MOT passed but car not roadworthy; garage refuse to rectify

[ErikaPNP]

Bear with me here guys because I'm asking for a mate and have little idea about cars, I don't even drive!

 

Mate takes car to garage for MOT test. Garage advised her what the car needed doing, she gave them the go-ahead and they commenced work. They consistently mucked her about with when she could collect the car, she was eventually told that VOSA had appeared and selected her car for testing which had caused the delay. VOSA found a problem that the garage didn't find and the garage stated they were going to put the problem right and not charge her for it as they had originally missed it in their MOT, and after they had advised her of what work needed to be done.

 

Mate collected car, drove home. She found that the MOT certificate wasn't signed. She returned to the garage to have them sign the MOT which they duly did. Mate drove home again where she spotted a problem with the car - the same problem the garage described that VOSA had found when they examined the car. The garage have turned on her, they admit that VOSA discovered the fault and that they knew about it when she returned to get the MOT cert signed, but now deny saying they would rectify it or indeed that they'd rectify it free from charge. As I said I know nowt about cars but my friend states that the problem basically means the MOT cert should never have been signed because the problem means the car is not roadworthy and as VOSA picked it up, it should have been rectified before the garage released the car. Up until she spotted the fault, she'd been driving around in a car that is unsafe, totally unaware that the garage hadn't fixed the problem - afterall they said it would be fixed before she collected the car and she'd no reason to disbelieve them and it didn't occur to her to check their work - she's no mechanic!

 

So what I believe it boils down to is that the garage have signed the MOT certificate, effectively saying the car is safe but in fact it isn't safe and they knew that fine when they signed it. Had she had an accident she could have been in a whole load of trouble with her insurers if they started digging. The garage told her more or less to get lost. I advised her to give them one final chance to put it right. She contacted them again (by phone - she didn't seem to grap the importance of "in writing"!) and this time they told her if she wants it fixing, she'll need to bring it in but they'll charge her for it. On principal she was fuming (and I don't blame her!) but she calmly expressed to the garage she was dissatisfied with their customer service, she felt that they had placed her in danger by allowing her to collect and drive a car which was not safe, and reminded them of their earlier promise to do it free from charge. They again flatly refused to do it free of charge and got very stroppy with her about it, telling her to take it further if she so wished.

 

If it were me, I'd be sorely tempted to take the car to another garage because that one clearly can't be trusted to ensure the car is safe, and bill the original garage for the cost, but I presume that she couldn't actually do this. Realistically what rights (if any) does she have here?

[sailor sam]

:jaw:Ok this is a serious one (for the garage that is) but quite easily sorted. You havn't mentioned what exactly the fault was but thats irrelevant at this stage.

 

You are totally correct that your friend should be corresponding in writing ONLY with the garage. My advice is quite simple; contact VOSA and take the matter up with them. Give them the garage details, the serial number of the MOT cert and the reg number of the car. Tell them the story and ask them for their advice. They will most likely arrange for another MOT to be done at one of their testing centres which normally do HGV/PCVs. This will be carried out by a VOSA mechanic and should be free of charge to your friend. From what you have said, the garage have dug themselves a very big grave here. VOSA will have recorded the fault with the car while carrying out their 'random visit'. I'm thinking though, that it wasn't a random visit as it is most likely there have been other 'matters' bought to their attention about this garage.

 

The other option of course is to write formally to the garage owner and insist that they sort this out without any cost to your friend within the next 7 days or you will do the above. Indicate in the letter (should your friend choose this option) that you reserve the right to have the car re-tested at another station after their 'rectification work' has been done.

 

Personally, I would go for my first suggestion as this garage should not be doing MOTs if this is the way they conduct themselves. VOSA will come down on them very hard and the garage owner should know this.

 

Please keep us posted as this is a very interesting one!

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

 

I would always urge to seek professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

[Guest wino]

I agree with Sailor Sam. Contact VOSA.

[esmerobbo]

Im with S S the garage chose to ignore the fault even after the VOSA inspector pointed out they had missed it. It seems they don't care so I do not believe they should be carrying out MOT.s

[Spit]

Agreed, contact VOSA.

[Surfer01]

I would also like to know the eventual outcome.

[ErikaPNP]

Thanks guys. I'll pass the advise on to her and ask her to feed back any updates so I can let you know the outcome.

[heliosuk]

Er.............. before everyone gets too excited about this........................... VOSA don't select cars for testing unles they have gone through an MOT or are actually going through an MOT on the same day and then they witness the test. OP says car went through MOT and garage sent what was wrong through along with a quote. So I take it that a failure was issued and VOSA turned up and selected the car and subsequently found an item that should have failed but hadn't?

 

Easy way to check is for the owner to do the on line check available from VOSA where the failure notice will register. If it isn't there then I don't think you'll find VOSA are interested as I doubt they even visited at the moment. Sounds like the garage is being a bit economical with the truth at the moment!!! VOSA don't operate in the way described in the post.

[scaniaman]

In my experience, there are some inaccuracies in some of the above. If a complaint is sent to VOSA they will come and inspect car, or have it taken to a test station. If the complaint is upheld, they will indeed crap upon the offending MOT station from a great height. They will not however force the garage to rectify the fault and issue a new certificate---thats way too much for a government agency to do. The "Man From the Ministry" used to do spot checks, usually if they got wind of anything not cosha, but don't know what present set up is.

[sailor sam]

Er.............. before everyone gets too excited about this........................... VOSA don't select cars for testing unles they have gone through an MOT or are actually going through an MOT on the same day and then they witness the test. OP says car went through MOT and garage sent what was wrong through along with a quote. So I take it that a failure was issued and VOSA turned up and selected the car and subsequently found an item that should have failed but hadn't?

 

Easy way to check is for the owner to do the on line check available from VOSA where the failure notice will register. If it isn't there then I don't think you'll find VOSA are interested as I doubt they even visited at the moment. Sounds like the garage is being a bit economical with the truth at the moment!!! VOSA don't operate in the way described in the post.

 

If you read my first post (#2) helio, you will se that as I read this the from the OPs description of events (or the information the garage has given), it appears that VOSA were there at the time the car was re-tested which would be following the 'rectification work' had been carried out by the garage to pass the MOT. Presumebly (again according to the information given) VOSA stepped in and dissagreed with a 'pass' result and advised the garage accrodingly. Dispite this, the garage released the car leading the OP to believe that the necessary work had been carried out with an un-signed pass certificate. It now appears that the fault still exists which was picked up by VOSA thus rendering the pass cert invalid.

 

Based on the above, I certainly think it is something to get excited about! If however, it is a load of tosh then the garage still, by their own 'account', have an obligation to rectify the car accordingly at no cost to the OPs friend so they are screwed either way. VOSA do sometimes carry out such activities when investigating 'problem' MOT stations which have been bought to their attention and I indicated this as my assumption as to why they were really there in my earlier post.

 

I think that my suggestions so far to the OP will hopefully produce the desired result.

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

 

I would always urge to seek professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

[heliosuk]

Sam, my interpretation is that an MOT was carried out and a quote given. In this case a failure should have been logged. Customer gives go ahead for work and gets messed about with excuse that VOSA turn up. This is where it is not clear. Garage say VOSA turned up and selected car. Unless this was on the same day then the excuse is rubbish as if it was the case then the garage would be in a position to ammend the quote.

 

As I point out, VOSA can only inspect cars that have been tested that day or witness a test going through. They do not pick at random any car left on the premesis for work which is what is implied in the original post.

 

Now my issue is that if you contact VOSA with "they have done this and they have done that" they will, from experience say they have never been there. The VOSA excuse is all too common as a delaying tactic.

 

Again, if proper procedures have been followed then any inspection which is legitimate will be recorded. I.e. a failure issued at a date and time with details which is available on line. Then a pass certificate will show when the work has been completed.

 

The failure to sign a certificate is nebulous as this frequently happens at all stations. The key fact is that the test results are recorded.

 

I don't in principle disagree with your post as some sort of contact is obviously required with VOSA but this should be limited to did they visit on a certain date and what was the outcome.

 

If you're going to go against the garage then make sure you get the facts and get them right as in this case it has already been shown there are two different opinions to the original post from people pretty clued up on these issues and others are all to willing to hang the supposed offender.

 

A retired Scotland Yard Serious Crime Squad detective once told me over a pint that "just because you see a man throw an empty cigarette packet into a fire does not mean that that man smokes".

 

Here the OP needs to ask the friend to check VOSA dates but reality is I still think Garage is lying and if VOSA never turned up then it's going to get really dirty as to how you deal with this. Next problem is we don't know what the faults were so essentially you're working blind at the moment.

[sailor sam]

We seem to be agreeing on the same thing helio but in different directions. I also think the garage is lying and only contacing VOSA will clear this up. At the end of the day, it seems the gararge have passed a car which they have had to do work on to get it to a passable standard which the OP has paid for. then apparently while they re-tested it, by their own admission, a further fault (which we don't know what it is) was found which they didn't spot in the original test. This apparently was picked up by VOSA while they were 'there'. They then release the car without rectifying the new 'fault' and by 'coincidence' forgot to sign the cert. In any event, the garage are certainly on thin ice and at the very least they should be very keen to rectify the OPs car.

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

 

I would always urge to seek professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

[heliosuk]

This is true Sam, but unless the OP's friend checks via VOSA as to what has actually gone on then there is really nothing to get "excited" about.

 

Next...... as pointed out the use of the VOSA name implies something serious which could actually be a missed side light bulb. So I think it's a massive "**** up" by the garage who have used VOSA as an excuse which is starting to come back and haunt them. On the other side, it might actually be true, though knowing how VOSA operates I doubt it, but it could be.

 

The OP needs to get friends detailed description as to what has gone wrong before they are condemmed though on the balance of probabilities the garage has done something wrong.

 

Whether or not this is a claim against them remains to be seen.

[ErikaPNP]

Update:

 

My friend have spoken to VOSA who have confirmed the matter, but they weren't keen on going into too fine details and it appears VOSA maybe taking the garage to task. In light of that I think it's best I say little more about it, except to share this good bit of news:

 

She got back in touch with the garage yesterday and told them she'd been onto VOSA about it and was going to take it further. They backtracked very quickly and asked her to bring the car in on Monday to be fixed - free.

 

From the garage's change of heart, I think there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. All of a sudden they seem very keen to rectify matters after only a short time ago telling her where to get off.

 

As I said I know very very little about motors, aside from the fact that they have wheels and get a person from A to B! I have no idea what is actually wrong with the vehicle other than it's to do with corrosion and welding. I don't know anything about VOSA; being a non driver I'd never heard of them before my friend told me of her problem, so totally in the dark about what influence (if any) that they have, or how they work.

 

I'll let you know whether they do actually fix the issue and any further updates, but as I said I think I may have to be careful what I say just in case it does need taking further. From what she's said of the garage I'm not convinced they can be trusted.

[sailor sam]

VOSA are the govenment's transport 'enforcement' agency. They are responsible for ensuring that vehicles on the road are safe and that PCV/HGV operators comply with their respective obligations. In this case, they will no doubt come down on the garage very hard which may include stripping them of their MOT testing status and possible prosecution. As I have pointed out in my original post; this could be very costly to the garage and I don't think that their apparent change of stance will save them.

 

Please Note

 

 

The advice I offer will be based on the information given by the person needing it. All my advice is based on my experiences and knowledge gained in working in the motor and passenger transport industries in various capacities. Although my advice will always be sincere, it should be used as guidence only.

 

 

I would always urge to seek professional advice for clarification prior to taking any action.

 

 

Please click my reputation 'star' button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

[heliosuk]

Erika, hope you will find the following helpful/useful.

 

VOSA ( Vehicle Operating Standards Authority/Agency) is a seriously powerfull Government body ( when they want to be! ) responsible for the way vehicles are used on our roads. You often see them on motorways pulling lorries and coaches where they check weights, drivers hours and roadworthiness of vehicles. They are also responsible for setting the regulations and standards for all other vehicles and how they are tested.

 

In Germany for example, this role is carried out by an organisation called TUV and both VOSA and TUV work very closely to the same standards. The major difference is that in most European countries, the equivalent of our MOT is carried out by these Government organisations whereas in UK, in the spirit of true Thatcherism (just had a spit there ) we allow private organisations to carry out these safety checks on their behalf. So inherrantly the system is open to abuse and varying standards. It would work though if it was worked like the McDonalds business model where wherever you went you got he same thing at the same price.

 

The good news is, as you point out, VOSA did visit and the fact that your friend has checked this means it will for a change, be high on their radar.

 

The bad news is the failure. For VOSA to pick up on corrosion means that there is significant corrosion within 12 inches of a load bearing part. It's a very difficult thing to assess however the repair methods are expensive to do properly and time consuming and can have huge cosmetic implications.

 

I would suggest you ask you friend to go to the garage and get a written statement of what they propose to do, by when and by who and get them to agree to an independant retest at a station of your choice which they need to pay for.

 

It's far to easy to disguise corrosion issues so any chance of letting us know what car it is and where the corrosion problem is?

 

Some of us will know what is involved in the repair and the implications thereof!

[patdavies]

. The major difference is that in most European countries, the equivalent of our MOT is carried out by these Government organisations whereas in UK, in the spirit of true Thatcherism (just had a spit there )

 

!

 

Oh, come on. The MoT Test was introduced 12 years before Thatcher became PM

[heliosuk]

Pat,

 

It's the principal that at one point it was considered that the MOT test should be carried out by VOSA but in the interests of the free market etc, etc, it was decided to carry on with garages carrying out the test and being monitored insted by VOSA. The system is open to and invites abuse and despite efforts to control and standardise it just doesn't and won't work.

 

Not too disimilar to the privatisation of our rail industry and look what happened to the rail network safety record then.

 

Another thing to bare in mind is the subjectiveness of the test. Regs state that corrosion within 12 inches of a load bearing part. There's a big difference between for an example a Rolls Royce and a Nissan Micra. Get the drift???

 

 

 

These tests should be carried out by a single agency where it's easier to control quality and standards and where there is no vested interest in profit.