UK mot test?

As I mentioned elsewhere I got the mot on Friday all good just a couple of advice for tyres.  So I went down to my local preferred tyre dealer to get his opinion on the state of the tyres and fortunately my assessment of the condition was very much aligned with his,  not a problem don't worry about it.  However he went on to say that apparently now regardless of who pays their wages testers are considered to work for VOSA when testing and furthermore they, VOSA, are now pursuing testers through the courts for errors and omissions in testing,  resulting not unsurprisingly in testers now advising on virtually anything that isn't essentially in as new condition, causing the uninitiated to panic and buy  things unnecessarily. Anyone in the industry care to confirm? 

My understanding of advisories is the same as items changed at a service. Will the item still be legal or within spec in 12 months time?

If the answer is no or not sure then you get an advisory or it is changed. The reason is that a great number of people don’t do anything to their vehicle between services or MOTs.

This in itself creates a lot of waste.

Robin

Historically I think you're probably right but now on the balance of what I have seen with the last 2 I've had it's definitely a liability limitation excuse to flag up everything however minor with no attempt at using judgment or expertise.

VOSA sound as if they are following the example of The Post Office.

VOSA have been defunct for 10 years or so, it has been part of  DVSA since then.

Their algorithms monitor the test stations.

Pass % has to be within limits for the area, as do the number of advisories.

If  a station is an outlier, it will come under the microscope and trigger a monitoring visit, so testers err on the side of caution and issue advisories, hoping that they have got it "right" so their figures will be OK and DVSA will bother someone else.
 

That inspires confidence, it's not about roadworthiness, it's about keeping the A.I. happy!

What if you put broken bulbs in the lamps, leave the (Norwegian) Hi-vis vest out and loosen the battery clamp, or other unexpensive easy to fix faults.
They will not have to check so hard to find enough faults to keep the system happy..

That only puts money in other people's pockets because most places are attached to repair garages who love nothing more than being able to ripoff the unsuspecting. It's really just a con that is impossible to fight because it hides behind the guise of road safety.

Lambert wrote:

That only puts money in other people's pockets because most places are attached to repair garages who love nothing more than being able to ripoff the unsuspecting. It's really just a con that is impossible to fight because it hides behind the guise of road safety.

Although there are some like that & pretty sure some would find any excuse to fail a car, but I do feel they are the exceptions rather than the rule. But I would rather have that than there be no checks at all, I have seen the state of some cars that are presented for test & then listened to some of the drivers arguments as to why they should fail, even when the steel is showing through the rubber.

No I agree, you need only look at what passes for parking in ASDA to understand how little people care about motoring, and yes we need protection against their apathy, it's just that we by definition of being on a car forum take motoring way more seriously than most which often leaves us seeing holes in the system. As an example when I got the advice for the tyres the conversation with the parents went along the lines of "why have you submitted the car with those tyres on if you know they've got cracks in them? Not that we're going to buy more because those still have good tread left on them." And that kind of attitude is seemingly prevalent in those who are not car people.

Lambert wrote:

That inspires confidence, it's not about roadworthiness, it's about keeping the A.I. happy!
 

Not really.....

There are about 30 million class 4 MOTs done a year, and the initial failure rate is about 25%, with around 3.4 defects per failure.

So if they have a 90% initial pass rate then DVSA will send someone to have a look, either to confirm that they are located in an anomalous bubble where owners are way above average in their MOT prep, or they are too lenient.

If they are doing their job right, they will be close on the average figures, adjusted for demographic, because of the high number of tests done at a station.

The IT thing is a screen to send the inspectors to a hotspot,they can play the system, but it should work anyway out if they are doing their job right.

There are some jolly statistics to peruse at www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-s...ta-for-great-britain

I couldn't find anything on advisories, but again, if they never issue an advisory, there has to be something wrong..

All of which comes back to my original point that testers are under pressure to conform to averages or they face consequences and therefore now more than ever they are nitpicking really minor things on otherwise sound vehicles to cover themselves.