MOT - is an advisory better than a failure (Discussion)

[dapinky]

Both cars due at end of June, so one went in yesterday, and one today.

Blue car - Failure - excessive play in RNS wheel bearing

Red car - pass - advisories:-

both front tyres at 2-3mm tread
rust on inner face of FOS disc (5mm strip round outer edge)
insecure PAS pipe clip
bothe rear wheel bearings need adjustment
handbrake at 17% (pass is 16%)
rust on body of rear shocks (non structural)
slight corrossion on metal brake pipe.



so, the question is - which would YOU prefer - a pass or a failure???

(suffice to say, blue car wheel bearing was adjusted by the time the failure notice came off the printer, and it now has a pass).

Even with the usual explanation of Elan rear bearing adjustment and handbrake operation, the tester didn't look convinced (a new bloke at the garage i always use) - and when i questioned the tyre tread he thought it was a reasonable thing to give an 'advisory' for - even though they will be good for 10K miles, and the car has only done 5k in the past year, including some spirited driving to and at the Isle of Mann.

[GeoffSmith]

both front tyres at 2-3mm tread

- and when i questioned the tyre tread he thought it was a reasonable thing to give an 'advisory' for - even though they will be good for 10K miles, and the car has only done 5k in the past year, including some spirited driving to and at the Isle of Mann.

Why can't they give you a verbal warning rather than a formal advisory note? Applying the same logic, he should be giving an advisory on cars with brand new tyres that have done, say, 20,000 since the last MoT.

[rip]

What is excessive?

I got an advisory on my daily a couple of years ago for its fuel lines with the words "In the opinion of the tester, these are potentially dangerous" added.
I left them alone expecting it to fail on these the following year....
Not even a mention??? From the same testing station too.

If they were that dangerous, then surely they should fail. I would rather they failed a test than fail on the road.

I think it's partly down to how the tester feels on the day.

[Alan_C]

Many of the items under test are a simple pass/fail, such as lamps, horn, windscreen washers etc, but many are down to the opinion of the tester. They should all be the same standard, but they're human, so it's down to if they think a certain part is worthy of a pass, caution or a fail. I really think the MOT test needs to be done to a higher standardisation and have all testers trained to this standard. I know a garage that will pass many items my local garage won't, (but they won't allow anything obviously dangerous to pass). But should I take my car to this garage or to the more strict garage? I'd prefer to come away with a pass and some advisories that I can then fix at my leisure rather than a fail that I now have to fix immediately, but what's safer? You and I know that those advisories I got will get the attention they deserve, but would all people act on them? And of course, those rear springs that had a fail 3 years ago for excessive rust have not ever been mentioned again by any other garage, including the garage that passed them 2 weeks later with no attention to them at all. I think we all know the vagaries of the UK MOT test and so have to live by them and make our own choice as to who does the test, I'm pretty sure many of us know which local MOT testers are more strict than the other. It's just another part of life that keeps us amused and on our toes.