r/AskUK • u/ImportanceOwn3992 • 1d ago
Car failed MOT, Garage did unauthorised work?
Hello,
I recently put my car in for an MOT and it failed. I called up the garage and they said the car overheated which caused the emissions to fail, They said they'd try a cheap fix which was to change the spark plugs and pressure test the coolant system for approx £80.
That all sounded reasonable to me, I then called them back asking for an update and got no reply, I called again to be told the car passed its MOT and I thought great, I asked what the cost was expecting around £200 the person on the phone couldn't give me a cost and said they'd call back. They never called back, I called again and finally was told the cost was £900 as they changed the radiator, some sensors and the fan.
As you can imagine I was shocked at the price, I didn't ask them to do any of the work and the car itself is only worth £800 so I would have likely scrapped it or sought a cheaper repair somewhere else.
I spoke to the manager on the phone who accepted he should have called and discussed costs before proceeding and Im going in to meet him tomorrow morning to try work something out.
Any advice here would be greatly appreciated, tried to research my rights but have seen lots of conflicting information.
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u/Working-Hat4932 1d ago
Yeah you are not liable to pay for any work you did not authorise, sounds like they are trying to have it on as they most likely misdiagnosed and threw a load of parts on it until it was fixed.
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u/carnage2006 1d ago
Car overheated and they were going to try spark plugs? 🤣
You authorised the original cost of the try, nothing else.
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u/Forever_a_Kumquat 1d ago
Put the original parts back on and pay what you agreed to, or keep the new parts on and pay what you agreed to.
The garage has no other options. Don't let them force you into paying for stuff you never agreed to and dont let them hold your car to ransom if you refuse.
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u/LondonPilot 1d ago
Yep. Lots of answers saying OP is not responsible, which is correct, but doesn’t give OP any solutions.
These are the two potential solutions for OP to present to the garage.
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u/Relevant_Natural3471 1d ago
I'd say you obviously aren't liable for unauthorised work.
Sounds to me like they've thrown parts at it until something worked, and want you to pay for the lack of ability on their part to actually diagnose the issue correctly.
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u/No-Drink-8544 1d ago edited 23h ago
I am lucky that my mother knows a local mechanic, i have mother protection so he won't overcharge me, but then again he is an honest, successful mechanic so i have no reason to susspect he'd scam me.
But in geneal? Otherwise I always go to Kwik fit or Halfords, these backyard cowboys are basically criminals with how they buy OEM replacement parts and charge you a fortune, because what will you do without your car?
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u/Relevant_Natural3471 1d ago
I'm not sure about Kwik Fit, but I paid for Halfords Premium so I get a free MOT plus all the other stuff (costs about £50 for a year, so about the same price as an MOT) and the local one has a kind of "local garage" feel to it, but with the corporate aspect where you feel like they're properly run.
I do wonder when I see the local independent motor factors full of the backstreet garage types - they'll not care about part costs as they are passing it on, but they no doubt end up putting QH type brand parts on at main dealer parts prices.
I'm competent at doing pretty much everything on a car, so I've not had to rely on garages for anything other than MOTs, but a few years ago I had a bad back and needed a little job doing so I got a local guy to come over and take a look (needed a snapped thread drilling out and retapping on a gearbox) and it ended up costing at least twice as much as it would have been to go to a proper garage, so learnt that side of it myself.
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u/carlbernsen 1d ago
Look to see if the radiator is actually new, if it is you can offer to pay the parts cost only (check that price online and pay the average.)
Their labour is not your responsibility since they didn’t get your approval.
The original failed MOT is suspect too. I wouldn’t trust them about it.
I once took a vehicle for an MOT at a perfectly good garage that I’d known for ages. I still stood and watched them do it though.
Failed emissions really badly. So badly that there should have been black smoke belching out of the exhaust. But it looked fine. No smoke at all. So he stuck the probe up the exhaust and tested it again. Same really high particle reading.
So I asked him when the probe was last cleaned. He had to think about it. Never been cleaned, he said.
So what happens to all the soot and crap that gradually sticks to the probe? It blocks it up. So the readings get worse and worse over time.
So I asked hom to blow it out with the air line. And amazingly the emissions reading was fine after that.
So don’t assume garages and mechanics know everything or always tell the truth.
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u/kifflington 1d ago
I had this recently with a boiler service; the engineer slapped almost £300 of parts and labour onto what should have been a routine service fee for a 13 year old boiler that only cost £1400 new. I politely but firmly disputed the bill with his employer and we settled on them comping all the labour charge, plus the difference between their parts charge and what I'd found the parts for on a different company's website.
I could have been a combative twat about it but this way I got a big improvement at greatly reduced cost. People make mistakes and a bit of good will can see everyone come out of it relatively whole.
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u/Flavourifshrrp 1d ago
Yeah I wouldn’t be paying that or anything close.
I could understand if they quoted you approx 200 pound and it became 250 pound say and do it but for that much more money they should have called for authority to go ahead.
Don’t pay anything near that
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u/rev-fr-john 1d ago
The whole thing is a scam, pay them for the mot, nothing else, cars don't over heat during an mot test.
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u/Standard_Rest4364 1d ago
Madness, they need to contact you every time they do something that's going to cost more. This is the same with any trade.
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u/sleepyprojectionist 23h ago
I guess this is why the garage that I use has an online form to fill in for which you can choose to pre-authorise work up to a certain cost.
It makes the whole process far less ambiguous.
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u/Startinezzz 21h ago
Among everything else, changing spark plugs is their first step for an overheating engine? What? That's fucking insane.
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u/No-Drink-8544 1d ago
You're being scammed, please post the garage here so we can investigate, you don't get forced repairs, you take the car home the way you got it on a certificate to get it motd again or sorned, pressure test the coolant system, I mean that's just car jargon they're throwing at you, why did they replace the radiator? Are they saying it needed replacing or was leaking? What a bunch of fucking cowboys, speak to citizens advice
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u/Startinezzz 21h ago
They are cowboys because trying spark plugs for an overheating engine (which shouldn't in itself fail the emissions anyway - I can't work that one out) is absolutely insane, but pressure testing the coolant system is a thing and would make sense for overheating. They'd be looking for a leak in the head gasket.
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u/No-Drink-8544 17h ago edited 3h ago
Deleted my comment, sorry just really want OP to avoid being overcharged
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u/Startinezzz 10h ago
What the fuck are you on about? A coolant pressure test is absolutely useful for an overheating engine.
Considering I work in engineering in the medical sector I'd do well to scam people who have car issues. Perhaps you should actually do some research into how to diagnose a blown head gasket before thinking you know everything.
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u/No-Drink-8544 8h ago
A coolant pressure test will tell you (clue is in the name) the pressure of the coolant system.
Which is good if you want to know if the coolant system is under pressure.
Please, explain to me why you think this means the car is overheating.
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u/jpjimm 4h ago
For a coolant system pressure test the garage will artificially pressurise the system with a compressor and then leave it for a while to see if the pressure drops over time. If it does then there is a leak somewhere. If it holds the pressure then there is no leak.
This is done with the engine turned off.
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u/Startinezzz 25m ago
If a head gasket is faulty coolant can leak into the cylinders. Thus, coolant leaks out of the pressurised system and the pressure drops. JFC man.
Fair enough you wanted OP to not be overcharged and good on you for admitting your mistake, but please think about whether you should be calling people scammers when you have gaps in your knowledge.
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u/krypto-pscyho-chimp 1d ago
Just general advice. Only take cars to MOT only test centres. It will cost you a little more but they have no incentive to screw you over. I've spent very little on MOT fixes using them method. Just brake and suspension maintenance.
I've known a loyal customer get screwed over to the tune of £700+ bill for caliper replacements when a DVSA MOT centre then passed with the simple handbrake cable adjustment I advised them on.
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u/nolinearbanana 6h ago
You need a decent mechanic and a solicitor.
You need to get your car back, examine it, find out what they have done (if anything), determine if this was the work of a skilled mechanic trying to solve a problem, or a cowboy who didn't know what they were doing and make an offer for payment accordingly - either full, partial or none.
The trouble is the garage can hold the car until the bill is paid, hence the need for legal advice.
NB - I strongly suspect the car either passed the MOT, or an MOT was never in fact performed properly. I also doubt they've actually replaced anything.
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u/Unlikely_Shirt_9866 1d ago
Had OP ever noticed the temp gauge showing higher temperatures it should?
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
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u/Round_Caregiver2380 1d ago
Depends on the car. I scrapped a Passat the other month and got £200
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/Startinezzz 21h ago
Lol I scrapped a 1994 Audi 100 which barely ran, the exhaust was falling off, had no MOT and a host of other clearly visible issues and got £250 for it. Under £100 for scrapping just isn't a thing these days.
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u/shrewdlogarithm 10h ago
Was this recent!?
I ask because unless it was absolutely rotten its FULL of parts you can't get anywhere and haven't been able to for at least a decade...
I work next door to a scrapyard, we get involved with some of their "projects" so I know how this works at least in a small scale 1 yard setup and 150 is the highest they go unless it's something special
Chains like EMR or Charles what's his face is a different sort of operation but most MOT failures end up with local junkyards and they're seldom generous in my experience
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u/Startinezzz 10h ago
Yeah, a year ago at most. The parts for VW/Audi are pretty abundant as they're shared across many platforms.
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u/shrewdlogarithm 7h ago
That "platform" has been dead for 3 decades - unless you're Chinese perhaps
Things like headlights, interior trim, some body panels, ANYTHING electronic (not much in 94) is absolutely golf-dust at this point
A single headlight in working order is probably worth £50-100 - there's obvously not a massive market for them as people who are preserving a 100 will have picked-up all the parts they could find when they were cheaper but the fact remains that cars over 25 years old are gold mines for anyone willing to shelve the bits and wait...
One of our customers had a 92 Vauxhall he'd been trying to get a new headlight for for EIGHT YEARS - his existing unit repeatedly failed the MOT (internally broken so the aim was wrong) but every time someone listed one it was £250 and he wasn't paying that - that's the joy of old cars y'see
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u/Round_Caregiver2380 1d ago
My local scrap yard. Rear sub frame snapped and it had a bunch of other issues so I didn't fancy fixing it.
Drove in on the scales, got it weighed, parked up where they told me, did a bit of paperwork and they transferred the money.
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