MOT question
 

I'm hoping that someone can help me with an MOT question if possible.

I bought a new car last week and, when I went for the test drive before buying, I noticed that the nearside wing mirror glass was missing. The garage said that it had been ordered and would be fitted before I collected the car. When collection time came around the glass had been fitted as promised and I thought nothing more of it.

However, on the way home I tried to adjust the mirror and found that it didn't move when using the interior control. I assumed that the glass wasn't clipped in correctly and just got on with the journey. I checked this over the weekend and found that the glass had been stuck to the wing mirror unit using what looked like some kind of black adhesive. This meant that I now had no wing mirror glass and no way of reattaching it as the adhesive wouldn't budge.

Normally I would have just sourced a second hand unit and left it at that. My problem is that the garage MOT'd the car before collection and, according to the MOT manual, a mirror that cannot be adjusted is reason for failure. Is this correct and, if so, what implications will this have as the garage have issued a new MOT?

Thanks

Olly

Unless you complain to the MOT ombudsman it won't have any effect till next year... :)

Ok, thanks.

It was more as leverage to get the garage to replace the unit!

Olly

You could complain to them that it was a shoddy repair and they promised it was to be fixed.. .then if they don't do anything threaten to take it further as they MOT'd it and its basically an MOT failure... so Fraud??

Will give it a go, at worst I'll have to shell out ?25 for a second hand unit. I assume the colour coded backing panels can be swapped to save respraying?

It's clearly not a satisfactory repair as they've stopped the mirror functioning as it should. You have a good argument to get them to repair it properly. If they refuse, tell them you'll have it repaired properly by another garage and they will be sent the bill.

If you threaten to report them to VOSA and they say 'go ahead' you will lose your car for several weeks as VOSA will inspect your car in fine detail and they may find other things that should have failed. I would take it on the chin, find a replacement and move on, in a years time I would use another testing station! ?25 or so is not worth the hassle imo.

Thanks for the advice.

Have got to phone the garage on Thursday to speak to the guy that sold me the car to see what can be done. Also need to talk to them about the 2 holes in the exhaust which seemed to have been missed during the MOT and the rear brake pad that is down to the backing. The exhaust noise was mentioned after the test drive but sods law says that the brake problem only reared its head today!

I thought they garage seemed really honest but am now having doubts. According to their MOT tester the car passed the emissions test and so the leaks could be ignored at his discretion. Have a feeling that his discretion may have been based on his employment by the guy selling the car!

This is why I think garages should be forced to get another garage elsewhere to do the MOT on all cars they sell! lol

You got more problems then, I'd be tempted to threaten to report them and see what reaction you get. The brakes should have failed the inspection as too the exhaust. However if you do go ahead be prepared to lose your car for a long time to VOSA. If they find the garage at fault on several counts then they will lose their testing licence.