Halfords MOT test failure

[ollymonkeynuts]

Firstly ive never dealt with Halfords and have no personal reason to call them Halfrauds, A £27 MOT was the reason I used them. I went with an open mind.

My car failed on a stepped rear nearside tyre, apparently it has under 1.6mm tread with wear on its inner edge. Firstly it looks well within its depth indicators to me and as for the inner tread I thought it was the middle 75% was the important bit assuming their no core showing. Having checked the net it says

A failure with respect to tyre wear will result where:-

The grooves of the tread pattern are not at least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band comprising:

• Central 3/4 of the breadth of tread

• Entire outer circumference of the tyre

So its the centre 3/4 and the outer circumference????? Not the inner then???

The other fail was the nearside headlight being too high.

I suspected the tyre was dodgy but was surprised about the headlight as last time it was shining too low! I got home this evening and was puzzling the issues then I remembered I had a full boot. Containing 4 x 13" alloy wheels, 5litres of Oil, two brake callipers, 2x bags of car cleaning products, a drill and a few other bits. I suspect this was the reason for the raised beam!!

I always thought re-tests were free, they want half the fee so £13. Im well pi55ed with that, To look at new tyres and shine the lights up against the measuring things they want £13?!

I know what you'll say, you should have known better, its your fault the boot was full. Yep you're right but if they want to change their 5hit reputation at least a free retest on two minor faults which will take 5 mins to check. I can sense a strongly worded letter coming on!

[jamesrbeaumont]

Don't worry they sold me a bike the whole gear section and pedal fell of going down hill unbelievable customer care afterwards claiming it could be manufacture default, fair point if the manufacture wasn't halfords own!

[jrw]

That should be done on a 'fast pass' retest which imo should be free. I take mine to the council and they will fast pass if it fails on minor, obvious things like brakes, tyres, headlights etc. I know the tester so i probably get away with a bit more on the free retest but charging a retest for tyres and light adjustment is taking the micky really...

But yes you should have known better

[Guest BigJase88]

They should have adjusted the light only takes 2 mins!!

Conning barstewards!

[TDi Vrs]

As a tester, you can adjust the headlight aim as a pass after rectification. I've never failed a car on headlight level unless I can't adjust it

[R1chard]

That's the first place I know then that doesn't do free re-tests !

Surprised there still in business tbh with the rip off prices they charge.

[Jim H]

I thought if you didn't leave the station you are not charged for the retest. Most garages would adjust the headlight for free anyway.

I wonder how many more failures would have been spotted if you'd gone to kwik Fit?

Edited 19 March, 2011 by Jim H

[Funky Fab]

Re-test is *******s!!

Most m.o.t stations will give you 2 weeks to sort your problem and not charge you for a re-test.

In other words.

"car failed. Sort it straight away. Show us. Then pay us the £27. Done."

£27 is to cheap I think, therefore your guaranteed to fail on something to make them more money.

8 years of driving oldish car's and no fails yet!

Always detail my car day before m.o.t to, to give them the impression that I care about car and any little faults I will sort when needed to be.

Eg, nearly bald tyre. They'll think. "he'll come back for new tyre." Which I will and keep giving them work. Gaining they're trust and mine.

So over the years going back and fourth you get to know them and get away with the odd little thing when needed.

[Sy.]

If you had all that in the boot then both lights would be high?? Not just one

[fordfan]

Can you post a good picture of the failed tyre and a picture of an identical good tyre?

On some tyres the lateral grooves are not cut as deep as the main circumferal grooves where the tread wear indicators are, hence the term stepped tread. Even if these grooves are within the centre 3/4 you can't take a tread depth measurement on them, if you could, by the same principle you could take a tread depth reading on top of the tread and fail every single tyre.

MOT Testers Manual

You want section 4.1, with the page title Tyres (Tread - Pattern, Breadth and Depth).

With some of these stepped tread tyres they can look totally illegal, but on closer examination can be within the MOT limits.

[BossFox]

I've never seen a cheap MOT.

Most people that do it use it to bring in more work, so no point.

I'd always rather use the same garage for every vehicle I have every year.

They get to know you and don't take the P.

[anewman]

I believe Halfords took over Nationwide Autocentres. They no doubt use the same staff and have the same targets = bonuses business model which means they like to fail your car on the MOT. As bad as Kwikfit.

[Simonbt]

I believe Halfords took over Nationwide Autocentres. They no doubt use the same staff and have the same targets = bonuses business model which means they like to fail your car on the MOT. As bad as Kwikfit.

If not worse to be honest - i had a issue with Nationwide Autocentres when the receptionist couldn't be bothered to get me prices for tires, even had the cheek to give me a telephone number to call when i got home so he didn't have to log into the systems. Strangly this was after discussing with him about prices for a full service and cambelt change on a Saxo. Really not very clever the people in that place, i mentioned to the manager on my way out that his receptionist had just talked the company out of £500. Doubt anything happened as a result though - wouldn't go there for an MOT, even if they offered to do it for free.

[Phil-J]

Another reason to use a proper garage over a shop.

[ollymonkeynuts]

Having emptied the boot the nearside light was still too high, no idea why, the Eibach springs must have settled over the last year. Got that put right this morning FOC then set about trying to decide which tyres to get. Cant afford all 4 so it'll be the rear two for now. Ive read all the tyre threads and its between Uniroyal Rainsport 2, Falken 912/452, Kuhmo KU31, Toyo proxies tr 1 or PX4's. The Uniroyals are great but £80+, Falken 912s poor in the wet, 452's have better design against aquaplaning, Kuhmos generally cheap and well thought of and the proxies wear quicker and are more noisy.

Neally went for Yoko Parada 2 for £82 fitted but glad I didn't as I found out they're super soft.

Hopefully going to see a chap Monday who is well into his car racing, it'll be interesting to hear what he recommends. I'll keep you all posted!!

I had a chat to Halfords this morning, they couldn't fit my car in today (good job as I haven't sorted the tyre), next availability is Monday 1530hrs. Assuming I get the tyres done Monday I'll say they were done Sat pm and therefore within the 'next working day' which will then be a free re-test - not my fault they couldn't fit me in Sat.

For the time being I'll still call them Halfords and avoid the temptation of Halfrauds!

[viewer]

Interesting. I try to save money on everything, but there are sensible savings. My local indi charges £48 for an MOT. They don't do it themselves, but check everything first. Anything wrong they fix. Only charge is for replacement items - adjustments, fitting etc are free and they give good free advice. I reckon the extra up front is well worth it.

[s_matt]

ha i used to work for them for 4 years i love halfrauds so so much

[TriggerFish]

£27 is to cheap I think, therefore your guaranteed to fail on something to make them more money.

I paid £27 for my MOT from a local place, and was a bit suspicious. But if passed, no advisories or anything. Just the bloke said the CAT was a bit lose, but only as I asked.

Took it in for a service a day or two later (was gonna be the other way round, but the MOT station had to cancel and push it back a week) and the VAG people said it would likely fail on the rear tyre side walls and the rear brake disks. Thought it would be the other round, but hey ho, glad it wasn't!

Parents had no issues with them either when they used them.

Edited 19 March, 2011 by TriggerFish

[JLneonhug]

I went to one of those deals a couple of years ago, and they failed me on the bushes. What surprised me was that the whole console parts 'just so happened' to be in stock and they could fit it, re-test it for me the same day for £460 + vat..! I thought, wow how efficient them to know exactly what was wrong, ordered the part even before testing it...........

[fordfan]

I paid £27 for my MOT from a local place, and was a bit suspicious. But if passed, no advisories or anything. Just the bloke said the CAT was a bit lose, but only as I asked.

Took it in for a service a day or two later (was gonna be the other way round, but the MOT station had to cancel and push it back a week) and the VAG people said it would likely fail on the rear tyre side walls and the rear brake disks.

Hardly any fails on brake discs these days, they can be as corroded, pitted and worn as you like, provided that they are not contaminated with oil/grease, wafer thin to a point of been seriously weakened and cracked with bits missing from them.

Servicing standards are more rigorous than MOT standards.

[GentleGiant]

My local Ford dealership does MOTs for £25, the only problems have been emissions failures; and to be fair to them, the vehicles they were testing take a LONG time to warm up properly.

Whoever does your testing, it is worth staying at the test centre and watching them; they are far less likely to fail something if you are there. I have had several "Something wrong? Give me a second to fix it" moments over the years, and a couple of times when a garage tried to fail me on something that was not broken or fitted to the car!! Wearing a set of greasy overalls to give the impression you know what you are doing also helps.

Sometimes a car is going to fail, so ask them to show you exactly where the problem is, so you can make sure whoever does the repair does only what is required; I got quoted for a 4m length of brake pipe once; when the section that needed replacing was only 30cm long!!

My family firm used to own 5 cars of exactly the same model, with mileage from 9k to 256k (mine). Despite its mega mileage, my car only failed an MOT once (the brake pipe), whereas the others would have problems most years (usually emissions), regardless of which test centre they went to).

[iCraig]

Hardly any fails on brake discs these days, they can be as corroded, pitted and worn as you like, provided that they are not contaminated with oil/grease, wafer thin to a point of been seriously weakened and cracked with bits missing from them.

Servicing standards are more rigorous than MOT standards.

Thats strange, my old Astra failed on corroded/pitted front discs last year. They weren't thin or cracked though....

[jrw]

Thats strange, my old Astra failed on corroded/pitted front discs last year. They weren't thin or cracked though....

My Bora failed on the rears too, and my mates Meriva has just failed for the rear discs too

[ollymonkeynuts]

So I got the headlight aim sorted and two new Kuhmo KU39's and took it in for what I thought would be a 10 min check over. An hour later the keys were handed back, "That'll be half the test fee please" We then had a 'discussion' about why a 5 min check classes as a partial re-test. Seems like their tester did a rather thorough partial retest finding a few more advisories. Their old MOT poster doesn't list 'headlight aim' for a free re-test. It says 'head lamps - not aim' I therefore didn't have much of an argument. However...the following link

http://www.ukmot.com/retest.asp

clearly includes headlight aim and wheels and tyres so...I can sense a strongly worded letter to firstly appeal against the original fail then to Halfrauds themselves. I cant see anywhere where the tyre they failed it on was under 1.6mm tread (ive kept it for proof) and even if it was close it should have been an advisory (as it was on the advisory form before they also included it on the fail form). When I emptied the boot the headlight aim was on the upper limit, again the second MOT place I took it to said he'd have put it as an advisory.

Im all up for sticking to the law/rules but theres always a little room for discretion.

I have a traffic cop mate who can use his calibrated tread depth gauge, if that confirms above the legal limit then im opening a can of my woop ass on all who stand in my way!!!

[jrw]

Good for you. there aren't enough complainants in this country and companies can think they can get away with whatever the hell they like. Although firstly i would have had them for free re-test when bought in next day although they didn't have any slots and secondly why the original tester didn't pick up these new found 'advisories'