PARAGON - COVENTRY, WE

I had the misfortune to buy a car from auction that Jeff Donely from ‘Paragon’ had MOT'd three weeks previously, i can only assume that Mr Donely had been poked in the eye with a sharp stick on the day of the test, the car had done 280 miles on the new MOT and i can only assume it had been towed for 278 of them, I attempted to drive it the 5 mile from the auction to home with a burnt out clutch and I had to stop twice to let it cool down, when I eventually got home the car deposited most of the power steering fluid on my driveway, when I topped it up I found it was leaking badly from the O/S rack gaiter. I checked the MOT history online and found it had an advisory on the steering rack leak the year before but Mr Donely never noticed it this time around, the car should have failed on this alone:
2.3.1b Power steering components leaking
Mr Donely gave an advisory on the N/S rear tyre saying it was close to the legal limit, I checked it, as did ATS and Quickit and they confirmed the tyre depth was less than 1mm on the central ¾ width of the tyre and as such should have failed a MOT, the guy at ATS also noticed the alloy wheel was buckled and advised me to change it as soon as possible, I then examined the other wheels and found another wheel that was distorted, the car should have failed on both these:
2. Spin the wheels and look for buckling and eccentricity.
The maximum allowable rim distortion limits are as follows
Lateral (ie run out or buckling)
(a) For steel rims 4mm
(b) For aluminium alloy rims 2mm (cast or fabricated)
The front brake discs were also well past their sell by date and as well as having a 3mm lip on both discs were both scored, Mr Donely never even gave an advisory, once again fail:
Examine all the mechanical components of the brakes which can be seen without dismantling, looking particularly for: I. An excessively scored, excessively pitted
or excessively worn brake disc.
Mr Donely did fail the car on this:
Reason(s) for refusal to issue Certificate
Offside Front Lower sill to floor Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.3)
Offside Inner Front Lower floor Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.3)
A 9 inch steel plate was welded to the O/S sill so Mr Donely passed the car, unfortunately his encounter with the sharp stick rendered him unable to spot the other 40 inches of the sill which had been attacked by the ‘tin worm’.
All in all, if you’re not too bothered about your safety or you’re selling the vehicle on take your car to ‘Paragon’, if you’re buying a car in Coventry check to see if it has a ‘Paragon’ MOT then you’d better have a good look round it or look at something else.

Bruce Kain

Jeff Donely operates a very smooth MOT station. The whole atmosphere is very relaxed and helpful. Minor problems can be dealt with whilst on site enabling a clean MOT with little or no hassle whatsoever. Great people offering good service and advice always.
Returned many times to a great reception from all involved within the business.
Steve.