I had my fabia in for it's MOT today at the dealers and they failed it on the back lights being tinted !

I took it to the dealers last year for it's first MOT with the exact same lights and they passed it no probs and didn't even mention the lights being tinted which I explained to the receptionist and she said "ohh we must have a tight MOT tester " no mention of enquiring further about it !

So I'm now either having to find some new lights and swap them over or take some thinners to mine and take the paint off which I don't really want to do

Would it be worth making a complaint about it, passing one year and failing the next ?

Read something somewhere which said you can get VOSA or DVLA to look into the MoT centre - although I think that costs money. (According to a BWM forum anyway.) And I'm not sure if it looks at your test, or just bad practise in general.

Maybe ask another garage or two if they would fail it, and assuming they side with you - go back to the other one, see what they say?

Also, wouldn't thinners damge the plastic? Thinking of a Fabia on here that was written off after being attacked with paint stripper on every panel.

on a mot tinted lights are a failure if the light levels are changed with yours will be as its painted

if he was to pass you and you had an accident it would be investigated why he passed it and would prob lose his liscence and job

so imo he has done the right thing simple

would you chance your arm on a £50 set of lights i wouldnt

The MOT tester is well within his rights to fail your car.

If the lights were meant to function with paint all over them, then they would be made like it. The MOT tester has deemed that the paint reduces the effectiveness of those lights to the point they are not suitable for use on the road which in all honesty is right as the distance those lights will be visable will be reduced and in bad weather this will be compounded. How much by, no one can really say but then no one has to as they are sprayed with paint and they are not supposed to be. It's his opinion at the time of test and thats what stands. Think of a certain goal in a recent football match.

Bottom line, thats the judgement that has been passed by the man who can. Your resolution is to get busy with the thinners, stop whining about a cosmetic mod and be thankful you know the MOT is up to scratch.

the reason why he has failed it is because the reflector isn't red!

i had the same problem but i just said i would put the origional ones back on and that was it

thats why i would never take my car to a dealer because they have to do everything to the book

take it to an back street asian garage that do an mot for £25 can't go wrong. i never have anyway my cars have all passed with no problems

take it to an back street asian garage that do an mot for £25 can't go wrong. i never have anyway my cars have all passed with no problems

If as you suggest this garage passes cars that would fail, I would question the possible safety of any cars taken there. Also, if lights are bad enough to fail an MOT, I would suggest it is very likely you'd be given a tug by the police who usually relish in dishing out fines.

I have seen some cars with lights tinted like these and in some instances can barely see when they're braking. Vanity is good and all but so is a tidy rear end.

Edited 16 July, 201015 yr by anewman

What I'm just not understanding is that it passes one year then not the other even though nothing has changed with them !

Although the lights look quite black they actually aren't and at night the bulbs are perfectly visible !

thats why i would never take my car to a dealer because they have to do everything to the book

take it to an back street asian garage that do an mot for £25 can't go wrong. i never have anyway my cars have all passed with no problems

I'd much rather take my car to a dealer that does it properly instead of some dodgy back street garage that probably wont even check anything and just hand over the certificate !

No dodgy **** for me thank you very much !

It's in for a re-test next week anyways so I'm just going to change the rear lights

Edited 16 July, 201015 yr by r1chard

They may well be visible at night but probably not as visible as lights that aren't tinted would be. It's no only night driving either - visiblity is seriously reduced when driving on the motorway with spray or fog.

Mine failed because the orange indicator bulb....wait for it.......was not orange enough!.

Remember what the insurance companies are like, anything they can find to get out of paying out they will use it...so why give them a reason?.

.

Mine failed because the orange indicator bulb....wait for it.......was not orange enough!.

Remember what the insurance companies are like, anything they can find to get out of paying out they will use it...so why give them a reason?.

I got an advisory last year about an inducator bulb being not as orange as it should be !

The lights are declared on the insurance also !

I drive an HGV and once upon a time, if you had a light out or a slight defect, they would make a note to be repaied back at base. Now with all this SUE culture no body can risk any come backs, So you either change that Bulb now or stop there until its repaired. I would agree with the MOT tester, he did his job right and will still be doing it tomorrow. You change OEM spec you take a risk.

I'm an MOT tester, I'd be interested to see the lights, fancy posting a pic?

If you disagree with the result of an MOT test you can ask for an appeal form [VT17]. I've not [yet] been asked for one!

Some of the MOT rules are a bit daft, but I'm not about to risk my job by not following the rules and I guess most testers will feel the same. VOSA are fairly [ish] understanding with human error, but will come down on a tester like a ton of bricks if you knowingly do something wrong or fraudulent. Every MOT test I've done on my own cars has has failed so far this year so I've had to repair and retest. Mind you my youngest car is 20 years old! :p

I had my fabia in for it's MOT today at the dealers and they failed it on the back lights being tinted !

I took it to the dealers last year for it's first MOT with the exact same lights and they passed it no probs and didn't even mention the lights being tinted which I explained to the receptionist and she said "ohh we must have a tight MOT tester " no mention of enquiring further about it !

So I'm now either having to find some new lights and swap them over or take some thinners to mine and take the paint off which I don't really want to do

Would it be worth making a complaint about it, passing one year and failing the next ?

I'm amazed that you think it's acceptable to obscure your rear lights by tinting . You wouldn't obscure you headlights by tinting ( or would you ?) , so why should the rear lights be any different ? Any tinting that reduces the light output ( & correct colour) is a problem to other road users in that the reduced output gives less visible warning of your presence on the road . It is reassuring that the MOT stations are stopping this practice.

Edited 17 July, 201015 yr by vwcabriolet1971

I'm amazed that you think it's acceptable to obscure your rear lights by tinting . You wouldn't obscure you headlights by tinting ( or would you ?) , so why should the rear lights be any different ? Any tinting that reduces the light output ( & correct colour) is a problem to other road users in that the reduced output gives less visible warning of your presence on the road . It is reassuring that the MOT stations are stopping this practice.

The lights were already tinted when I got the car nearly 2 years ago, I personally wouldn't have tinted them myself but they grew on me so I just decided to leave them how they are !

I am going to be removing the paint of them as I can't get a set of standard lights in time !

What I'm just not understanding is that it passes one year then not the other even though nothing has changed with them !

Although the lights look quite black they actually aren't and at night the bulbs are perfectly visible !

I'd much rather take my car to a dealer that does it properly instead of some dodgy back street garage that probably wont even check anything and just hand over the certificate !

No dodgy **** for me thank you very much !

It's in for a re-test next week anyways so I'm just going to change the rear lights

last year you probably had it tested by another MOT tester, to the one you had this year. Im an MOT tester and to be honest i would also fail it if its obstructing the light output or reflectors

The lights were already tinted when I got the car nearly 2 years ago, I personally wouldn't have tinted them myself but they grew on me so I just decided to leave them how they are !

I am going to be removing the paint of them as I can't get a set of standard lights in time !

Go to a scrapyard and get a pair for £20 in the morning three screws voila, pass MOT and replace originals if you wish Best practice would be to keep the pass ones

About three scrapyard in each town and any SKODA VW AUDI will do

National

on a mot tinted lights are a failure if the light levels are changed with yours will be as its painted

if he was to pass you and you had an accident it would be investigated why he passed it and would prob lose his liscence and job

so imo he has done the right thing simple

would you chance your arm on a £50 set of lights i wouldnt

There's nothing in the MOT testing manual about tinted lights and what the light levels should be:

Testing Manuals

They just have to be visible from a reasonable distance, the tint in itself is not a reason for refusal. The issue is with the reflectors not being red. So the tester is 100% correct.

If you didn't want to spend alot of money on it, you could just buy a pair of reflectors and stick them to the bumper, have the car retested and then remove them and hope that the police did not pull you over for it at a later date. The tester will likely cover himself by mentioning it on the yellow advisory sheet and the test only checks specific items for serviceability at the time of test.

Just because it has been OK for the past 2 years, doesn't mean that it will be OK now. If you look at the above link to the manual that the testers use, anything marked with a vertical black line is an ammendment, so testing methods and reasons for refusal do change.

There's nothing in the MOT testing manual about tinted lights and what the light levels should be:

Testing Manuals

They just have to be visible from a reasonable distance, the tint in itself is not a reason for refusal. The issue is with the reflectors not being red. So the tester is 100% correct.

If you didn't want to spend alot of money on it, you could just buy a pair of reflectors and stick them to the bumper, have the car retested and then remove them and hope that the police did not pull you over for it at a later date. The tester will likely cover himself by mentioning it on the yellow advisory sheet and the test only checks specific items for serviceability at the time of test.

Just because it has been OK for the past 2 years, doesn't mean that it will be OK now. If you look at the above link to the manual that the testers use, anything marked with a vertical black line is an ammendment, so testing methods and reasons for refusal do change.

Issue is also colour of amber indicating lamps.

Issue is also colour of amber indicating lamps.

Read one of my previous posts and it says LAST YEAR I had an advisory about the indicator bulb !

There was only one issue this time round and that was the rear lights being tinted !

Some of you are so far up ur high horse I can't see you! Lots of people tint lights, as long as they are visible in the DAY (the light is harder to see in the day, suprised none of you do gooders never said), then there's not a issue. Vwcab, there's lots of people with tinting film on there headlights, go have a rant at them. No one has even seen the lights, plenty do it, and if it past last year then it's clearly (< ha pun) not that bad. Go back under ur anti modding rocks

Matt

If you aren't happy with the vt30 refusal you have been given return to the garage ,they will give you a vt17 appeal form you can then appeal and VOSA will fully reinspect the vehicle with two inspectors present (once you have paid the £54.85 fee again)

Or go somewhere else and get a dodgy ticket (the original vt30 is now logged with vosa and is on their system as a record)or temporarily replace the lights however if they obscure your reflectors and a car runs into it whilst parked your insurance won't pay out,there is a MOT scheme for a reason whether you disagree with it or not,it may be that the tester or garage in question has had testers on a refresher course or been picked up on it before.

Edited to add: I'm a tester too and re reading the post if the receptionist hadn't said that the tester was tight would you have been quite so upset about it.Last week I was asked by the owner whether I would pass the tyre as it was worn,my reply was no as the tyre has steel cords showing,I don't think I'm tight I like to advise as much as I can safely within the requirements.

Edited 18 July, 201015 yr by jolly

Some of you are so far up ur high horse I can't see you! Lots of people tint lights, as long as they are visible in the DAY (the light is harder to see in the day, suprised none of you do gooders never said), then there's not a issue. Vwcab, there's lots of people with tinting film on there headlights, go have a rant at them. No one has even seen the lights, plenty do it, and if it past last year then it's clearly (< ha pun) not that bad. Go back under ur anti modding rocks

Matt

Many thanks for abuse . Pity you didn't learn any manners . Must be a real handicap in life.

There's a difference between abuse and someone saying something you don't like pity being thick in life must be a real handicap. Check my previous posts, plenty of manners, just get bored of reading people making out they know everything when they don't.

Matt

There seems to be a lot of arguing on here these days. I thought we were all supposed to be happy drivers?

Thanks Matt least someone seems to get the gist of things !!!

Well after not being able to get a set of lights in time for the retest I took some thinners to the tinted ones so there now back to standard and now have a brand spanking new MOT