[ianm5]

I had a recent MOT fail, there was a bit of confusion and I wonder if anyone here can tell me if I was right. I don’t really know what I’m talking about my knowledge is just google.

My car was perfect but there was a bulge in a rear sidewall. A pain really, I look after my tyres and they had 4mm left. I know when it happened, it had been there for maybe 6months.

The main dealer called an MOT failure, I asked if the fault was minor, serious or dangerous and they just said ‘fail’. They said I could take it away to get new tyres, but I would have to sign a disclaimer.

There was a lot of to and fro, I was convinced that if they fail was dangerous that I couldn’t actually drive the car, they seemed reluctant to make that distinction. It would make the difference between Costco MSS tyres at 2x 220quid or bmw MSS tyres at 2x310 quid (buying and taking to bmw was an option that would take a week)

In the end I had to force the issue and they called ‘dangerous’ so I couldn’t move the car and bought the BMW taxed tyres.

I might come across as a complete muppet, but as I saw it, in the unlikely event something happened on that post fail MOT journey to sort tyres, I would have been mega-screwed.

I was confused why the MOT tester was reluctant to make the grading of fail. Is the guidance vague?

In fairness the dealership themselves were confused but extremely considerate and helpful, and even reduced the BMW tax a little.