Hillcrest garage, St leonards. Bad MOT

[pedroofn19]

HILLCREST GARAGE I just bought a 1.6 Stilo that had just been serviced and MOTd by Hillcrest garage in St Leonards east sussex. The car was sold to me by a friend of the garage owner.
The brakes were terrible, when I tested them at the college workshop they were less than 40% braking efficiency, by law they should at least 50%.
When I stopped the car, and started it later the instrument cluster didnt work at all, nothing no speedo, no fuel or temp gauge, no rev counter etc etc.
Front light bulbs dead in one light. Split CV gaitor.
The car has a major oil leak and it could be burning oil, if it is I doubt it would have passed the emmisions test. I will check the emmissions when I go back to college next week. And the flexi pipe on the exhaust isnt even there, it has a straight bit of pipe welded in place.
Im at college doing motor mechanics year 3, Im 45 years old and I have had enough cars to know that this garage had done a very bad job on this car, even illegal I would have thought.
So just a heads up really do not use this garage unless you really want to be ripped off.
Yes I will be reporting them to trading standards.

 

[portland_bill]

Firstly, take a breath and try to reduce the emotion, so that you can think clearly.

You bought it privately, not from the garage, so Trading Standards is not applicable.

The MOT is valid at point of testing only, faults can develop immediately afterwards, so any action against the garage by the Department of Transport would depend on them assessing whether any of these faults could be proven to be there at time of testing. Every mile you drive it reduces the possibility of any action.

Brakes: Deterioration can occur quite quickly. I once had a car fail the MOT for play in the steering rack, fixed it and 1 week after the first test, a retest showed both rear wheel cylinders seized. They had been fine a week before.

Instument cluster was working when you bought it, so likely to have been working at time of testing.

Bulbs can fail at any time.
CV gaiter can split at any time, to challenge MOT there would need to be evidence of it having split some time ago. Driving it now will mask any such evidence.

Oil leak may not be MOT issue, unless serious. Burning would depend on emissions test, but with the MOT, you'll have the printout of the results.

Exhaust flexi not relevant, as long as not leaking, it is ok for MOT. Might not last long without being able to flex.

It is always disappointing when any purchase fails to meet expectations, but with used cars, they are always a potential minefield. If you feel seriously about the MOT, you'd need to contact the Department for Transport, but they would need to inspect the car and if you are using it you are destroying the evidence. Even if they lose their MOT licence you will get nothing back, as you were not the customer.

With your current level of expertise, and regular visits to college, you can turn this around into a learning exercise. Involve all your college colleagues, to give the car a full inspection. With the lists of "needs to be fixed", "should be fixed", "nice to fix", you will have a project. It may even provide real work for the college workshop, so all your colleagues help fix it, whilst getting a real-world learning experience. More useful than the college cars.

Good luck, and enjoy your car.

 

[Davren]

Presumably you inspected and test drove the car before buying it?

As a 3rd year student motor mechanic, why didn't you notice all these issues before buying the car? If the brakes were less than 40% efficient, any compentent driver would have realised that, during the test drive. You say you are 45 and have had several cars. I would assume you class yourself as a competent driver?
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[pedroofn19]

I did test drive the car before the MOT was done.
The instrument cluster didnt work then, I was told the garage would fix it by replacing a relay somewhere. Only a temp fix to get it through the MOT.
I was told by the owner the brakes would be sorted when the MOT was done, but they was not. Just an advisory. My college tutor ( was a ford master technician for over 25 years ) tested the brakes and told me it should never have passed. I have changed all the brakes now. The car had sat for months without being driven and the discs looked well rusty. ON the MOT advisory is says "brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously. That is at the front and rear. So tell me when have discs deterioated that much driving 15 miles.
The CV gaitor had not only just split because all the grease was dried and all over the drive shaft. I have changed many CV boots and I know this is an old split, there is no grease left in it at all.
As for burning oil it went through 2 litres of oil driving 60 miles. That is a serious amount of oil.

No I dont expect to get a penny back off anyone but Im trying to make people aware that the garage does BAD MOTs .
You can say all you want about how fast things deteriorate but they rushed the car through because it was the garage owners mate who sold me the car.

Do you think it is good practice to do what they have done?

 

[Davren]

they rushed the car through because it was the garage owners mate who sold me the car.

Unwise to post such a statement unless you can prove it.

Do you have irrefutable proof that that was the reason they rushed it through?
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[pedroofn19]

I was there when the MOT was being done, the mechanic doing it said he was doing it inbetween other jobs because it is for a friend and could I come back in an hour because he had a light unit to fit, and then service it.
I know I havnt got a leg to stand on because I have changed the brakes, I have sent the instrument cluster off to be repaired. But I will go all out to make sure I put the word about, that the garage does bad MOTs.

Or should I go around telling people that they do a great job there????

 

[Davren]

Or should I go around telling people that they do a great job there????

Nobody is suggesting you tell people that they do a great job, unless that is what you think.

If you are happy that your statements a provable against any legal proceedings for libel that the garage may bring, then leave them. (Remember that to rely on what the mechanic said as a defense, you would also have to prove that he said it). Otherwise, I would be inclined to delete both comments.
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[pedroofn19]

Unfortunately I didnt have a voice recorder with me when I was talking to the mechanic. It is obvious that I cant do anything about it now because I have changed the dangerous faults the mechanic failed to notice.
It is a crap garage that cant even do an MOT properly, they can use that in court if they really want to. I couldnt give a monkeys what I say. What if my kids were in the car and it didnt stop?
What if you was crossing the road and I couldnt have stopped because the brakes were useless, and you got run over, whos fault would that be?
I will say what I want about the place. And everything I have said is the truth.

 

[maggers]

Stilo 1.6's burn oil, period, which was one of the reasons I sold mine. The fact that the cluster didn't work isn't an MOT fail, the only check is that the speedo is there and undamaged (yes, I am an MOT tester). The brake discs can look like the surface of the moon and still pass as long there is no judder or excessive fluctuation of readings. As mentioned above, the MOT is a test to a MINIMUM standard on that day although is may have been stratched a bit by the sounds of it. Me? I'd take it on the chin and sell it ASAP, they really aren't the best of cars.