Non-garage mot?

garry parker ( snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Try your local council vehicle depot. Seriously.

In addition to that there are quite a few places popping up that only do MOTs and no repairs in order to address this issue.

Conor wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.giganews.com:

How do they make money? I think the MOT is one of the best "bargains" in the automotive world. You get your car safety checked (and if you are lucky get to have a look and poke around under the car for free!) and advisories on bits which may need replacing soon (for instance the gator between the diff and drive shaft on my Senator was split, which amazingly isn't a MOT failure like it is on a FWD car!). Takes about an hour, and you (the garage) has to pay for labour, electricity, rent. etc. etc. Does the government give grants to these garages?

Keep well,

Will

Safety checked? A car could pass the MOT but be unsafe...

I do see your point, but the idea is that you take the vehicle there to pass, not as a proxy for servicing... surely?

"DervMan" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

I agree, but it covers the basics, brakes and suspension mainly I guess; corrosion around structural parts is important.

I find it a cheap way to get the car on a lift at least every year. It's hard to look at many things easily when you only have jacks and axel stands! It's also good to get a second opinion on things. Also you can wiggle bits and get a lead lamp to check hard to see rubber mounts etc. I know the cars will usually pass OK but it's nice to have a tick list to work from when they fail, and you get the re-test for free.

Keep well,

Will

I have a local place (called 'Just MOTs') that does this - I got my last two MOTs from them.

D A Stocks

The message from "garry parker" contains these words:

Try the bus garage.

The message from Conor contains these words:

We've one in Telford - I suspect he's more strict than some garages. Which is why I use him.

Will ( snipped-for-privacy@reeve.org.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

They're one of the best money earners for garages who also do repairs.

Bwahahahahahaha

No, it takes about half that. For £42. Without the mech having to get dirty, and without the risk of having a disabled car sat on the ramp all day waiting for parts.

It's comfy money - there's plenty of smaller garages who do MOTs for a number of other garages, and make a very nice living out of it.

Adrian wrote in news:Xns96058247F937Dadrianachapmanfreeis@130.133.1.4:

There's probably not many people like me, who always take the car away to fix it then bring it back. I agree that if the garage picks up the repairs it can be a little more profitable.

Any MOT garages on the news group? How much profit is there in a MOT? I presume the government charges the garage for the privilege of being a MOT station and each MOT would cost a fix amount in paperwork from the government?

Keep well,

Will

The message from Will contains these words:

They charge full whack and are often very busy.

Our local Ambulance station garage does MOT's. They do repairs also, but the mechanics will be on a fixed rate, so will not have any incentive to fail bits which should pass.

Seacroft Hospital in Leeds does them. Call your local Hospital, Ambulance Depot , or Blood Transfusion Service.

Don't dial 999 to do it though. ;-)

Alternatively your nearest DFT? VOSA?. HGV testing station is :

Birmingham

Garretts Green Industrial Estate, Birmingham, B33 0SS.

Tel: 0121 783 6561 Fax: 0121 628 9090

Where's that Guy?. I use the Iveco Garage on Halesfield. Can recommend them no end!

An hour? I'm near always there when it's done, and 20-30 minutes is more like it. So for the average back street garage rather than main dealer, 80 odd quid an hour is far more than they'd make on repairs.

The message from "Roger" contains these words:

"Just MOTs", he's in the local paper. Round the back of the Donnington Asda in an old church hall he's converted into a 2-bay workshop.

I've just had mine done at one of these mot only places, the car before mine failed and they sent them to garage nearby for repair which might mean they ( the mot testers ) get a backhander for the referals so no differant then to a normal garage. The test took half hour and passed BTW.

I also asked how many cars they'd blown up whilst reving them for the emissions test, he said 4 so far this year, 3 where traders where he'd said to them the engine is very noisy are you sure I should test it ? all three jumped in and floored the throttle which then ended with a big bang... the

4th one passed the emisions test but failed on a headlight bulb, as they didn't have one of that type they sent him down the road to a car spares place and said they'd fit it and pass the car at no extra charge, 3hours later he rang to say the cam belt had snapped on the way back and he was waiting for it to be collected by the AA.........

I really don't understand that statement.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I don't just understand it, I agree with the concept of it.

There's nothing on the MOT that's really irrelevant - it's all basically sensible stuff. Yes, there's some detail that's a bit daft, but not massively so.

So - surely a garage that's tough-but-fair is the ideal? They're not going to let anything be on the road that shouldn't be "for the sake of a favour", and they're not going to stiff anybody for the sake of a few quid.

If only they were all like that.