MOT Question(rear foglight)

jojo

jojo

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A question for you MOT guru's.

My sister's had her Clio 197 MOT'd today(1st MOT,as the car just turned 3), and it failed on the rear foglight. MOT tester said the rear foglight was on the wrong side of the car, passenger instead of driver side, and he failed it on that?! He also said that the rear wiring had been tampered with, and he could repair it for £300.... :faint: Sister called me up straight away about her predicament, I said they are having a laugh, drive away. So she did, but the MOT tester warned her that her car insurance wouldn't be valid, as he had just failed the car on the system! :wtf:

I need answers quick, so anyone?
 
scott b said:
yes that is a fail fog light should be on the right on cars in the uk
Click to expand...

OK, thanks for that, I'm sure I'm capable of inserting a bulb into the righthand side rear cluster to see if it works, it's a UK car I believe, or pull a few wires accorss, but not 300 quid work of course.
 
Perhaps like on certain cars, the Clio has rear left and right fog lights?
 
Rear for lought should be on the centre or to the right so he's right. I'm not 100% but I think my mates wifes old Clio 172 had dual rear fogs so check the bulb first
 
jojo said:
OK, thanks for that, I'm sure I'm capable of inserting a bulb into the righthand side rear cluster to see if it works, it's a UK car I believe, or pull a few wires accorss, but not 300 quid work of course.
Click to expand...

Was your sister the first owner?

Could be a car previously owned by someone who was in the Forces stationed in Germany or Europe, if you take your current car or buy a tax free one they have to have RHD headlights fitted and if they only have one rear fog and one rear reverse you have to buy a set of European light clusters to replace the UK ones and fiddle about with the wiring for the lights at the back, some people run a wire from one side to the other and vis a versa (cris-cross them over) rather than buy some expensive wiring loom or adapter, it kind of sounds like this could be your problem.

Perhaps go back to the garage she bought it from and ask for an explanation or go buy some new UK clusters off fleabay... :)
 
She bought the car used 10 months ago, so 2nd owner.

Had a look at the wiring myself this arvo, someone had cut the rear foglight wire, then pulled the wiring accross to the otherside and wired up the fog on that side. As the car was still under Renault Warranty, she took it to Renault for an MOT, but obviously, this isn't covered, as it had been tampered with and not original, and they said it will cost £300 to fix it, 30 quid for some wire and £270 for labour, 3hours@90quid per hour!

I fixed in 15 minutes, taking the bulb out one side and moving it to the other, then using one of those crimping wire connector thingies to rejoin the wire and tape up, total cost, 50p maybe?

Dealerships are such jokers, they like to rob the innocent blind! Lucky my sister knew I had some car knowledge and gave me a call, or she'd be 300 out of pocket!!
 
Glad you got it sorted mate, just cant be justified can it the rip off merchants!!!!
 
Not only they're trying rip you off but it sounded like they're also trying to manipulate her by claiming that the failed MOT would unvalidate her insurance.

But glad to hear you got it fixed in the end.
 
Road Razor said:
Not only they're trying rip you off but it sounded like they're also trying to manipulate her by claiming that the failed MOT would unvalidate her insurance.

But glad to hear you got it fixed in the end.
Click to expand...

If a car fails it's MOT it's then deemed unroadworthy so yes the insurance will be void if driving it on a public road
 
Just to follow on though, it just gets better and better. The garage in question also put down misaligned headlamps as an MOT failure, but the service guy at the desk told my sister they would adjust it for her for free, so she never told me about it. But as she refused to get the rear foglight problem fixed by them, they want 30 minutes labour to adjust the frikin lights, robbing b@st@rds! She was quite p!ssed off as you can imagine, so told them to stuff it over the phone! I'm going to get her MOT done for her in the morning whilst she's at work, my MOT guy does the headlamp thing for free as part of the MOT.
 
Lack of MOT does not invalidate insurance. This has been discussed so many times, it can cause problems if you need to claim but i am 99.9% sure the insurance isnt invalidated due to lack of MOT.

Where is Tom when you need him?


Take it somewhere else Joe, and let us know how you get on.
 
Byzan A4 said:
Take it somewhere else Joe, and let us know how you get on.
Click to expand...

All sorted now, MOT'd for the next 12 months! Told the MOT tester about it, and he said 'It's them dealers trying to make money off you, which is why you come to me for MOT's', also said headlamp adjustment should be a fiver or tenner tops, as the car should be on the ramp with the headlight alignment tool during the MOT, so what labour? Apart from a few rotations of the adjuster during the MOT, they can't add 30minutes labour onto an MOT price, but it's dealers for you....
 
jojo said:
Just to follow on though, it just gets better and better. The garage in question also put down misaligned headlamps as an MOT failure
Click to expand...

Yeah so they are pointing to the right instead of the left, thats deffo been on the Continent for a bit, I'd have words with the last owner and ask what they were playing at by not swapping them over! :(
 
unkle said:
Yeah so they are pointing to the right instead of the left, thats deffo been on the Continent for a bit, I'd have words with the last owner and ask what they were playing at by not swapping them over! :(
Click to expand...

No, they was pointing too high mate, needed winding down a little.
 
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