Car's just been in for an MOT on Wed last week to a local garage who turns out, they send the cars to another garage for its MOT testing.

I was told over the phone it had passed no issue so went to collect the car. Upon arrival I was told it passed but they were told by the MOT garage that it needed things doing to it for it to pass, BUT, he showed me the green MOT slip that it had passed? They told me it needed some brake pipes doing before they can give me the MOT slip and gave me over the weekend to sort it. He said something along the lines of people don't want to pay the £20 re-test charge so pass the cars but wont give out the slip till the work is complete. Which at the time I thought was fair.

I looked at the pipes, cleaned them all etc and although showing signs of rust, they were NOT excessive in anyway shape or form in my opinion. They would take a good scraping off a screwdriver which shows how solid they were.

So today, I took it back to the garage and told them this and asked them to have a look for me as I didn't think it was an MOT fail by the MOT garage and wanted their 2nd opinion. I also asked them to let me know if they have any issues or needed anything doing to give me a call.

Get a phone call saying its all done, ready to collect and they have changed the pipes for me!! I thought to myself; no biggie, won't be too bad, brake pipes are easy as pie to do.

Guess what, when I go in it's £100 for x2 brake pipes? I paid it.

Have I been done here? I can't help but feel like they've tried to get work out of me here. I'm thinking that it passed the MOT no issue and the original garage have just tried to blag work off me, or am I just being paranoid.

sounds like you have been had you should have just made up some brakepipes yourself

sounds like you've been bent over a barrell there mate.

if i was you in future just take it straight to the place they took it to!

same thing happened to my dad so now we all just take our cars straight to the MOT place the rip off garage took it to!

i think you've been done too. did you ask them to change the parts or give them permission to change them? if not, then they should not have touched them.

sounds like you have been had you should have just made up some brakepipes yourself

I was, but time was short and I was 100% that the pipes were NOT a fail.

sounds like you've been bent over a barrell there mate.

if i was you in future just take it straight to the place they took it to!

same thing happened to my dad so now we all just take our cars straight to the MOT place the rip off garage took it to!

Yep, thats what i'm going to do.

i think you've been done too. did you ask them to change the parts or give them permission to change them? if not, then they should not have touched them.

I asked them to call me, no permission was given at all. Issue was, I know if I had refused to pay they would have refused to give me my car.

Is £100 excessive for x2 brake pipes?

well I've just looked on the net for mk3 polo gt brake pipes and they are £8 a pipe

so thats:

£16 for parts

£84 for labour?

so that garage charges about £85 an hour for labour?

sounds like a lot ... well to me it does anyway!

Shouldn't have performed work without consent. Go and get your car and don't pay em for anything but the test IMO.

If they argue, report them to VOSA for doing dodgy tests.

report them anyway! £100 is way too much for 2 brake pipes! pay them with a cheque, bounce it once you have the car back and report them

this is absolute bollox.. no garage should pass a car when work is needed.. People do pay the £20 retest fee especially if they want a valid MOT.. report them to VOSA.

sounds like you got done.

i've been raped like that for work on my car but i asked my mum to call me if anything other than the clutch needed sorting, anyway get back home from work and shes like it cost 600 quid...for a clutch?..then she turns round and said the brakes needed doing and brake pads..this is two months after a m.o.t pass at the same garage and i could have gone to a scrappy and done their £300 work for changing the brakes for penuts, pisses me off just thinking back.

and the moral of that story is never trust a woman to do mans shit

Yeah my mam has done the same to me b4 like

"Well the mechanic said they needed doing! So I told him to d them"

And obviously she has never taken my car for its test again!

Definitly report them to vosa even if its just to spite the theiving basterds!

What station was this at rich?

Me near me so want to watch out for it.

Max

1) MOT re-test is free if done within 10 days - you were had by the first garage

2) The price for changing the pipes is pretty fair - yes, parts are cheap, but you have to fit them (takes a few minutes per pipe) and then bleed the whole system (takes about 20 minutes and also needs brake fluid) and garage labour rates are always on the high side, but I wouldn't say it's excessive for them to charge £85 per hour (prices vary, I've been quoted over £120 per hour before - I tend to do all the jobs myself!)

1) MOT re-test is free if done within 10 days - you were had by the first garage

2) The price for changing the pipes is pretty fair - yes, parts are cheap, but you have to fit them (takes a few minutes per pipe) and then bleed the whole system (takes about 20 minutes and also needs brake fluid) and garage labour rates are always on the high side, but I wouldn't say it's excessive for them to charge £85 per hour (prices vary, I've been quoted over £120 per hour before - I tend to do all the jobs myself!)

Most garages are only free re-tests if you get the work done with that garage, if you take the car away they normally charge for a re-test to milk as much money from you as they can like kwik-fit the theiving bastards have ripped me off.

And yeah i agree that sounds about right for the brakes, had my rear master cylinders done and that cost around £90

Most garages are only free re-tests if you get the work done with that garage, if you take the car away they normally charge for a re-test to milk as much money from you as they can

Really?

I've never been charged for a re test. Ever.

And I've never had any work done by a garage, apart from welding before I could weld.

Sounds like you were done by the garage to me.

Is garage labour really that expensive?

garage labour is expensive and on the high side if the garage had the green mot pass ticket then they should have given it to you if there were any defects then there would have been an orange advisory note with it. they need reporting for unfair trade and being as bent as government

Once a green ticket is issued, you could have got a re-print of the cert from the website, the computer records prove that the vehicle has passed. Max fee for duplicate is £10

Partial re-test is free if a) car has work required done on site, b) car is returned by the end of the next working day for a partial re-test

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/newsandevents/p...tprocedures.htm

Usually decent garages will give you 2 weeks to get the work done and return the car for a retest. Maximum they can charge for a full MOT is currently £54.00, they can charge less, but it's at their discretion.

Report them to VOSA - they're more crooked than a politician claiming expenses