MOT's Every Two Years??? A Recipe For Disaster??

[The Samaritan]

Hands up who doesn't even know where the bonnet catch is?

What is that?

 

[Bod ...]

Hands up who doesn't even know where the bonnet catch is?

What end is the bonnet

 

[Deleted member 292770]

Better if they did something sensible for a change like make people take compulsory competency /refresher courses every 5 years.
would generate billions , rightly take hundreds of thousands off the roads and generally make the place a lot safer.

 

[Stivino]

What is that?

The bonnet goes on your head. There is a catch at the back for adjustment.

 

[motorbiking]

I like the idea of 4 years for new cars and 2 years for MOT. So many dodgy garages will give you an MOT without testing, so the issue of unsafe cars being picked up by MOT is largely masked.

 

[Dork Lard]

Once got sent out to recover a Discovery which was described as "NSF wheel off". Found it at the bottom of a dual carriageway slip road, expecting some **** had not torqued his wheel nuts up I found that most of the NSF assembly had come off with it. Had he kerbed it? No. Had it whacked debris on the road? No. Car was brand new, less than 300mls. He swore blind that he was just pulling up for the roundabout at slow speed when it lost it.

Pulled it up the bed (which was easier to say than do) & had a good looksy. The bottom arm of the suspension had only been spot welded in 3 or 4 places. Blokes driving around in a £30k+ 100mph+ 5ton battletank with his wife & kids in & a very important part of the suspension seems to have missed a few steps in production.

This sort of 'quality control' wasn't unusual for Land Rover in that era. Our lads had their own tea mugs in the local dealership. I'm told they did a recall on 200 vehicles.

If anyone thinks that ANY vehicle can go for an extended period of time without a competent inspection, then take a minute to think about the possibility of a 5ton 4x4 careering across the highway & into your lane because some bloke in a factory far far away was a bit hung over a few days before.

 

[Mottie]

The bottom arm of the suspension had only been spot welded in 3 or 4 places.

That wouldn't have been picked up or have been a failure on an mot test.

 

[Dork Lard]

That wouldn't have been picked up or have been a failure on an mot test.

Maybe not, but someone with a clue might have spotted it & thought it strange.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

Huge financial impact on mot testing garages.
So they’ll be far more likely to find genuine faults and fail more cars to make the money up on repairs.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Something else I noticed after my cars last service and mot was an (advisory?) note on the documentation, can't recall if it was linked to the service or mot, I think probably the latter. It stated to the effect that various parts of the vehicle couldn't be checked due to coverings, undertrays etc. It reminded me slightly of home reports/surveys that say similar.

 

[Mottie]

Something else I noticed after my cars last service and mot was an (advisory?) note on the documentation, can't recall if it was linked to the service or mot, I think probably the latter. It stated to the effect that various parts of the vehicle couldn't be checked due to coverings, undertrays etc. It reminded me slightly of home reports/surveys that say similar.

Yep, testers are not allowed to remove anything during the course of a test to inspect anything. Basically a C.Y.A. note from the tester.

 

[crystal ball]

In most states if not all states of Australia, you only need to do an MOT once you sell the vehicle. Even if its 20 or 40 years old.

Still yearly in NSW AFAIK, although it was quite cursory
https://www.mynrma.com.au/cars-and-...sources/what-is-a-pink-slip-and-esafety-check

 

[ReganAndCarter]

We all have stories we can tell re MOTs and car repairs. Mine was in one year and had a broken coil spring. Mechanic showed me pic and vid footage of the break. Said if it had been left, the way it had broken there was a risk of it going into the internal sidewall of the tyre which could have led to more significant issues. There were no adverse noises coming from the car, so if that had been left for another x months, goodness knows how it might have played out.

Happened to me, but luckily overnight when van was parked on drive. Parked it normally, but next morning couldn't move it. Turned out offside spring had broken near the bottom which released the tension of the spring and it expanded down the strut/shock and jammed hard against the inside wall of tyre. Couldn't rotate the wheel or move the steering. Luckily it had missed the brake pad wear indicator wire and the brake pipe. Dread to think what would have happened if spring had let go in outside lane of motorway at 70 mph.

More recently the garage spotted that the spring on the other side had broken. In 36 years of owning all sorts of vehicles, never had a broken spring. Now two on same vehicle.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

I also check for damage though its too late if someone has vandalised the car again.

I would consider moving to a better neighbourhood.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Even if the rules changed to once every two years, I would do it every year.

Even on a brand new car?

Not sure why anyone would MOT a brand new car. Think he meant annually after 3 years old.