you & your mate are asking a tester to ABORT after having spent time going through the test, are you expecting to pay no fee ? If a test is recorded as ABANDONED, all faults found are to be recorded on the VTS computer, along with the reason for ABANDONING the test.

Your mate might be better off having a pre-MOT done, where faults are notified to him, but not recorded on the system. Of course he will then have to pay an MOT test fee when he comes to have a real test done...