MOT defect question

[Turbo]

As regards the OP's issue, before covid you sat in the test area watching your car being tested. If there was a serious issue under the car the tester would bring you over & show you. If there was something on the failure sheet you didn't understand they would lift the car again & point it out.

Since covid your car is taken off you & you sit in a waiting room until the tester brings the car back so no chance of finding out what the often vague descriptions mean.

@mgarym - I suggest you go back to the test centre during office hours & ask to speak to the manager. They or one of the testers will explain better what that failure means.

 

[mgarym]

Hi
Joe i dont think anyone was questioning the integrity of the testers .just the difficult position they are in due to the backlog of tests

Thanks Bob and Joe for pointing me in the right direction as regards to the possile meaning of the "prep for further inspection"

Turbo good advice i'll see what they say

 

[Joe 90]

The way NI mot booking works is that you must take the first mot appointment available at any test centre in NI. That could mean an over 200 mile round trip to get your car tested!
If you want a test in a nearer location you need to go on the DVLA website around 8am to get one of the few extra appointments they release every day. Honestly, its like buying a ticket for Glastonbury!

You don't need to do 200 mile trips or take the first appointment anywhere. It's best to get any appointment at your nearest centre. There is loads of tests released every morning. A 30 second check on your phone in the morning will tell you. It takes longer to write a message on here. Their is not a 2 year back log. The waiting list is roughly 4 months and will disappear when new test centres are opened. You can book your test 3 months before its due. I mot mine before its due and as long as its within 28 days it adds it on to your year. If you've applied for mot and your car is roadworthy then you don't need to panic as long as your taxed. If you run out of tax then an email to them will get you a test within 5 days. A lot of people don't actually look for cancellations as then they get about 16 months between mots. When the examiner brings you around your car and you don't understand a failure then just ask them. At no time should you ever have been under your car in the mot. Most people actually prefer not to be involved in the brake test etc and are glad to be out.
I think they have actually added something to their booking system now that will notify you of an earlier appointment.

 

[pedrobedro]

The way NI mot booking works is that you must take the first mot appointment available at any test centre in NI. That could mean an over 200 mile round trip to get your car tested!
If you want a test in a nearer location you need to go on the DVLA website around 8am to get one of the few extra appointments they release every day. Honestly, its like buying a ticket for Glastonbury!

That's just like trying to get a GP appointment, do you get a prescription for any work that needs doing ?

 

[Trevorleach]

The wages for a government employed MOT tester in NI are quite good. One youngish guy I know had a busy independent one man garage & closed it to go test cars at a centre. I asked him why - better money, regular hours, good holidays, good pension, nice warm workshop, no running after folk for payment for repairs, etc.
He's one of the better testers to get as he had a good few years as a mechanic before working there & he has more common sense.
Unfortunately a lot of the newer testers are too young, basically just finished their motor mechanics apprenticeship then straight into testing. They have no common sense & follow the computer to the letter, its just black of white with them.

In England the Govt testers are on 1/2 to 2/3rds of a decent mechs wages, which is why the job used to be mainly done by older fellas who were ex mechanics, that had to give it up due to ill health, knees/back etc.

 

[Joe 90]

In England the Govt testers are on 1/2 to 2/3rds of a decent mechs wages, which is why the job used to be mainly done by older fellas who were ex mechanics, that had to give it up due to ill health, knees/back etc.

Mot wage in Northern Ireland is poor too. They are struggling to recruit. A good mechanic makes way more. They lost quite a few this year that went back to mechanic or other job.

 

[premmington]

The system was broken to start with, a 2 month wait for an appt was common. Then the issue with the broken lifts happened, waiting times increased to at least 6 months, eventually they gave everyone a letter allowing them to drive without MOT, as long as you had an appointment booked.
Then covid happened, which screwed things up completely. To get an appt at your local centre you could wait up until a year so they introduced the rule 'take the first appt available no matter the location'! Great thing for the environment, sending vehicles all around the country for testing!

You can't book your appt until you get your reminder & you use a code on it to make the booking. The reminder comes 2 months before the mot expires, which doesn't help much.

If they stick to the yearly tests there's no way they can ever catch up the backlog of effectively being shut down for 2+ years!

Two year testing would be a start, at the minute they are open 6 days a week 8 to 8. I think a test is 20 mins so that means a tester can in theory do 36 vehicles a day. At my local centre there's a max of 6 testers on, so that's 216 vehicles per day max not accounting for breaks.

Interesting - this is about what we here from DVSA here in the UK.

This I am sure will have a knock on effect for UK MOT testing...

@Joe 90 sort of infers the system is working in an above post in this thread - I don't really know to be honest (I don't live or trade in Ni) - we just get the feedback it is not working or ever will now...

Look at the NHS - when a backlog gets so big - you can't catch up...

 

[Turbo]

Interesting - this is about what we here from DVSA here in the UK.

This I am sure will have a knock on effect for UK MOT testing...

@Joe 90 sort of infers the system is working in an above post in this thread - I don't really know to be honest (I don't live or trade in Ni) - we just get the feedback it is not working or ever will now...

Look at the NHS - when a backlog gets so big - you can't catch up...

This is not just my opinion, its what everyone I know is saying! Even the car traders are struggling to get quick appointments & they could always get appointments when Joe Public couldn't. A local trader I know had to drive 80 miles on a Sunday to Newry to get a fresh mot on a car he had sold, losing his only day off!

I suspect Joe is connected with the mot system as he seems very keen on defending something that everyone else acknowledges is broken! My local centre is probably running at nearly full capacity, as I suspect most others are. So hiring new staff isn't going to help, there just isn't the capacity in the system to ever catch up by continuing with yearly testing.
Building or expanding test centres would work but by the time they get around to doing that 10 years will have passed, remember this is a government department!
Unless they are hugely subsidized I can't see local garages installing the expensive mot test equipment. As it is they are all flat out doing repair work, too busy to earn a measly few quid doing an mot test.

 

[premmington]

This is not just my opinion, its what everyone I know is saying! Even the car traders are struggling to get quick appointments & they could always get appointments when Joe Public couldn't. A local trader I know had to drive 80 miles on a Sunday to Newry to get a fresh mot on a car he had sold, losing his only day off!

I suspect Joe is connected with the mot system as he seems very keen on defending something that everyone else acknowledges is broken! My local centre is probably running at nearly full capacity, as I suspect most others are. So hiring new staff isn't going to help, there just isn't the capacity in the system to ever catch up by continuing with yearly testing.
Building or expanding test centres would work but by the time they get around to doing that 10 years will have passed, remember this is a government department!
Unless they are hugely subsidized I can't see local garages installing the expensive mot test equipment. As it is they are all flat out doing repair work, too busy to earn a measly few quid doing an mot test.

Interesting feedback @Turbo

I been following the Ni MOT thing with interest - based on two things.

1. It will affect the UK system (the two year thing maybe?)

2. Plus it was my mate at Maha who sold them the failing ramps - Maha is based at Wisbech 16miles away from where I live.

-------------

And you are right @Turbo - the actual act of testing is not a high profit job - MOT testing is sitting at £35/40 a test in the UK - you gotta have 60sq mtrs of real estate to do it in - reception staff to book them in - invest in the kit/training and then the upkeep of the kit/staff training. Plus in the UK people don't turn up for booked tests - lossing slots. You gotta buy slots - pay staff an hourly to do it (there is no a trend for them wanting more wages as well). You can't even answer the phone while you logged on. No mate it is not a pot of gold... I would agree mate - there is definitely more money in repairs than in testing.

 

[Trevorleach]

Interesting feedback @Turbo

I been following the Ni MOT thing with interest - based on two things.

1. It will affect the UK system (the two year thing maybe?)

2. Plus it was my mate at Maha who sold them the failing ramps - Maha is based at Wisbech 16miles away from where I live.

-------------

And you are right @Turbo - the actual act of testing is not a high profit job - MOT testing is sitting at £35/40 a test in the UK - you gotta have 60sq mtrs of real estate to do it in - reception staff to book them in - invest in the kit/training and then the upkeep of the kit/staff training. Plus in the UK people don't turn up for booked tests - lossing slots. You gotta buy slots - pay staff an hourly to do it (there is no a trend for them wanting more wages as well). You can't even answer the phone while you logged on. No mate it is not a pot of gold... I would agree mate - there is definitely more money in repairs than in testing.

Yet there are them places that only do mots.
I take my cars to the one on the Medway estate, in and out no fuss, they even say no pass no pay!
Used to use the local garage but he got to be a real pita.

 

[Bornfree]

Interesting feedback @Turbo

I been following the Ni MOT thing with interest - based on two things.

1. It will affect the UK system (the two year thing maybe?)

2. Plus it was my mate at Maha who sold them the failing ramps - Maha is based at Wisbech 16miles away from where I live.

The only good thing that comes out of Wisbech is the road.

 

[premmington]

The only good thing that comes out of Wisbech is the road.

Nights out in Wisbech in the late 80's early 90's were interesting for sure.

Mendi's was the nightclub on the old market place - doubt it still open....

Rose & Crown pub was OK.

 

[OJCar]

In Wisbech- Elgoods Brewery Garden ?

 

[premmington]

In Wisbech- Elgoods Brewery Garden ?

@OJCar - Nice photo... (pretty garden)....

But have you tasted Elgoods beer...?

Cambridge ale and porters (plum porter and blackberry porter vile). I like porter myself - but these are not nice - far too sweet.

Best Elgoods offering at the moment is: Warrior pale ale at 5.5%.

Locally years ago - Elgoods mild was known as "dyke water"

 

[Bornfree]

Nights out in Wisbech in the late 80's early 90's were interesting for sure.

Mendi's was the nightclub on the old market place - doubt it still open....

Rose & Crown pub was OK.

Night out in Wisbech ! You were brave

 

[premmington]

Night out in Wisbech ! You were brave

We used to go out six/seven car loads of us - nights out...

Trains to London - B&B in the west end.

Boston - Wisbech - Nottingham - Norwich by car.

All over the place - Wisbech was rough for sure (too many pikeys).

Chatteris is Cambs - "Northern Soul allnighters" was another rough night out "guaranteed mass brawl"

But March in cambridgeshire was the place to avoid for sure.

Slacks nightclub, March, 1980s

Slack’s nightclub opened in August 1982. Some famous 1980s pop stars played there such as Rick Astley and Sinitta, there was also a 24hr danceathon to raise money for Live Aid in 1985 and lots of fancy dress nights. Film- Sue Slack – owner of Slacks nightclub – March’s ‘Place to Be’ in the 80’s...

mygeneration.ccan.co.uk

Slacks nightclub in March/Cambs - the night Rick Astley was on - I lost a bit of my left upper ear lobe - when someone "glassed me".

 

[Bornfree]

We used to go to slacks. It always felt a bit threatening but we never had any trouble there. Did you go to the jennings Arms denver on a Sunday night. How they were allowed to let that many people in I will never know.

 

[premmington]

We used to go to slacks. It always felt a bit threatening but we never had any trouble there. Did you go to the jennings Arms denver on a Sunday night. How they were allowed to let that many people in I will never know.

Jennings was packed - parking all down the river bank - no trouble at all - nice night out!

Thurs and Sundays nights...

This was a night out - from after the war - Black USA service men from Brandon used to have "soul night disco's" at the Jennings Arms - it is how it all started - went on till about the 1990's

JENYNS ARMS - DENVER

www.norfolkpubs.co.uk

 

[tom 748]

Hi
My 2002 bmw e46 touring failed its MOT last night on a few easily rectified mechanical issues
but a number of floorpan rust problems,mostly around the fuel tank area.
One of the defects read
Ma- floor pan/underside/members;rusteaten/weak; Prep for further inspection

What does this mean i need to do?
I could ask the tester as they are rushed off their feet with work as this is
in Northern Ireland and at government run inspection centres.

thanks Gary

you will have to take the tank of

 

[OJCar]

@OJCar - Nice photo... (pretty garden)....

But have you tasted Elgoods beer...?

Cambridge ale and porters (plum porter and blackberry porter vile). I like porter myself - but these are not nice - far too sweet.

Best Elgoods offering at the moment is: Warrior pale ale at 5.5%.

Locally years ago - Elgoods mild was known as "dyke water"

Sadly yes.
If only their beer was as good as their garden.
Most of their beers I have tried have more than a hint of muddy water about them.

I have a hop plant in my Scottish garden that came from Elgoods Garden.
I use the hops in my home brew, but I somehow fail to get that "hint of mud"