Took my car into MOT at VWs, as it was in for an air con service anyway and it's due on 22nd August.

They failed it on headlights, saying they were out of alignment and were unadjustable due to some fault with them, so would both need completely replacing.... at a cost of £403!! They also said the lights were moving around and not properly secured, which I know to be bullshit......... anyway I said I can't afford to pay £403 for headlights so I'll get it sorted somewhere else.

Then they tried saying you can't take it away, it's failed it's MOT, its illegal to drive..... so I said no I don't think so, it's got an MOT until 22nd and they tried telling me that was now void! They wouldn't have any of it so I told them I'd ring them back and got on the phone to VOSA. They told me it's rubbish and the MOT is definitely fine until 22nd August despite it failing the MOT.

Just because they refused to give me a certificate for the next 12 months, the last certificate was for 12 months and was still valid.

I told VW I'd phoned them but I still got a load of grief about it, two different people saying "we've got 5 MOT testers here and they've all said the same thing.... it'll not road legal....." they even said "If you want to take there (VOSAs) advice over ours then that's up to you but as far as we're concerned you'd be breaking the law" Sorry - who do VW think they are exactly?? If they think their "intelligence" over-rides that of VOSA who are the body responsible for MOTs? Anyway, I said "I'll take a chance on it I think!! See you in half an hour when I'll be there to pick the car up".

When I got there, they'd even added a footnote to the invoice saying "Please note: This car does not have a valid MOT certificate so cannot be driven legally." WTF??? So I paid what I had to pay and fucked off.

Two things;

1) I can't see anything wrong with the headlights at all, certainly nothing that would hinder them being adjusted, so the step dad is going to have a look and try to adjust them one night this week. Think they were trying it on??

2) How can VW be so stupid as to either not know the law about MOTs, or think they could tell me wrong despite me speaking to VOSA??

Really does take the piss I reckon, I've heard some crap about garages and a few things about VW Dealerships but that!!

I am considering writing to some head office somewhere about it all, it's ridiculous they're lying to people about their cars being illegal to drive in an attempt to make them have ridiculously over-priced work done!

EDIT: Is it worth putting something up on FAQs about MOT failures and the law? i.e. if it still has a valid MOT it IS legal to drive under the current certificate despite the fail - although it is still your legal obligation to keep the car road worthy??

Mine only failed on headlights so I will keep driving it, but I doubt I would if it was something more serious.

Edited 9 August, 201115 yr by bigukg

only if the car is red flagged as dangerous will the old mot be void. sounds like vw have got their wires crossed as to what the law is!

In the eyes of the law it still will be road worthy, if the paperwork is correct and it 'looks' ok then they are happy most of the time.

So what 'fault' did they say is behind the fact they can't be adjusted?

Surely they still have adjustment screws on the units themselves?

And how would replacement units solve the problem as they will need aligned too.

Just take it elsewhere and learn you lesson. Don't get your car MOT'd at a garage. Take it direct to the place the garage takes it to - find a garage that only does MOT's. There's a good one near me (West Yorkshire) called California MOT, there will be one near you. It may be operated by the council but you can still book your car in there with a bit of a wait. Since I started doing this my car's hardly ever fail MOT's and when they do I never disagree with what they find.

Edited 9 August, 201115 yr by raw1234

To be honest mate, I didn't hang about to find out what the problem with adjusting them was. I just wanted to pay and get out because I was getting the ump a bit with them keep trying to tell me I couldn't drive it and how risky it was to do so!

I'll see if my step dad can adjust them, if he can then good and VW are trying it on, if not, I'll buy a pair of new VW headlights for £95 inc VAT from a good genuine VAG parts place locally and get it sorted.

Then I'll definitely be getting it MOT'd somewhere else! There is a good little garage who seem to pass loads... don't try it on and say work needs doing when it doesn't.

I'll let you know if the lights will adjust or not and we'll see whats what with VW. If they do adjust I will be telling them though, and asking if they've spoken to VOSA yet to get their facts right.

my car failed an MOT at a proper MOT station and they were right to do so, but as i still had MOT they let me leave and did the work a few days later.

Theres a garage/mot testing station just up the road from me, and even if it fails after the old certificate expires they'l let you take it home.

The guy that works there makes sure you know the risk of it but at the end of the day it's your car, your decision, I'm pretty sure noone would do the MOT place if you got pulled.

I'm sure it also states on the MOT document than the garage cannot refuse to let you drive the car away in its current condition.

I know for a fact that the MOT Fail sheet gives 2 guidelines of prices depending if the car is removed or not

it says along the lines of "if the car isn't removed from the site, no retest fee is applicable" if the car is removed for repairs, a retest fee may be chargeable

Interesting posts! I don't think garages can say you can't drive it, it's definitely not their problem is it? Especially if they warn you before hand to cover themselves.

But it's stupid VW dont know the law on MOT's. And as an after thought, if the testers don't know the law about MOTs what's to say they were trying to adjust my headlight allignment properly

Its not illegal to drive an mot failure. You are fine going to and from the test centre, anything else and youd have a job explaining if you got pulled.

What car is it? If you've got electric headlamp adjusters, you may only be able to adjust it electronically.

Either way I think my answer would be "I'm coming for my car, if it's an issue, one of us is going to have to phone the police. Either you because you think I'm committing a traffic offence or me because you're unlawfully depriving me of my property."

They did say "If you want to take their advice over ours, it's up to you, but it would be illegal" which isn't really on. They didn't say I couldn't take the car. Still driving it on the old certificate.

The beam is height adjustable electronically but not horizontally as far as I can tell, so they would need to be adjusted manually using a good old screwdriver from what I can work out looking at it. Hoping to get it looked at tonight and booked in at a friendly small local garage tomorrow for a re-test!

think yourself lucky... the local vauxhall garage near me has been phoning people half way through the year of their MOTs to tell them its due and duped many people into getting tests, then to find out after they paid £££ that its not due for another 6 months!

Get in touch with Volkswagen UK and explain the situation. contact

They dont take matters like this lightly, had a similar experience when I had my b6 passat...*

Rang them and told them what had happend, a few days later I got a phone call from the dealer, obviosuly just had a royal bollocking, being extremely apologetic and offering me a free service, which I declined stating that I dont trust any of them.

*tried to fail me on tyres, when I'm a UHP Tyre specialist....

Edited 24 August, 201115 yr by brightsideteeem

Just take it elsewhere and learn you lesson. Don't get your car MOT'd at a garage. Take it direct to the place the garage takes it to - find a garage that only does MOT's. There's a good one near me (West Yorkshire) called California MOT, there will be one near you. It may be operated by the council but you can still book your car in there with a bit of a wait. Since I started doing this my car's hardly ever fail MOT's and when they do I never disagree with what they find.

Exactly. the last 2 times i took mine to mot only tester. only had a couple problems but not the hundreds garages seem to find.

its bad enough taking your car to a garage for its mot test, but vw??? crazy

when i got my polo i took it in for a free point check thankyou vw

they told me all my tyres were badly worn even though 3 of them had 4 mm tread on them. they sad i needed a new drive shaft. they saw some grease around the cv boot and assumed it was split and that the driveshaft was on the cliffe. it wasnt, just a little bit of grease around it. i told the mot only station about it and they confirmed and it was fine.

Only just seen these replies. I only used vw because it was convenient really and out of lazyness. They were servicing the air con so I thought why not.

Never did contact vw and should have done but wont go near them again apart from for a service, and thats only cos its got full vw service history and I wanna keep it that way for when the time comes to sell up

i use to work for dixon ford on the sale side of things and knew the garage staff well.lets just say having hearing some of the ways they duped people into mot/servicing and other things,i would never take my car to a dealer for anything

i would never take my car to the vw garage near me. there has been several complaints about speeding tickets and possible bans. Also some one i know took his audi to the vw garage for a service, when he went to collect it the roof was caved in and it was a complete write off! Your service is complete Sir! now where would you like your car?

i would never take my car to the vw garage near me. there has been several complaints about speeding tickets and possible bans. Also some one i know took his audi to the vw garage for a service, when he went to collect it the roof was caved in and it was a complete write off! Your service is complete Sir! now where would you like your car?

Do you mean VW staff speeding in other peoples cars??

I can say this because I wasn't driving.

When I was 15 I did work experience at the local BMW dealer in the garage and someone had crashed their 335d Coupe and it was there the whole week, by the end of the week me and the person I was working with had just finished a few bits and he took it for a test drive. we went up to a local A road and he took it up to 120 and then saw the police and had to brake ridiculously hard.

since then I have carried out most work on my own cars.

A mate of mine worked at RRG toyota, plenty of stories where hes said pretty much the exact same thing. Take a customers car out, thrash the shit out of it. Never find me in a dealership for anything other than dribbling at AMGs.

I've heard of vw workers hammering the cars round here too. i wouldnt trust any of them!!!

^^^I've been at Pentraeth and heard cars in the workshops bouncing of limiter and screeching out of the bays.

Yet another main dealer trying to get more money out of you... Oh and your flux capacitor needs changing as your emissions are too high..

i'm at college doing a mechanics course at even i know this is a load of bull, they just want to rob you blind for the new lights, you could get a set of lights off of a rear end write off for half that price