I'd look in the yellow pages for a good garage locally who can do diagnostics if they are clued up they should be able to find the problem a lot cheaper than renault. Many modern cars suffer from seemingly complicated problems which do require expensive equipment to diagnoise but unlike in the early days garages are realising there is a good deal of money to be made from this (as are some dealers such as volvo but that's a different story) and investing heavily in the technology.

I would like to add that you have up to 14 days from the date of the test to appeal unless it is for corrosion (up to 3 months). This works both ways if you feel something has failed that shouldn't have or something has passed that should've failed. You should read the appeal form thoroughly and not have any of the repairs on the fail sheet carried out (even if you aren't querying them specifically) Be prepared to pay again for a full test (VOSA rules) . I've only ever seen one appeal test and as said it did drag on a while. So far touch wood I've never been the subject of one.

I'd find out exactly what they are replacing for that amount as many of the honda engines actually have 2 belts, one driving the cam/s and one for a pair of balance shafts. Also find out if it includes such other bits as tensioner and idler pullies. I don't know how long the job is booked at but t is steep but it is a main dealer. Another thought is that it's cheaper than going to them for an engine if it should fail.

Jimbo you are right about the system picking up on any remaining time and adding it on but for an old handwritten type certificate the time has to be added manually and the old cert number typed in. I have still had some through recently hand written so there are still some out there though not many. Likewise if you take a vehicle in for its first test early unless the DVLA have messed up the log book(surprisingly common) it will date it from that date as well without you needing to produce the V5 document (despite it saying otherwise on the system!!) To be picky about duration using the new system it is possible to have an MOT for 13 months less 1 day as I have tried in the past to run one from for example 18th March 2006 to 18th April 2007 and it rejected it so do bear that in mind.

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