Great it passed... but how?

Is it not possible that at the time of test after bouncing through the rollers etc that a blown bulb might of actually been a bad connection and that connection vibration was disturbed and possibly worked at the time of test!!

How may number plate lights do you actually see not working when the rear door is opened but after closing the vibration causes the bulb to illuminate. Yes it very well maybe corroded, but so are Focus offside rear fog lamp bulbs but sometimes they still function during the test. 

I think we need to be telling the motorists that they should ensure their vehicles are serviced in accordance with the manufacturer recommendations before the mot test, and not rely on the mot to think their cars are serviced when tested. The vehicle is not OK after test, it is a bare minimum just above scrap standards for a pass to be issued. A big difference between a car nearly new and a car barely scraped through a test just about ready to go into the scrap pile. 

I don't think its fair to expect the garage to find every defect on a customers car of that nature when presented for service/test. I don't believe I have ever seen any garage owner/manager ensure that staff remove any or all bulbs/holders from light clusters to ensure they are serviceable, however I would expect that if a customer knows of a given problem then the customer should bring that problem to the attention of the reception staff to ensure that problem is looked at and repaired. 

The way I read it, it came across similar to what DVSA would do trying to catch a garage out, however DVSA remove the bulb so there is no doubt. We need to be vigilant but we are not gods, and nor have the vehicle manufacturers started making full transparent vehicles to date. Intermittent faults could have been there, we don't know.  

Maybe it was a Renault Modus and the technician didn't have time to change it!!

It's was probably tested first and the service tech assumed the lights worked as it didn't fail the test on them.

More likely it was serviced first on a two poster & then logged on while the apprentice was told to give the topside a quick look around, followed by an emissions test, and maybe a brake test.

I did a mystery shopper where a similar thing happened. Tester logged the test but spent another 10 mins or so on the phone in the office while a yoof wandered around the van (Berlingo) and did the emissions. Tester then went out jacked up the front end, no turn plate checks & rattled off a brake test. All done in under 20 mins. Tester then faffed about watching the clock for another 15 mins before logging off, telling me it had passed but VOSA kept a watch on his test times ! He didn't enjoy the interview & lost his licence.

I thought the key point of the information was this;


They didn't replace the bulb in the driver side headlamp which had blown before I took the car in (I know because it was rusted in and I couldn't get it out and it was still rusted in when I checked it st the weekend) so it hadn't been replaced and blown again, so how did it pass the "stringent headlamp alignment check" etc. and is it even a valid certificate?

A bulb cannot blow twice, which is why I pointed out at the time of test that it could have possibly been bounced through the rollers and the vibration could have made the bulb work momentarily, I've seen it many times, so is a valid point. If the service department missed it or did not check it, that's nothing to do with the mot scheme. I think what I was trying to explain got lost in misunderstanding. 

Good job the gearbox didn't fall out imagine how many pages of waffle that would generate !!!

Do stay on topic please Dynamo. Thanks.

Should that not read Dynamo and Lampy thanks.