One wonders about the inconsistency between MOT testers.

Last year I had my Fatty tested by a national company who passed it with one advisory concerning brake pipes. This year the very same garage failed it on subframe bushes and two rear tyres being dangerous yet also gave me an advisory on the same two tyres! no mention of brake pipes which I had not touched
since the last MOT that they had given me the advisory on?

The garage manager advised me that the subframe bushes were in a particularly bad condition and were 'popped out" but they did not have the facilities to replace them.

I duly replaced the two tyres through the same company's tyres on the drive service but neither myself or the tyre fitter could identify any evidence of the reason for the test failure that referred to two deep cuts in the tread.

Envisaging great cost of replacing the subframe bushes I took the car to a well respected independent Jaguar/LandRover repairer for a quote to be informed that the subframe bushes were easily passable for an MOT but they would have probably issued an advisory in respect of the brake pipes!

My car is going in to them for MOT test tomorrow and thats where it will go next year.

It will not be going anywhere near Halfords. RR owner

Like most things; the testers are human and effected by things like a bad night's sleep, a crap boss, being hungry, off with life, or not getting any. I'm lucky that my mate does all mine and as he knows I keep a tight ship, is pretty chilled. We've talked before about this and he will sometimes be more lenient than others depending on the owner. If he knows they will not touch the car between MOT's then what might have been advisory items to another owner are fails, just so they get fixed. With others he knows they will get it fixed asap so passes them. This is for borderline stuff. Obviously a dangerous fail gets failed straight off. Some are chilled, some are little hitlers who love the feeling of power they hold, and others are corrupt.

Don't dismiss Halfords if you know your rules, if you know your tyres and breaks are in good nick you'll generally find that these guys don't have the desire to do other stuff and so unless it's very dodgy they'll let it pass. Not always, but it pays to know your brake and tyre limits. Obviously this only counts if you're happy to dive in and check stuff yourself but I've had arguments with testers before where I've prepped friend's cars for testing and then a hitler has failed it for something that is absolutely fine. One even tried to fail on cut tyres that I knew were fine. At the time I was near the garage and nipped round and asked him to point them out to me. Funnily enough he said he 'must have made a mistake'. Another time I had a friend be told that the brakes and suspension was trailed out of their fairly new to them car at the MOT (at Kwik Fit), despite the discs and pads being replaced by the previous owner, and the dampers having been replaced the previous month by me. It's as much down to the tester as it is the garage. I'd actually suggest a busy garage in the current climate as they're more likely to be lenient given how stretched they are. A quiet one will likely both be quiet for a reason, and also keener for the work.

Thank God they aren't surgeons. RR owner

for the last 5 years I've gone to the council-owned Mot station which tests their fleet and taxis etc as they have no commercial gain in getting you to rectify anything with them.

Always been a good experience; on time, clean premises, courteous and friendly staff.