Just had my FL2 serviced and MOT'd.

It needed an "A" Service and he has done an oil change with oil filter renewal, an air filter change and a full engine service (whatever that entails).

She passed the MOT which I expected to pay c.£40 for and the whole thing cost £170 all in.

Just wanted to know if what has been done constitutes what I needed under the "A" Service and if the price sounds reasonable?

It would be a £40 MOT + £130 service so £170 all in. Seems reasonable but I only wanted the MOT so strangley seems more than I expected to shell out today lol!

He is a friend from the pub / rugby club so probably did me "mates rates" but wanted to check with you lot who are in the know...

very reasonable, less than half of dealer's price.

Iain

It does depend on what is in an A service. With the MOT done, almost everything in a standard service will be checked - plus more! Lights, wipers, tyres, exhaust system, steering and suspension joints, smoke test, headlamp alignment, brake efficiency, braking system, seat belts etc etc. Could be that you paid £130 for an oil, oil filter and air filter change.
A service at the same time as an mot is a very good earner for garages. Don't ask me how I know. Better value for you if you stagger them and then you get most safety items checked twice a year instead of just the once.

But apparently they wont check your flexible brake hoses for damage/ wear even though the service schedule says they should. Well at least that is the case for Stratstones in Aylesbury.

As a matter of interest how do they test brakes on an FL2 during MOT?

Depends on what equipment the tester has. If he has a 2 axle roller, he can do it on that, otherwise he needs to do a road test with a decelerometer. I have seen one testing station where they just drive the vehicle on to a large metal plate with sensors and just slam the brakes on and it tests all 4 wheels at once

Reviewing the dash cam footage from my last MoT the tester just drove the car out into the testing station's parking area, accelerated to about 10mph and hit the brakes - that was it, never left the test station.

I also noted that they left the engine (and thus the dashcam) running for the entire duration of the test - even while the car was up on the lift. About 40 minutes in total iirc. Is that normal?

Oh, and since the service afterwards revealed delaminated rear pads requiring new rear disks and pads it would appear to have passed the MoT with dodgy rear brakes. (Although the car did seem to stop OK regardless the garage had been asked to check them as they occasionally smelt and got hotter than they should have.)

I don't know if anyone can throw light on this but at a recent MOT I got the impression from what I overheard, that the tester had to log into a government database to say that he had started the test and had a certain time to complete and input the emissions data such that at any time an inspector could come in and check that vehicles were being tested there and then. In other words it is a real time test. Or was I mistaken?

thats correct. Each car has to be entered on the database while it is being tested and a MOT certificate cannot be printed until the prerequisite testing time has elapsed

Zuegma. Definately wrong there mate. There are no set times for mot tests. You could, in theory, log one on and issue a certificate the very next minute. Plus, I've never seen a twin axle brake tester - how would you test vehicles of different wheelbases? You just use 4WD mode and each wheel across an axle turns in the opposite direction instead of the same direction. Dorsetfreelander, there is no set time during the test to carry out an emission test although the most do it early on while the engine is still at working temperature. Apart from anything else, you do not enter the emission data anywhere!

I have had mine tested on a 4 wheel rig, granted it was not a rolling road but a plate tester and it tests the brake on all 4 wheel at once. I have seen a 4wd rolling road that can be adjusted for wheelbase, but think about it now I think it was just a dyno tester.

With regards to the MOT time, just quoting what my MOT tester told me last week when I was having my defender done. It was the last test of the day, so 2 of them were doing it, they finished it in around 35 minutes but they couldnt print the certificate off until the car had been looged on the DVLA system for 45 minutes

Two of them doing it? Very naughty - not allowed! The 'average' at my place is around 20 - 25 mins. Depends what sort of garage you had yours tested at I suppose - the staff may be protecting their jobs by taking it easy for 45 mins - if they can do it twice as quick, the guv'nor will only need half of them.

it was the boss doing the testing, he was quite keen to get away though as mine was the last car of the day. I know him quite well and if he could have done it quicker to get away 10 minutes earlier, he would have done.

To return to the OP, yes that's about all you get on an A service and compared with LR dealer that's a very good price. Only query - did he use Genuine parts and the correct oil? TVLR (who are very good value) charged me £81.00 for the parts alone and £106 for the labour. I seem to recall that other dealers charged a lot more!
Edit - VAT on top of that of course! Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
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Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.