Just take it and fix what they fail it on.

Just what I was thinking..... Make a sport out of it (I'm doing it for many years now). My daily drivers look like shit and are being abused, when I go for an MOT i do nothing, collect the form with points to fix , fix them, get the MOT and drive on for another 2 years.....
And everyone is wondering how I got the MOT... .



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_oEY5LSovEI#t=124[/youtube]

its all in the manual its been posted regularly by me over on D*lly club - about the kingpin accepted wear ( 10mm at wheel edge ) and steering lock ( 2cv doesnt have to comply on age ) recently. The dash telltale for high beam is a sticky point there was supposed to have been a bulletin issued but what garage even looks at them so its easiest to fit one and be done ( they are pretty usefull). fog lights and side repeaters needed and have to be working, the rest is just good maintanance, rumbly wheel bearings flappy steering you shouldnt need a MOT guy to tell you its broken or your tyres are bald.

Yeah I just like getting them through first time, I have a record of pride to maintain

Plus if it goes through first time I can just get on with my life which would be GREAT. I think my London friends have forgotten I exist as I've been deep inside various A series for 3 months

Take it to Atlantic Garage, Rudford Industrial Estate (Ford Airfield), Church Lane, Ford. They understand, they have been trained by Bob Brotherhood. They pass mine.

And they only charge £29.

They failed mine twice and didn't understand bits of it. And they're yobs.

£20 at Just MoTs



I don't like '2cv friendly' or 'sympathetic/understanding' garages.

I just want them to be fair and have a degree of literacy that enables them to read the inspection manual properly as it's pretty explicit. It's not really open to interpretation. I want my car to be safe and legal.

Sam,
the problems you can encounter with an MOT tester who is not familiar with A series Citroens aren't limited to failing a car with barely a trace of play in the kingpins.

At one centre, the fellow had a background in aircraft maintenance and insisted that the knife edges were missing a rubber bush between the pin and the shackle.
He also wasn't happy that the 'dampers' were weeping a small amount of fluid, when the items he was referring to were the suspension canisters and the fluid was sunflower oil.

A pass certificate was (reluctantly) issued, but that was the only time I ever used that particular garage...

On the other hand, there do seem to be test centres which are far too lax, judging by some of the faults I'm still finding on cars with recently issued MOT certificates.
How about some sheet aluminium patches pop-rivetted to the underside of the footwell/outer bulkhead area on both sides, to hide serious corrosion?
Or track rod ends which were so worn that play at the wheel rim was about 20mm when pushed inwards against the spring?
There's a garage 'somewhere in West Yorkshire' which doesn't fail (freshly restored) cars fitted with LHD headlamp reflectors, which is a proper nuisance if they ever turn up here as the garage I use won't accept them.

O dear O dear