Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[P3steve]

Like an expectant father Ive just spent the last hour pacing up and down my local MOT center as Lily the 1949 Rover P3 had her annual test not to worry though because as usual she sailed through with out a single thing to report, the tester then taking her as he described it for a quick ride round the block just to test the brakes with a decelerometer and was gone for about twenty minutes and coming back with a big smile on his face, "well I had to give it a proper test didn't I" he said a bit tongue in cheek. The only work needed before the test was a pair of new wiper blades from the excellent Paul Bec vintage supplies up in Norfolk, £14 plus p&p and the MOT at £19.99. The MOT center was Kingsway Tyres Battery Rd, Great Yarmouth and the MOT tester was a Mr P Lovejoy a mechanic of the old school who knows the difference between a kingpin and steering box from a ball joint and steering rack

[Rick]

Great stuff - I wish MOTs around here cost £19.99!

(any photos to hand?)

R
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[Nic Jarman]

A Lovejoy in Norfolk, who would have thought it.
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1936 Morris 8 Series 1
1973 MGB roadster
1977 MG Midget 1500
Dax Rush

[Greg]

Good to hear.
Having had to move temporarily to Westbrook Nr. Margate, I too found myself nervous as the MOT on my Pop was due a couple of weeks ago!!!
Normally, where I used to live, a friend of mine would do the test which although he would fail it if something was not right, he knew the car!
So looking for someone new to MOT my car was a bit daunting, as we all know you can't usually take your Classic anywhere as quite often the staff are so horrified at the perhaps 'basic' mechanics of the older vehicles that it's a list of Fail, Fail , Fail
I found an 'old' Garage here in Margate, none of your fancy tiled floor workshop and fancy state of the art equipment here...apart from the kettle
.......just what I was looking for!
Even though the chap did fail the car on one wheel bearing, he explained what he meant and why and to be honest I knew they were on there last legs and intended to replace them anyway, just not quite yet
He mentioned there was slight play in the 'King pins' but said most of them are like that and it won't cause a problem yet but will need doing at some stage.
This is the kind of test I like where the tester is a little bit sympathetic towards the older vehicle. It showed to me that he obviously had plenty of experience of all types of vehicle and for as long as I am living in the Margate area I will be happy to take my vehicles to this garage.
The name is the 'Albert Garage' Albert Road Margate
Maybe we could have a list of good Garages, which I think someone has suggested before?

......oh and yes I replaced all front bearings, phoned to book a retest but they didn't have time on the Saturday morning that I phoned, but they called me back half hour later to say they could fit my car in otherwise it would have gone over the 10 working days and would have had to pay again!!
Sorry if I've gone on a bit but you always hear of the bad experiences and this thread spurred me on to say something

[AustinAnnie]

Ha, I'm not the only one still paying £20 for an MOT, then!

The chap that tests mine is a fine mechanic and extremely sympathetic with older vehicles. He restores vehicles in his spare time and is currently working on a Mini which used to appear in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

The only problem is that he is so much in demand that if you book a time for an MOT you are likely to turn up and find that a couple of other people are booked in as well. I find it's normally best to take a book, though I usually end up sitting in the office and answering the phone for him... We worked together when I had my first job, selling Skodas!

[michael1703]

i cant see how they make any money testing a car for less than £20, they must have non exisistant overheads to make money out of that

there are cheapish mot stations near me but they let too many faults through, i use a test station 12 miles away because they are much stricter and a pass from them gives peace of mind that youre sending out something safe, their hourly rate is £37.50 and they charge £54 for an mot, but i get trade price £34

it takes 45minutes to an hour to test a car properly, thens theres the money paid to the ministry for the test equipment, the maintenance of the gas analyzer,ramp,calibration of the rollers, electric for the ramp and rollers etc thats before rent/rates/insurance/wages etc so why would you want to charge £20?

[P3steve]

I guess your right but this garage is probably running this price as a loss leader to draw custom in. I was watching from the customer waiting area and being an ex MOT tester myself new what he would do and what he would check and as far as I could see he did a pretty thorough job, he spent a long time under each wheel arch as his assistant turned the wheels this way and that and even from the booth I was in I could hear the ring of his "hammer" as he went over the chassis and underside, he even went round every door catch to make sure there was no play in them and that the doors closed tight, last year I had an advisory on the petrol cap seal which I replaced for this year so he seemed to cover every thing. don't worry I do know of places in the area where you can get an MOT at a price - guaranteed pass etc. but I go to this chap because he knows old cars and the regulations that cover them. At the end of the day if I saw a tin of Heinz beans on offer in one shop it would be pointless going and paying full price else where if I knew the quality was the same

[AustinAnnie]

Mine is very much a "mate's rates" price, and may also have something to do with the supply of homemade cakes... He normally charges around the Ministry's set rate... Says something when he's still so popular at normal price, even though there's some testing stations in the area doing £35 tests for any car.

Loss leaders will always be played. There's a garage in the next town advertising tyres below cost price; They pay £36.22 gross for one particular size and advertise them at £35.95 fully fitted, including valve, balance, tyre disposal and VAT. Since tyre fitters and balance weights etc aren't free I assume that they must be making money on add-ons. It does make it hard to explain to customers why our tyres are dearer because we, y'know, need to eat and all that jazz.

[michael1703]

i charge £25 per hour and that doesnt seem enough but thats the going rate for the area

plus, i'm a complete mug and take in sob stories and knock off hours for this and that

one customer the other week was off work without sick pay with a collapsed lung, i did about 8 hours work for £50 and then he couldnt afford that

[P3steve]

But I bet you still did the work to a high standard and didnt cut corners, if your like me you wouldnt know how to do it any other way.

[michael1703]

a quick fit had snapped the studs in his cylinder head, had to take half the car apart to get to them, took 5 hours to get them out and refit everything. then it failed its mot, made a brake pipe up,changed a bulb and fiddled with the emmisions etc

you cant cut corners when you are responsible for somebody elses safety

friday i charged a customers two hours labour for 3 and a half hours work on a 54 rover p4 and didnt bill him for ep90

the week before, billed someone £650 for £1200 worth of work, i knew their car wasnt worth much and they wouldny pay it

had a gypsy try and tell my fortune on monday, i wouldnt pay or buy anything but gave her a scrap battery so she could get some scrap money, she said i was about to come into money...... so an alfa spider turned up needing welding

karma, dont you love it?

[ianm]

Hi, Michael where I am in Queensland dont have to have MOT's except when we sell a vehicle, New South Wales you need one yearly after the car is three years old.
Our inspection fees are determined by the Government & the inspector & the proprietor of the Roadworthy Station can be fined for charging over the rate. You dont have to have the repairs done by the station but you must return it for re inspection to the same station within 14 days.
If its not returned the station they must notify the Gov Department Of Transport and they call the vehicle in for another inspection.

[Riley Blue]

My Riley went for its MoT a couple of months back and failed spectacularly - worn king pins, bushes, handbrake and rust - no advisories last year to warn me but I was prepared for the king pins and bushes; the handbrake was borderline fail but the rust was substantial and in my view should have been spotted during previous tests even though it was concealed beneath metal tape and underseal [not by me]; a new MoT tester at the same test station found it easily enough. It has cost more than I paid for the car for everything to be rectified but that's what owning a classic is often about.

The interesting observation from all this is that the MoT test station personnel have changed; the old chap retired and his replacement is much more diligent for which, despite the hefty bill, I'm grateful as the car could have been lethal in the event of a collision whereas now, thanks to the repairs, its strutural integrity has been restored. If it hadn't been for the new tester, the rust (front bump stops and top of wing box section) might have gone completely undiscovered until something tragic happened so I consider my £40 test fee money well spent.

[Nic Jarman]

The Midget went through the MOT and when I checked the mileage it had done 9900 miles this year. 2 new tyres as the pot holes knock the tracking all over the place and a little play in the near side trackrod end. Not bad for a 33 year old car.
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1936 Morris 8 Series 1
1973 MGB roadster
1977 MG Midget 1500
Dax Rush