MOT's
 

I have always advocated that one should not put a vehicle in for a test unless confident that a PASS will be achieved. Sadly due to the ageing of our vehicles and some of us, there seems an increase in the failures and the lack of ability to prepare the vehicles for that test.

The test is only proof of the car's condition at that time on that date, and it is therefore the responsibility of the owner to ensure within reason, that the condition is maintained for the whole year. Admittedly there are some things we cannot examine easily but certainly the basics can be observed, and attended to.

I do not consider that a PASS is down to luck but more preparation and awareness, as is the condition of the vehicle in readiness for the more extreme weather ahead.

Yes, mine passed.

Sound advice and 100% correct analysis of how to think about an MOT

What I like to do is take the car for a pre-mot health check about a month or so before the mot runs out. That way I get plenty time to fix what needs to be done. After that I usually book it in for its test, since I'd rather lose a months ticket instead of having it potentially fail at the last minute.

It is bulb failure and bald tyres I cant understand cars failing on. These are such simple checks. Torn gaiters on universal joints or torn dust covers on drop links are something different completely, not everyone gets under their car to take a look.

macafee2

Exactly. Not exactly difficult to do. If I failed on a bulb I would be downright embarrassed. My service dates and MOT dates are more or less the same so an ideal time to get it checked over.

I usually spend a day under and around each car at the beginning and end of summer checking everything within my ability.

Usually when a car is coming up to a critical age point, I take it to a trusted mechanic and ask them to spend 1-2 hours going over the whole car in order to given me a full appraisal of its condition.

I did this with my Omega at 17 years old and asked what would need to be done for it to give another 4-5 years of trouble free service (in order to use the estate to ferry the two kids to//from university with all their gear). Based on the advice, I had things like the brake pipes replaced and parts of sills cut-out/replaced before it became necessary.

This year, with the car now on 22 years of age, I paid for a 1.5-hour appraisal and asked te question what would need to be done to make it last another 3 years to take it to 25 years old. The answer came back that nothing needs to be done now but with a list of items that will probably need to be done over the following 2-3 years. I now have another year before the new MOT expires to take a decision on whether I need such a large estate and get the work done or call it a day and get a medium size estate (sorry, sports tourer!).

This does require access to mechanics one can trust, which I am fortunate to have.

If they're giving you a time frame of nearly 3 years to get everything done then there can't be much wrong with it!

Congratulations on the pass

There isn’t much wrong with it, I have seen it and heard it run!

You can print an MOT checklist off the net and it doesn't take long to go through all the checks if you are handy with the spanners. Obviously you can't test the emissions, but a visual smoke check for the diesels will tell you if you need to give it a good thrashing and treat it to a bottle of decent injector cleaner or not. :}