I have a Panda and was wondering if it's best to get it MOT'd at the main dealer? The car currently has a full service history, and I'd like to keep this for re-sale value. All previous services have been done at the main dealer.

Or does it not matter where you get it done?

MOT will not affect the service record but the price wont change were ever you go so it dont really matter, some places are more strickter then others

Many garages will not charge you the full price for an MOT though the main dealer might.
A good tip, if the car is coming up for its first MOT, is to have it tested up to 1 month before the test is due. The test will still be dated from the due date but any faults that could be repaired under warranty would be picked up within the warranty period. In this situation, an MOT at the dealers might be worthwhile.

I think it depends. If you're still in warranty, then it makes sense to get the dealer to do it and have any faults fixed by the warranty. If you're outside warranty, I'd personally take it to an independent who specialises in MOTs. In my experience, they tend to be more thorough and honest about any faults that are found and if anything needs rectifying you won't be charged main dealer labour rates.

Chris

I always get a full service with the MOT, then anything found can be rectified as part of the service.


Trev

doctorchris said:

Many garages will not charge you the full price for an MOT though the main dealer might.

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my local main dealer charges £99 but thats including a service so in effect service is less than £50

GunsNRosesLover said:

MOT will not affect the service record but the price wont change were ever you go so it dont really matter, some places are more strickter then others

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Not strictly true. The Government's official MOT price is about £50 but there are a lot of places that charge less. The last one I had done on the Cinquecento in Sept was £30.

Some are of the opinion that the cheaper places want to fail you to get money from you for repairs - but this is true of expensive places too. Some of them just wear more expensive masks.

The place I go to don't do a lot in the way of repairs and are really good.

I dont mind how much I pay aslong as it's done right...my family use my cars so I want them to be safe.

I agree with HP.
I take all our cars down to the garage at the bottom of our road for their MOTs.
They do not charge the full MOT amount. So often they have rectified simple faults and charged no more than their cost for MOT.
I trust these guys and they return that trust with good service.

I would always take to the main dealer for one reason only.
The MOT tester does a prescribed test using a set routine for all makes and models, theoreticaly this means all tests are the same. The tester also uses his personal knowledge and experience to evaluate items condition. If the tester has experience of the vehicle then he is more likely to do a better test. As an example, I carried out an MOT on a Landrover 3 this week, it had an electric parking brake, I had to examine this item but before I could I had to identify how it worked, etc. Another example is the failure rate of Punto emission tests, dealers got prior information from Fiat, before VOSA some months later released instructions. Some owners may have spent money on trying to get their car through emission tests which dealers would have carried out differently and passed straight away.

A main dealer will generally have a deeper knowledge of the model and so knows faults to look for and how everything should work.

That said, most garages have access to model specific information and have been doing the job years, plus if you know and trust the person doing the job, they're more likely to want to please you

MOT not due to 3 years so warranty will be expired by then and most will no longer be using franchised dealer to carry out maintenance

as HP said - use the independant council operated MOT stations, they will carry out an impartial and thorough test that does not mislead or gloss over potential safety issues

RobW said:

MOT not due to 3 years so warranty will be expired by then and most will no longer be using franchised dealer to carry out maintenance

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The MOT can be carried out up to a month before the car is 3 years old (and still be dated from when the car is 3 years old) so the smart people get it done while the car is still under warranty

Chris

:yeahthat:

A couple of quick points.
An MOT station does not have to charge a set amount. They can charge £5 or £500!
Most Dealers dont even have an MOT station on site, and have to take your car elsewhere.
And how much specialist attention do our Pandas possibly need?

Visorfett said:

A couple of quick points.
An MOT station does not have to charge a set amount. They can charge £5 or £500!
Most Dealers dont even have an MOT station on site, and have to take your car elsewhere.
And how much specialist attention do our Pandas possibly need?

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WRONG WRONG WRONG, there is a maximum charge that an MOT station can charge (£53.10 for class 4 test)

Most dealers DO have MOT stations on site

NumanR said:

Most dealers DO have MOT stations on site

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I agree...most do. But they have to be inspected by the MoT, so some garages have them out of operation for a while if they are found not to be up to standard. This is especially true for main dealers as they make more money from servicing than they do MOT's, so they aren't too bothered about their MOT stations being unoperational for a month or two.....(that's my opinion from working in a main dealer anyway )

I think you should always get your MOT done as cheaply as possible in my opinion....especially if you have your servicing done at the main dealer, as they should pick up on any obvious problems on their inspection.

Saying that though, I definitely agree that you should get your first MOT done before your warranty expires if you can.....

Layney said:

I agree...most do. But they have to be inspected by the MoT, so some garages have them out of operation for a while if they are found not to be up to standard. This is especially true for main dealers as they make more money from servicing than they do MOT's, so they aren't too bothered about their MOT stations being unoperational for a month or two.....(that's my opinion from working in a main dealer anyway )

I think you should always get your MOT done as cheaply as possible in my opinion....especially if you have your servicing done at the main dealer, as they should pick up on any obvious problems on their inspection.

Saying that though, I definitely agree that you should get your first MOT done before your warranty expires if you can.....

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You obviously have worked at some bloody weird garages. ALL MOT stations have inspections and very few are stopped testing. MOT stations take a lot of money to set up, so why would you stop testing when you are paying for calibration of all your equipment? Also, if dealers are ripping people off on MOTS why would they close an MOT station?

This argument seems to be missing the point. It's far more important to find a station that is honest and fair rather than fussy and over sensitive. Some will fail a car if the washer bottle is empty.

In my 21 years of getting MOTs, honesty and cost are rarely related.

Will it look good in the service history if I keep the MOT certificates and have the test done at Fiat? Or is it irrelevant?