SVA wrong information again

[reptile]

Please get the facts right before spreadding rumours about the dredded SVA test, kit cars will never need to be tested every year once they have passed why not check the facts first with a call to the MOT before any damage is caused to the kit car industry with the wrong information.

To change the subject its gripe time.I have been involved in and attended over a dozen SVA tests with no great hardship, the hardest part about the test is paying £165 for what is at most 2 hours of friendly banter with the tester and a long MOT. Why is it so expencive when an MOT test is only £37 (recomended test time 40mins). Is it because of the advanced exspencive special equipment? (there is not much more than at your local MOT station), I don't belive it is that an SVA tester is paid more as the same guys MOT the trucks and cars that use the same test centres, It could not be that the department of transport have us over a barrel so they charge what they like! could this be true?
To top it all after paying your £165 you then move the car to another lane in the test centre and pay a futher £37 for the MOT test you will need to pass to register the car (new DVLA rule), then you need the DVLA to inspect the car and to pay a futher £25 to them to register it (plus road tax).
It would be nice to pay a fee and have it all done in one go by one person at one time as they all work for the same people US!!

[jaydee]

There WAS a proposal to introduce an SVA a year after the first test. This, of course, is not quite the same thing as a yearly test.
I'm glad you regard the SVA as two hours of friendly banter! Where did you have the test done ? Our inspector was a complete B*$tard, we were failed twice, first for "offensive projections"-namely Mini derived indicators ! and second for incorrect seatbelt ancorage points (odd that these were not even noted the first time.) Our attempts to meet his objections were dismissed as bodge engineering...
Having said all that I do think that the SVA makes a valuable contribution to car safety and is not to be "dreaded." How come you have been involved in a dozen SVAs? Do you have some industry involvement?
A friend is about to begin a Phantom GTR so no doubt my "bodge engineering" skills will be called upon again ! (Hopefully he won't get creamed by a Volvo in this car)

[reptile]

Most of the cars I have been involved with have been through helping mates as my cobra replica was one of the first (1999) to be tested in our area (Shropshire), so as a buddy and with nothing to build at the time I have got involved in helping others, I am getting to be a bit of an expert (has been drip under pressure)in the field. My advise for any body getting a car tested is let the tester earn his money, don't worry about failing as they allways seem to find somthing, fix the bits that fail and get the retest.
One of my mates took the whole week off work checking and re checking his car before the test and it still failed on stupid things, like the radius of a reflector lense and if the teaster angled his sphere and directed it upwards through a side vent hole it touched the chassis which did not have the correct radius, this all makes it a bit of a lottery but like you say at the end of the day the SVA is a good thing to help keep us all safe on the roads.


Edited by reptile on Tuesday 27th November 16:03

[chassis]

Hi,

I don't understand why you people fail your SVA.
Don't you follow the instruction books to the full?
If so, whay fail?
Or do you get rubbish books as instructions?
If so, can you please name the books that you followed and failed the SVA?

I have some questions regarding SVA:

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=23&h=&t=6182