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I was casting my eye over a recent arrival at a local car yard recently, and noticed a considerable amount of moisture sitting in one headlight.
Mentioned it to salesperson and they brushed it off, showing me the shiny new WOF sticker from 8 days ago.
Question is; Should such a thing be a wof failure, and should I be wary moving forward?
If it had no moisture in it at wof inspection it passes.
Obviously. But said water was green with algae, suggesting it had been there a whileQuote:
Originally Posted by blip
Car salesmen are about as trustworthy as politicians/lawyers.
Don't touch it
I had a ute I bought partly on the strength of a VTNZ warrant a few years back, it turned out that the woman at VTNZ had a Mongrel Mob boyfriend who was selling wofs that she was stealing
Trust your instincts
I bought a Pajero many years ago, asked that it had a new WOF. 6 mths later and found it had bogged rust painted black, on the floor pan.
Car was no longer warrantable. Turns out mate of seller was in on it. He gave it the WOF, I complained to the controlling body and was told it was a civil matter. So a WOF is not worth the paper it’s written on. They approve garages to do them, it’s law to have one and they probably audit them. But get an arsehole and the authority walks away, won’t even take it up with the offender. Expensive experience!
I’d like to see the percentage of accidents caused by mechanical failure, $83.00 for a warrant on a 2019 Subaru Forester, with 32k on the clock. Took nearly an hour of my life to tell me there’s no problems.
What a great money spinner
https://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt....ting/headlamps
Get a look at the issuing org? Not that it will come to anything, NZTA are fucking useless.Quote:
9. A lamp is insecure, obscured, or contains dirt or moisture in the form of large droplets, runs or puddles.
10. A lens is missing, or has a hole, crack or other damage that allows moisture or dirt to enter.
Take for test drive,straight around to police station...show them,return wagon,yeah nah not interested. Should put a stoat in the chook house.
Or let them know your fears,both police and NZTA should be very hot on a dodgy wof. They got hard on them year or two back to stop this sort of thing.
Police don't give a shit about things like thatQuote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
They are normally pretty hot now on dodgy wof's both garages issuing them and nzta because its most garages bread and butter not worth the risk, also heard from local garage that wof's were going up aswell might have happened by now i would sayQuote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
Yep , should be a fail..
Theres no real way of proving anything. Did it even have that headlight in it for the wof check? Years back there was some guys out our way with a couple of old starlets one was good one had rusted out doors. They used to just swap the doors over for wofs. A wof is only good for the inspection after it leaves anything can be done to it simple as that.
Pengy don’t buy it. Maca, I will sign your petition to eliminate the requirement for a WoF on the basis that it is an unnecessary cost to common man as mechanical failures do not cause car accidents.
My father in-law reloms that WOF inspections (yes while needed) is one of the facilities in NZ that needs sorting out.
What one wof place will pass another will fail, or if you got first thing in the morning they will spend quality time onf the vehicle, turn up 30mins before closing time and they shift it through without hardly looking at it.
Also when it comes to rust... how do you measure it? One guy may says it's just surface rust when it could be rotten all the way through. Then it depends on how the wof guys are feeling on the day......!
Very common for groomers to get very enthusiastic using waterblaster and get water in orifices they shouldn't. We're constantly having to dry out lamps or wiring junction blocks.
Very likely the vehicle had a wof then went for Groom. Still not a good look when such a fault has been noted and they shrug it off. So many sales really dgaf unless they're counting your money though
Or like my old safari, put it into 4wd while in the que as i was bored - but forgot to unlock the auto hubs! Most even brake test the wof man had ever seen. Noted the new steering damper was loose, buggered if I know how that happened but replaced the nyloc nut and it stayed tight. Had to fail me on something, found the towball nut was rusty!!!! (It was rusty though, half gone).
Missus drove it over the Kaimais a few days later and turning back into the street we lived in the left front wheel fell off. Loose wheel nuts, right hand thread on the left side means the nuts got flicked off. I suspect she was a little heavy handed on the brakes... While repairing that little misfortune I realised the front left caliper was completely seized and not operating, seized to the point I had to get a replacement from the wreckers. Had a look at the other three calipers just because, front right was OK and rear right was OK too. Rear left was seized as well though! The brake test was even because the machine was only reading the right side calipers on both axles! Just by chance I had the front hubs locked across the diff and the rear was an LSD... Shows you how the wof brake test is though.
Truck was fresh on the yard and not been groomed for sale.Quote:
Originally Posted by cambo
Although the purely engineering / mechanically minded here may scoff, I assert that you can tell a large deal about a vehicle by the manner of the person who is trying to sell itQuote:
Originally Posted by Pengy
It also depends on the garage trying to "upsell repairs " if they are quiet and need work.
Shouldnt happen but it does.
I did a wof on a bog standard 4cyl commodre back when I was doing wofs. Next thing I know a guy from ltsa is here asking questions about a commodore that I put a wof on with a rough as v8 and 9 inch transplant. The handbrake cable had been cut and tried to join it with hose clips. Showed me and the boss some pics, we remembered the car and told the guy it didnt have that in it when it got the wof. So a wof is only as good as when the car just got issued it while its sitting there in the workshop. Anything can happen to it after it leaves. There was another one where they altered the structure after I issued one on another vehicle....
As @blip said. WOF only proves it was up to required standard at time of testing. It is still the owner/operators responsibility to ensure the vehicle continues meeting those standards. As a VI we cannot foresee what some shifty prick does to a vehicle after inspection like fitting different rims/oversized tyres, suspension mods etc. Over my time as a VI at a local garage we certainly didn't ‘manufacture’ faults to generate work, generally not a high income earner and usually had plenty of pre-booked work anyway. Certainly got a bit jaded seeing arseholes cheating the system after obtaining their WOF, it’s your signature on the paperwork if there’s a hiccup.