legal advise

[esetest]

I bought a car from Bob Davies car sales of Ebbw Vale in mid august , one of my conditions of purchase was the car had a new Mot and a service with a stamp in the book , a couple of days ago the car started making a grinding noise when I applied the brakes , I have taken it to Bathwick today and the rear disc is fucked due to the pad being worn to the metal , I have done 3000 miles since I purchased the car , the mechanic said the pad  must have been  below the legal limit when the car was sold , so therefore how could it have passed the MOT .
So  would it be worth my while putting a claim against the garage that sold the car , or just putting it down to experience . 

[ferritt]

I have never heard of brake pads having a legal limit,  if the brakes meet the efficiency required then they will pass an mot. Did you get an advisory notice issued for the pads wearing thin? I think you need to put it down to experience and maybe think about checking round your car once in a while!

[rustyrider]

The MoT tester isn't allowed to dismantle anything to inspect it so if the pads are visible with the wheels and dust shields in place and he can see that they are very thin, he can advise on it (but not fail if the braking efficiency is still OK).  If he can't actually see them, as ferritt says, they can be down to fag paper thickness but will still pass if the braking efficiency is up to standard.

[locksmith]

3000 miles ago, don't think you'll get anywhere.

[codgie]

as a ex MOT tester there is no legal limit on pads


it could be that your calliper is seized and worn the pads


get your calliper checked


your mot is only valid for the time its in the mot bay
 after it leaves anything can happen to your car so never take an mot as a guarantee that your car or bike is roadworthy


it just means it was at the time of testing

[esetest]

Thanks for the advice guys , I am surprised by the fact that there are no legal limits on thickness of brake pads , when my bike was serviced last year , I was told that the front pads were at the wear markers and were therefore illegal and needing changing so was I duped by the garage that serviced the bike .

[BBROWN1664]

The guy is a muppet. There is no legal limit.
The wear markers on pads are for indication only and even then, unless you take the wheels off, you cannot see them.

You wont get anything from the dealer.

[rayburn600]

Why not ring the Dealer in question & tell him what has happened.
Be polite & say "one of my conditions of purchase was the car had a new Mot and a service with a stamp in the book[/size] ".
[/size]
[/size]Act surprised that this has happened and wait for his comment.

[/size]You have nothing to lose.

[g5guzzi]

Thanks for the advice guys , I am surprised by the fact that there are no legal limits on thickness of brake pads , when my bike was serviced last year , I was told that the front pads were at the wear markers and were therefore illegal and needing changing so was I duped by the garage that serviced the bike .
[/quote
There is or was min thickness limits for motor cycle brake pads for mot purposes.In fact two limits one for sintered pads & one for non sintered. Both thicker than most makers wear limits.
 
malc

[BBROWN1664]

And another thing. It is entirely possible to destroy a set of pads in just a few miles if you drive like a loon. I used to get new pads fitted to a company Vauxhall Cavalier every 9000 miles. Not driven like a loon but it was given a hard time.

[rustyrider]

Your only possible comeback will depend on what service was carried out.  There will be a schedule of what should be done on different services at different intervals.  An interim service might be just change of oil and filters, whereas a more major service could possibly include removing the wheels to check the disc pads.  If they've stamped the book to say that a major service has been done, you need to find the schedule for the car.

This is the service schedule for my Range Rover and you'll see that item 12, checking brake pads, is only done on every other service.

[peejay]

Ha, Ha, Bob Davies, you'll be lucky. Most second hand car dealers refer to a service as oil and filter change. And unless you had your conditions in writing, you have no chance. Put it down to experience and move on.

[esetest]

I will get in touch with him , see what he has got to say for himself , see if he will meet me half way and contribute towards the bill, can't do any harm . There were no advisories on the Mot , he did stamp the major service - on the service schedule it says inspect brakes , but doesn't mention removing wheels . As for driving like a loon , my kid brother calls me driving miss daisy , the last Astra I had ,  I put 40000miles on it and never changed the pads .

[Dave48]

The guy is a muppet. There is no legal limit.
The wear markers on pads are for indication only and even then, unless you take the wheels off, you cannot see them.

You wont get anything from the dealer.

As the man says. Essentially its down to you (or whoever you get to SERVICE your car) to advise you on pad thickness etc. Some can be visually checked  without removing wheels. I don't service my car as Im too old to lie on the ground outside & my local friendly(and TRUSTWORTHY) garage has all the tools/ramps etc. Still do my bike though as I can work in the warm! Commiserations but chalk it up to experience-pads are much cheaper than discs as you found out the hard way.

[VNA - BMW Wank]

If the discs and pads can be easily seen they can be inspected as part of the MOT.
If not it's purely down to the brake test.

It's not unreasonable to expect a car to go from one service to the next without needing any consumable parts.  Things like brake disc and pad condition should be inspected as part of a service and the customer advised.

However if you are buying a used car from a dealer, most of em just want your cash and do as little as poss to the car.  If you ask for a service they'll just change the oil and stamp the book, many won't even bother with the oil filter.

If you take it in for a service, now that's different, they'll check everything they possibly can, find as much work as they possibly can, often including little scam jobs and charge you as much as possible.

Oh if you didn't drive too far once the metal hit the discs you might get away with just new pads, but if you've gone a good distance you'll need new discs as well as pads.

I certainly be back at that dealer trying to get it sorted, see how it goes but frankly loads of em just don't give a shit.