IVA test day!

So tuesday the 27th was the big day, after about a 4 week wait from sending off my paper work it was time to head to the test station, the car was taken to Birmingham VOSA, i had booked an AM appointment, should there be any problems i might have allowed me time to rectify any problems there and then if possible.

To save the hassle of driving the car up to the test station, i managed to borrow a van and trailer off a friend of mine, i didnt want to have any problems on the way up there and not be able to make my appointment. the car was loaded up the night before and at 6 am that morning we headed off to the test center, we were going to arrive mega early so a steady drive was taken up there. the test center was very easy to find, it was even well sign posted off the motorway.

Once we arrived at the test center, the car was unloaded out side, and the opportunity was taken to give the car a warm up around the the industrial estate, and my god did it sound good, roaring down the little road with high industrial units for the sound to echo around, barking at passers by.

with the car now nicely warmed up it was time to head into the test station, as i headed round the building and parked up waiting for the tester to arrive.

My testers name was Paul, he was very polite and explained every thing that he was doing during the test.

test took about 2 hours to complete including a break, every thing seemed to go well,
every thing was checked over for projections, sharp edges, etc, the car was put onto the ramps and checked every thing underneath, he commented on how tidy the installation was, and how every thing was very neat and tidy. the speedo was checked for true speed indication, and we then moved onto the brake test, where every thing was good.
afterwards it was time to go outside to give the car a test run, make sure the mirrors were all in order and steering self centered, after this it was onto the noise test, to which the car stuck out 95db so just within the limit at the 3/4 engine power, but on the overrun the pop of the exhaust took this 104db, but he over looked that.

once that had been completed the test was over and he went in to do some weight calculations for the braking and issue me with the fail certificate.

Double bogs dollocks!

Paul had informed me during the emissions test the the car was running a little on the rich side, as the car had produced 11.2% on the co2 emissions, where the tested limit is 3.5%. seems we might still have a slight over fulling issue......

Apart from that the car sailed through with no problems, so it was back into the trailer and we headed for home, disappointed in one way, but happy in others.

Remember when going to the IVA test, the best way to think is, expect to fail, and a pass is a bonus.