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making car ready for Control Technique
I purchased a 7 year old car last year and my car needs to undergo control technique by next month.
I need your suggestions in finding a car service station in and around Brussels to make it control technique ready and if possible to take the car for doing the control technique.
Looking for your advices based on your personal experience and which is economical (most of them I find in internet are very expensive).
Thank you so much in advance
Make sure the car is serviced
Take it to the CT
Get everything fixed if it doesn't pass
Take it for a retest
Different people have different views on this, my personal view is that you should not take it to a garage before the test. If something is wrong, then it will fail. Then you have a very specific request that you can take to a garage and they will fix it.
If you just go to a garage and say - can you make my car ready to pass, they are almost by default going to suggest you change your brakes, get the steering and suspension checked, and parts have to be replaced, you need new front headlights etc. etc. The engine needs to be tuned as the CO and SO2 emissions are too high, maybe change the catalytic converter etc.
Unless you really trust your garage and know them well, I would NEVER go and ask them to get your car ready for a test.
Do you keep to the car service schedule in the log book? That's the sort of service I'm talking about.
All cars need to be serviced at least once a year, so if you've not serviced it, off you go.
My personal experience is that if you use main dealers for the car brand, you get the work done quickly and efficiently with a courtesy car if you need one. Going independent is not much cheaper and more hassle.
Do not get anyone to give the car a pre-CT check - they're a rip off.
I've been here 25 years and, for part of that time, run 2 cars so at least 35 visits to CT. I have never had the car pre-checked and, on the couple of times there has been a failure, I have known exactly what to ask for when I've had repairs done.
Do you really want to pay someone to walk round the car to check that the lights work and whether the wiper blades and tyres need replacing? And at least two hours at, say, €50/hour - plus VAT - to take the car to the CT centre.
Not the cheapest option , but some garages offer to go to the CT themselves , saves you the time and hassle of going yourself.
Maybe try to check the easy stuff yourself, i.e. lights come on, brakes not too soft, tyres have tread and are inflated to the right pressure. The CT will tell you what needs fixing. But if the car is only seven years old and has not done too many km, it should still be basically sound.
