car seriously failed MOT...options?
Hi
This is long winded but i really need help
7 months ago, I bought a car, a ford KA.
My friend, who is a part time mechanic, advised me to buy the car as it apparently was in good condition and great value for money at 1500. Bought it from a garage in sunderland.
He managed to knock price down to 1200, and he checked the car over and said it was fine.
When we got back home, he then pointed out things like central locking needed fixing, heating needed fixing, and my indicator went but they all got fixed and i give him a bit money for doing that.
I passed my test 2 weeks ago, and i started driving my car. It was great. I then put it in for MOT this morning, to find out that the car has seriously failed and will cost 550 to fix. I got my tyres done before i put in MOT which cost 100 so this would have been 650 pound in total.
The guy at the MOT place said it might aswell be scrapped. It has rust, corrosion, brakes failed etc. It has 14 major jobs need doing.
I have no idea what to do. What do you think I should do?
Could the corrosion really have happened since the last MOT?
If i scrap the car i am wasting 1200, plus 100 for my tyres and just newly taxed aswell.
Im so upset as I used a loan to get the car too
The guy who took me to get the car in the first place says he feels bad about what happened and he will try to fix it up for me so that i could pass its MOT so i can sell it on... i dont know what to do, im clueless with cars and just 20 year old female
Have i been conned? What are the next steps?
This is long winded but i really need help
7 months ago, I bought a car, a ford KA.
My friend, who is a part time mechanic, advised me to buy the car as it apparently was in good condition and great value for money at 1500. Bought it from a garage in sunderland.
He managed to knock price down to 1200, and he checked the car over and said it was fine.
When we got back home, he then pointed out things like central locking needed fixing, heating needed fixing, and my indicator went but they all got fixed and i give him a bit money for doing that.
I passed my test 2 weeks ago, and i started driving my car. It was great. I then put it in for MOT this morning, to find out that the car has seriously failed and will cost 550 to fix. I got my tyres done before i put in MOT which cost 100 so this would have been 650 pound in total.
The guy at the MOT place said it might aswell be scrapped. It has rust, corrosion, brakes failed etc. It has 14 major jobs need doing.
I have no idea what to do. What do you think I should do?
Could the corrosion really have happened since the last MOT?
If i scrap the car i am wasting 1200, plus 100 for my tyres and just newly taxed aswell.
Im so upset as I used a loan to get the car too
The guy who took me to get the car in the first place says he feels bad about what happened and he will try to fix it up for me so that i could pass its MOT so i can sell it on... i dont know what to do, im clueless with cars and just 20 year old female
Have i been conned? What are the next steps?
Scroll to see replies
basically, if the bits cost more than the market value of the car (dunno how old it is), get rid of it, or break it up and sell the parts separately.
You must be pretty well gutted
You must be pretty well gutted
thanks, i am gutted
oh decisionsss......
oh decisionsss......
Could be the garage trying to rip you off with repairs you don't need?
You could try taking it to a council run MOT centre (list here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot). They don't do repairs and so have nothing to gain by failing things that should really be passed.
Of course most garages are honest and won't be trying to rip you off, just might be worth going for a second opinion.
If it really is that bad consider buying a cheap car with 10+ months MOT/Tax on it maybe? Also if you do need to scrap your car you should get some tax back when you fill out your SORN form and also take the tyres off and sell them separately too.
You could try taking it to a council run MOT centre (list here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot). They don't do repairs and so have nothing to gain by failing things that should really be passed.
Of course most garages are honest and won't be trying to rip you off, just might be worth going for a second opinion.
If it really is that bad consider buying a cheap car with 10+ months MOT/Tax on it maybe? Also if you do need to scrap your car you should get some tax back when you fill out your SORN form and also take the tyres off and sell them separately too.
Insurance fraud may be your friend....
I'm sure you can find some "stranger" to set the thing on fire?
Oh I jest!
Its hard luck, but you may want to try a second mot, it could lose you another £50, but unfortunately garages are notorious for ripping people off, and although it sounds bad, it may be worth taking a man with you because I know a mechanic or two and they seem to think that it is easy to rip off a woman who doesn't know a thing about cars (not my view but I know it is the view of others) Good luck whatever happens, and hope you get it sorted, because like others it seems hard to believe that suddenly the car has 14 major faults.
I'm sure you can find some "stranger" to set the thing on fire?
Oh I jest!
Its hard luck, but you may want to try a second mot, it could lose you another £50, but unfortunately garages are notorious for ripping people off, and although it sounds bad, it may be worth taking a man with you because I know a mechanic or two and they seem to think that it is easy to rip off a woman who doesn't know a thing about cars (not my view but I know it is the view of others) Good luck whatever happens, and hope you get it sorted, because like others it seems hard to believe that suddenly the car has 14 major faults.
Higgy90
sorry but if you managed to drive the car to the garage without noticing anything dodgy, i dont see how it could possibly have 14 things wrong with it
not so. someone i used to work with bought herself a second hand car, i can't remember for the life of me what it was or how old it was, but it was a covertible. it looked perfect on the outside, yet one MoT later, it was ready from the scrap heap. it was rusted through, yet you couldn't have known from just looking at it normally. it had two pages worth of failures.
as for the brakes, i'm sure someone who has just learnt to drive will not be able to tell the difference between good brakes and bad ones.
Nick_000
If your friend is a mechanic then surely he would have noticed important things like rust, corrosion and problems with brakes?
Either the garage is ripping you off or your friend is the worst mechanic ever.
Either the garage is ripping you off or your friend is the worst mechanic ever.
He clearly isn't a mechanic.
We've discussed this on this forum before. There's a world of difference between a "fitter" and a "mechanic".
OP, KA's are pretty notorious for rust.
Ultimately it's up to you what you do. If spending £500 on it this year will get you another 5 years motoring then it's worth it. However if you'll need to spend the same again in 12 months time it's not worth it.
Two pages worth of failures isn't that bad, I had two and a half, two weeks later it didn't even get a minor.
What were the exact fails?
Corrosion/rust/tinworm really can happen that quick.
It may be that it was rusting in such a place that it was not a fail, but has spread such that it is a fail. ie to within 300mm of a mounting point.
If spending another 550 on it will keep it honkeydory for five years than I would personally go for it.
If the worst comes to the worst you can T-cut it up, clean it as much as possible, filler in the corrosion, wack it on ebay with a description along the lines of "my grandmother owned this up until last month when she sadly passed away, its been garaged all its life, only X miles on the clock, pampered throughout its driving career, up for sale without an MOT but should fly through etc etc etc" The only problem I can see with that is the new tax disc arousing suspicion. I would therefore sell the tax back to the DVLA, or put it on your next car.
If you can make it look sound you may be able to get a good rate for it like that (it is of course a complete con, and I would recommend making yourself hard to find when they try to MOT it).
What were the exact fails?
Corrosion/rust/tinworm really can happen that quick.
It may be that it was rusting in such a place that it was not a fail, but has spread such that it is a fail. ie to within 300mm of a mounting point.
If spending another 550 on it will keep it honkeydory for five years than I would personally go for it.
If the worst comes to the worst you can T-cut it up, clean it as much as possible, filler in the corrosion, wack it on ebay with a description along the lines of "my grandmother owned this up until last month when she sadly passed away, its been garaged all its life, only X miles on the clock, pampered throughout its driving career, up for sale without an MOT but should fly through etc etc etc" The only problem I can see with that is the new tax disc arousing suspicion. I would therefore sell the tax back to the DVLA, or put it on your next car.
If you can make it look sound you may be able to get a good rate for it like that (it is of course a complete con, and I would recommend making yourself hard to find when they try to MOT it).
terpineol
If the worst comes to the worst you can T-cut it up, clean it as much as possible, filler in the corrosion, wack it on ebay with a description along the lines of "my grandmother owned this up until last month when she sadly passed away, its been garaged all its life, only X miles on the clock, pampered throughout its driving career, up for sale without an MOT but should fly through etc etc etc" The only problem I can see with that is the new tax disc arousing suspicion. I would therefore sell the tax back to the DVLA, or put it on your next car.
If the worst comes to the worst you can T-cut it up, clean it as much as possible, filler in the corrosion, wack it on ebay with a description along the lines of "my grandmother owned this up until last month when she sadly passed away, its been garaged all its life, only X miles on the clock, pampered throughout its driving career, up for sale without an MOT but should fly through etc etc etc" The only problem I can see with that is the new tax disc arousing suspicion. I would therefore sell the tax back to the DVLA, or put it on your next car.
And then by doing that you'd be lying and possibly breaking trade descriptions act.
BTCC Fan
And then by doing that you'd be lying and possibly breaking trade descriptions act.
Indeed, its undoubtedly dodgy, and I wouldn't want to be caught doing it.
At best you would be getting some negative feedback, though you could probably get away with it on the basis that "it must have been the garage that maintained it", we just got it out of her garage and flogged it, here have a hundred quid back. I would be surprised if anyone took things further after that point.
terpineol
Indeed, its undoubtedly dodgy, and I wouldn't want to be caught doing it.
At best you would be getting some negative feedback, though you could probably get away with it on the basis that "it must have been the garage that maintained it", we just got it out of her garage and flogged it, here have a hundred quid back. I would be surprised if anyone took things further after that point.
At best you would be getting some negative feedback, though you could probably get away with it on the basis that "it must have been the garage that maintained it", we just got it out of her garage and flogged it, here have a hundred quid back. I would be surprised if anyone took things further after that point.
i'd be suprised if anyone actually took things further then just moaning to thier friends about it, after all, a vaunerable mis-informed 20 year old female wasn't to know it was in such bad condition, you just decided to sell it as you can't afford to run a car anymore being a student
try www.myka.org they will advise you on what it will cost to fix each indervidual bit and they do know all the costs. If your up for a bit of DIY it should be prity easy to fix try looking at scrapys for parts.
You might have a problem in that after spending a fortune on getting it through the MOT the car may then collapse from something else. Seems that it might have had a hard, unattended life until you got it and now it is at an age and mileage when lots of things start to go wrong. Might be worth scrapping it, selling the good parts over the internet and starting again.
Sounds to me like the garage have noticed that you are a female driver . . know bugger all about cars and are trying to fob you off with all sorts to screw more money from you! . . . .
Im sure if your mechanic friend went to view the car beforehand and etc - such things that the garage is telling he would have seen . . . . surely? . . .
I had T reg car that was fine - and then the gear box went . . .£550 . . followed by the handbrake cable . . . then the trackrod ends (which was eating my tyres out - so had to get 4 new tyres every 6months . . .). . .some underneath pipe work (no idea what exactly) And recently something with the clutch went . . . which I have refused to pay for . . and the car is heading for the scrap yard!
My advice - find someone else to give the car a 2nd opinion . . .and then go from there. If that person says the car needs fixing and bla bla, and you desperately need to car, then try and find some ££££ to patch it up and then sell it on . . .
Im sure if your mechanic friend went to view the car beforehand and etc - such things that the garage is telling he would have seen . . . . surely? . . .
I had T reg car that was fine - and then the gear box went . . .£550 . . followed by the handbrake cable . . . then the trackrod ends (which was eating my tyres out - so had to get 4 new tyres every 6months . . .). . .some underneath pipe work (no idea what exactly) And recently something with the clutch went . . . which I have refused to pay for . . and the car is heading for the scrap yard!
My advice - find someone else to give the car a 2nd opinion . . .and then go from there. If that person says the car needs fixing and bla bla, and you desperately need to car, then try and find some ££££ to patch it up and then sell it on . . .
Sorry to hear that
best advice is to read the mot failure description and try to pin point were the rust/corrosion is (you will need a jack and axle stands for this)
if your not competent about going underneath the car get someone else to/or take it to a council MOT centre, but ideally you should have been firm with them and asked to look at the problems
the last time my car failed MOT was because of a track rod end, i insisted on goin underneath the car to check the fault in which they happily let me to which I was happy enough for them to repair it when I saw the excessive play (only £15)
but i think mine will fail on the track rod end again so will replace it before MOT time
best advice is to read the mot failure description and try to pin point were the rust/corrosion is (you will need a jack and axle stands for this)
if your not competent about going underneath the car get someone else to/or take it to a council MOT centre, but ideally you should have been firm with them and asked to look at the problems
the last time my car failed MOT was because of a track rod end, i insisted on goin underneath the car to check the fault in which they happily let me to which I was happy enough for them to repair it when I saw the excessive play (only £15)
but i think mine will fail on the track rod end again so will replace it before MOT time
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