revilla Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Car is currently on SORN and MOT expired. I need to get it MOT'd, hopefully in the next couple of weeks, to tax it again from 1st April. I also want somebody who really knows Sevens to have a look at my back suspension as it is making some odd noises (has been ever since I got it, despite several threads and investigations on here and several fixes and a trip to Nick Potter, it still doesn't sound right to me). Would like to take it to somewhere very experienced who may have seen the odd cases before rather than just the usual problems. Was thinking of somewhere really specialist along the lines of James Whiting. Ideally I would like to combine the two in one trip / day off work and would make sense to take it to one place for both - as it is currently MOT-less it would only be legal to actually drive it to the MOT station rather than somebody who could take it to an MOT for me, so really looking for someone with the sort of experience mentioned above who is also an MOT station. I don't believe James Whiting does MOTs. Don't mind if I have to travel to find it. Any ideas? PS: What are Caterham Midlands like in terms of prices and reputation? Are they known to be any good on the diagnostic side? They are only half an hour from me so might be an obvious choice but I guess from tintop experience I have an instinctive lack of faith in "Main Dealer" service and pricing. Edited by - revilla on 14 Mar 2014 13:40:27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazerBrain Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 James has taken my car for service & MOT before (though MOT hadn't expired.) I then get a bill from him which includes the MOT. On that basis, if you booked it with him, would it count as "driving to a pre-booked MOT"? I'd suggest giving him a call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazerBrain Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Just checked - he used a MOT station in Feltham last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 Mmmm maybe - not sure it's strictly "driving to a pre-booked MOT" when actually "driving to somebody who will subsequently drive to a pre-booked MOT" but I will ask him. Given that I am in the East Midlands, a run down to James Whiting will no doubt clock me on a few police cameras en-route with "NO MOT" warnings popping up so I need to make sure my case is watertight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Strictly speaking, I think you need to get the MOT at your nearest station so that you don't drive a long way without MOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 @charlie_pank: Yes unfortunately having read around a bit I think you are right. Regulations appear to refer to an "appropriate" MOT station which generally means local. I might be pushing things just a teeny bit too far heading down south! Oh well. Caterham Midlands may not be strictly "the nearest" but it is "local" and I think I would have a good case to argue that it was reasonable, given the specialist nature of the car and the proximity of an appropriate specialist garage. Google Maps recommends my usual route down the A6 and around the A46 which 23.3 miles, however if I pull the route around a bit I can get it down to 19.1 miles on a route which only has one B-road and mostly unclassified country lanes, so I could argue that I took the shortest route I could find (and at the same time avoided any real likelihood of being stopped or photographed en-route anyway). I'll give them a ring ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 OK ... so Caterham Midlands don't do MOTs ... but they will email me the details of the garage they use just around the corner so I'll take it there, and then on to CM for the service bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Faulkner Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Revilla You're asking about prices and reputation at CC Midlands. I have used them for my servicing for 3 years since I picked the car up new from there. I think they are excellent and reliable which you would expect from a specialist main dealer but I do think they are pricey. I paid £475 for my last service (2 year old car). They're going to MOT mine this year as well as the service so it will be more expensive than last year. McMillan in Hinckley is another alternative from where you're based. I haven't any dealings with them though. Clive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 **cough** I sold my K series engine with 20,000 on the clock for less than you paid for your last service! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 In fact, I bought a car that was good for driving from here the Mongolian border for less! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadsport06 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 McMillan motorsport know the cars. They have enough racers use them. I've used them once and was very happy with their service. They are happy to work on customer cars as well as the race cars. I'd want my car coming back coated in gold for a £475 2 year service! Nothing major needs doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Stoney Stanton garage are Caterham MOT friendly Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Nick Potter in Market Harbour seems the obvious choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delbert Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 If not happy with Nick,Potter best option for mot is CC Midlands . Are you sure they have stopped doing them . Its an easy income stream so would seem silly to walk away Edited by - Delbert on 14 Mar 2014 20:48:42 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 @Wrightpayne - Ian thanks for that, you can tell me about them tomorrow night :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mucus72 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Cc Mids did my MOT last year, but it was in for an issue with them. Possibly due to resources they won't do an MOT unless they have the car in anyway. Halfords in Loughborough are the recommended MOT station for you Andrew. They are Caterham friendly and v good. If you don't want to chance driving to either of these locations I'm happy to trailer it for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 Marcus, From what the lady on the phone said, the issue with CC Mids is that they are not themselves an authorised MOT station, they use a garage around the corner to do their MOTs for them and then bill you as part of whatever work they are doing for you. Because of this it's not legal to drive the car to them, only directly to an MOT station. To be honest I hadn't even thought of places like Halfords; there has been so much talk on here of finding somewhere "Caterham friendly" that I just assumed that most places like that would be geared up moe for run-of-the-mill tin-tops, but if in your experience they are good then they are certainly convenient. I've given the car a good checking over myself during winter maintanence and I'm fairly sure it's roadworthy and safe, so I won't have a problem driving there. At 10 minutes away it's got to be as near as matters the nearest place anyway. This is the first time I've had to put the car through and MOT. I got it late 2012 with a full MOT so when it expired in late 2013 I just put it on SORN for the winter. I guess once I've found somewhere I'm happy with I'll just stick with them, and hopefully next year I should be in a position to get it don before it expires anyway, removing the issue. I think I'll separate out the MOT and the servicing; get it MOT'd locally then take it where I want to have the bits looked at. Thanks for the tip! Edited by - revilla on 15 Mar 2014 21:41:27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revilla Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Marcus - I followed your suggestion and took it in to Halfords this morning. You were right, they were very good. Car went straight through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now