People say dealerships are underhanded....

[Rebel]

Well, I have to admit to having a private plate, I also have a slightly different font from standard HOWEVER, the font used on my plate is one of the fonts approved for number plates and the spacing is completely normal.

I was stopped and given a producer for my plates about 8 years ago (yep I've had the same plates for a lot of years) I disagreed and told the officer I intended to take this further my number plates conformed to BSAU 145A regulations and the plates were stamped to that effect and I wasn't happy.

I took the car to a police station local to me without changing the plates (having been stopped in Skegness) and the traffic officers there told me there was no problem with my plates, if however I wanted a categorical answer I could contact Hinchingbrook traffic control who would inspect the car and give me a definative answer, I did that and got the same answer in writing!

I sent a copy of those letters to skeggy police station and got an apology from them, they admitted their officer was "over zealous" and they were happy to accept a police inspection findings.

On ONE occasion in the past 18 years or so I've had these plates I had a mot station question my number plates, I took the letter to them (Obviously I am not so silly as to not keep it with my driving documents) and they also backed off BTW I ALWAYS have my car MOT'd as early as I can, usually 4 weeks prior to requiring a new MOT just so I can deal with anything that might come up and not "have" to get the vehicle repaired at the MOT station.

I did by the way spend some 7 or 8 years working in the motor trade in retail dealerships (Vauxhall, VW/Audi, Leyland, Nissan, Alfa Romeo, Isuzu to name but a few (I was a group business manager) and have to say there were a number of occasions where I saw questionable decisions with my own eyes, usually when business was quiet! It may well be the MOT testers had more time to do a more thorough job, but on the other hand....

More recently (a couple of years ago) both my wife and my son both had MOT failures by the same testing station for brake pipes, in my wife's case her brake pipes had been replaced the previous year but it was failed (Yes I did complain and the owner said it was a judgement call and the tester had felt they were questionable) I had the pipes replaced (NOT at the testing station!) and got a pass certificate for the wife's car, my son however was really angry, took the car to Kwik fit, who are notoriously strict and paid for a second test even though it may have been just as cheap to have the brake pipe replaced, they passed his car first time!

We now use a different MOT centre.

[Vimeous]

This thread sadly tipifies why the MOT test strikes fear into the average motorist. There is simply no way of knowing if you're being taken for a ride unless you're in the industry and know what to look for.

Sadly for MOT's my usual life approach applies of optomistic pessimism. I hope everything will be fine but I expect it to be expensive!

[Syd]

I can also relate an anecdote similar to that from a different dealer who wanted £1500 to replace a dented rear door and £500 to spray it to match.

They offered me £300 for the car "to save me the hassle".

I politely declined the offer, sourced a second hand door in the same colour (after some faffing) and fitted it myself for a total cost of £80.

Perhaps that experience has biased me to think the worst of dealerships.

£1500 does sound a little extreme, however, a franchise dealer would always use official new parts, which are usually very expensive. It is not the dealer charging a fortune for the part, it is the manuafacturer charging the dealer, who then adds a margin and charges the customer the price for the part, plus the labour etc. £500 to paint a rear door and blend it with the rear wing and front door doesn't sound unreasonable. BUT on a car worth less than a few grand the exercise would be pointless - you did the clever thing by finding a door at the breakers.