Agreed,its the work not required rather than the mot issue.Perhaps the garage can offer something at the next service (if you feel brave enough to return)

I always look at MoT history and have crossed of cars when it appears the owner has not been scrupulous in maintenance, e.g tyres close to limit. Fully understand your annoyance at the breach of trusr.

I don't read much into tyres being 'near limit'. As long as they haven't passed that limit they are OK, and the tester has done his job and advised. The advised limit is now 1.6mm whereas it used to be only 1mm. Decent margin I would say.

I guess the OP is annoyed not so much about being out of pocket (he isn't) but at finding he has trusted this guy and been misled. Put it down to experience and find another garage.

I would only have reservations about buying a car that had advisories that appeared on consecutive MOTs and not fixed or that subsequently only were after they became failure items.

I always look at MoT history and have crossed of cars when it appears the owner has not been scrupulous in maintenance, e.g tyres close to limit. Fully understand your annoyance at the breach of trusr.

I don't read much into tyres being 'near limit'. As long as they haven't passed that limit they are OK, and the tester has done his job and advised. The advised limit is now 1.6mm whereas it used to be only 1mm. Decent margin I would say.

I guess the OP is annoyed not so much about being out of pocket (he isn't) but at finding he has trusted this guy and been misled. Put it down to experience and find another garage.

AFAIK the 1.6mm is a legal limit, not an advisory one - I personally replace tyres when down to 3mm - but the OP's tyres were well over that.

Fiesta Owner you are quite right. The problem for me is that my car technical knowledge is limited so I have to rely on what professonals say. Obviously in your case I would miss a perfectly good car maintained by a conscientious owner.

However, in my position, what other options do I have ?

Scot, like you I value politeness and do what I can to control gratuitous offensiveness on the forum. But in this case PD was describing a general class of buyer, rather than a poster on the forum, and I wouldn't object to what he's said.

Both extremes of buyer can be irritating - those who nit-pick at everything (including minor advisories), and the opposite, the ones I often call 'Arthur Punter' - the sort who come on here asking our advice about replacing their ageing diesel Vauxhall, but still end up doing their 5,000 miles a year in a 10-year-old diesel BMW.....and come back and complain about that.

Edited by Avant on 24/11/2017 at 15:54

Look at what followed bonkers. Context is important. I agree with your other comment.

You are clearly one of the posters who make this forum so valuable to people like me. I realise my knowledge is limited so now use as many screening devices as I can. Also I now make sure I look to change before it being essential.

I would never buy a car unseen. At least a test drive is essential. Also, unless I know the seller, I buy from reasonably local dealers. When you don't have the experience to judge something it is not an easy to assess a car.

To return to the OP I think my trusted independent let me down once. Howver, it was once so still use and get excellent customer service. I do know how that is. The experience is disappointing but slips do happen.

Finally, pd thanks for sharing your knowledge. I am sure you have much more than a rough idea

Used cars are ultimaely a cheapsakte thing, they are a compromise either because the buyer can't afford or doesn't want to pay for a new or nearly new one.

This is the only part i disagree with.

There are some of us out there who actively do not want what car makers now make, so used cars are our preferred choice, some of us, me, don't like almost anything made in the last 10 years if it comes to it.

We can afford new, but we don't want to, nothing against people who want new cars for all the different reasons they do, good luck to them, their hard earned to spend as they wish, but be aware some of us wouldn't want almost anything new currently for sale in this country because we actually dislike what's on offer, plus my hard earned to spend as i wish.

Call us Luddites if you like, but cheapskates does not necessarily apply, i don't suppose my motoring is any cheaper by buying used and overmaintaining, and i wouldn't suggest anyone else copies my way, but my way provides me with vehicles i actually want to own and drive, not having to put up with the latest design they suggest i have.

One size does not fit all, yet.

If i was to buy a new car for the sheer pleasure of it, it would probably be a Subaru WRX purely for its sheer excellence (but would have to be a grey to get the auto box), but no use to me because it would have to be an estate to accommodate 3 dogs 2 of which are compulsive swimmers even if they have to break the ice to get in, by the way i could afford it too.

I could buy a new or newish Landcruiser, but i dislike the new models intently and they've got too complicated, Toyota battered them with the ugly stick like they've done everything else, bar the GT86, i like my old Landcruiser, the Mrs loves her old Outback, its scraped and battered and filthy from muddy dogs, but it goes like hell, its totally reliable, she can park it anywhere and if it collects another scrape she shrugs it off, when it dies she wants another.

Edited by gordonbennet on 24/11/2017 at 11:10