We bought a 55 plate skoda fabia in September last year. We were given a new 12 month MOT and 3 months warranty. Took it in for a full 60k service today and my partner had a call about it saying there’s a £500 repair bill for brakes. She sent me this

“both front wheel disks corroded so bad they’re nearly bindind.

front brake pads are bad too.
near side rear wheel bearing excessivly worn – said it was that didn’t I !!
2 rear wheel cylinders are leaking.”

Now none of this was picked up at MOT and I can’t see it happening in the 10k miles since we bought it or at least to that extent can it? Can we go back to dealer at all and get them to pay? Or where do we go from here?
Now none of this was picked up during the MOT and surely can’t have happened in 1

The MOT was 7/8 months and 10,000 miles ago – a significant time and distance covered. Brakes and bearings are consumable items – I’d be surprised if they were covered by a warranty anyway.

as far as I’m aware – you’re ****. You bought the car 7months and 10,000 miles ago, bit late to try and get anything out of them now! Can you prove it was gubbed when you bought it?

I’d also get a second opinion on the work…Some garages find a lot that needs doing.

Dealer will not help, out of warranty, tough

Was it the main dealer you had it serviced at? an Indi will do that work far cheaper!

The bit that annoys me is for brakes to get that bad on the front they should have been picked up on an MOT there wasnt even an advisory though.
Rear cylinders and hub more than likely happened in that time but the front brakes must have had an advisory. Spoke to my partner again and she sys the front shoes were metal on metal on offside. 🙁

As they said. It probably was failing when you bought it but after that time and distance you will find it very hard to prove. You need a reputable engineer who will stand up in court and say that the damage must have been there and that the selling garage should have known.

The lesson is always either inspect it yourself or if you don’t have the knowledge get it inspected professionally

It’s an indi garage doing the service and they are big clients of the electrical place Clair works at. The MOT was done the day before we collected the car supposedly so should have picked up if brakes were failing.

The bit that annoys me is for brakes to get that bad on the front they should have been picked up on an MOT there wasnt even an advisory though.

Pitting on the discs tends to increase significantly over the winter, especially if the car isn’t used much.

Changing them yourself, isn’t an especially difficult thing to do yourself though, if you are handy with the spanners and have an adjustable hammer with a suitable range.

Strangely whenever I’ve taken a car to a new garage for its first service, its always exactly those repairs that they’ve said need doing.

Sadly you’re warranty was only 3 months, and MOT is only good for the day of the test.

Afaik discs corrode when it’s not used. A few months out of action coudl cause a problem.

It’s discs pads and wheel bearings, they are all parts that wear, you’d be wasting your time trying to get anywhere with the selling garage, an MOT is only to make sure it the vehicle is roadworthy at the time it is presented for its MOT.

The MOT does not involve taking the wheels off to check the brakes properly and can only be looked at visually, it is down to the tester on the day to make a judgement on the wear on them. I’ve taken my Van down to the local council yard for its MOT and two weeks later my garage has had to replace the brake discs as they were worn below their recommended safe limit. I didn’t get an advisory or any mention of the discs and pads at the MOT.

Ha it all depends on driver – my mum is terrible and can kill front pads between services !!!

I think you are somewhat over estimating the value of an MOT. VOSA will only consider complaints about MoTs within 28 days (except structural corrosion issues) and even then I’m not sure you’d get far with your complaint! http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Mot/DG_4022113

The MOT is not a service – it is about the function and safety at the time of testing. The pads only have to have 1.5mm left to pass – which would never have lasted 10,000 miles. Driving round metal on metal will explain the condition of the disks. As I understand it the disk itself will only fail if it is structurally dodgy (i.e. going to fall off or snap!). A leaking brake cylinder would be a fail, but bare in mind the tester doesn’t take the wheels off so a small leak may not be easy to spot (especially if 10,000 miles later is still wasn’t bad enough for you to suspect a fault when driving it). The brake performance is tested on a “rolling road” – assuming there was still some pad left and the surface of the disks etc wasn’t too bad at the time it would probably pass.