Shaun Spooner Autos

18/10/2026

Soo here’s one that threw me a curveball this week, new shape Range Rover Sport L461 2023 with an issue where the customer couldn’t gain access to the drivers door and a whole heap of electrical issues all over the car. I quickly traced the issue to a faulty drivers door module and got it swapped out for a new part that has now been replaced with a different part number that in turn prompted me to update the software in the 3 remaining door modules…. Straightforward really and all door modules updated but then when it came to carrying out the immobilisation process the process decided it needed to update the body control module and this is the bit that stopped me in my tracks, a body control module update now requires SERMI login because it’s part of the security system.So I had to stop the job and fill out the required paperwork and get the customer to bring in their driving license and v5 logbook and get them to sign the paperwork to allow me to continue the job. The following day we finally managed to login and complete the job and get the vehicle back home to the very happy customer. Now fortunately we are a fully certified workshop and we have SERMI access but it did get me wondering how many other workshops will get in trouble when they are part way through a job and then this issue pops up and potentially screws the programming session right up ?

11/10/2026

Such a cool looking car just looking perfect sat in the middle of a field 😍

08/10/2026

Wheel alignment machine is down again folks sorry… spent the thick end of £2000 to fix this last month and it’s dead again and awaiting another engineer visit so we won’t be able to do any alignment jobs for a bit so apologies.

06/10/2026

So in response to the earlier question about the Range Rover the answer is that it is a 50th anniversary model one of 1970 vehicles produced to celebrate the year the original Range Rover was launched with a special paint called Tuscan Blue that was a svo option that harked back to one of the original Range Rover launch colours. So now you know 😀

06/10/2026

L405 Range Rovers from this angle just look so hot but who can tell me what’s special about the teal coloured one in the background? IYKYK.

29/09/2026

Hence the reason we have had to drop our mot slots down to 4 a day, the current test fee does not cover the cost to keep the bay open and unlike other outfits I’m not trying to fail everything on tyres and brakes to make the money back somewhere else.

🕰️ SIXTEEN YEARS. That is how long the Class 4 statutory MOT fee cap has remained frozen at £54.85.

To put that into perspective, the last time Whitehall adjusted the cap, April 2010:
• Connected workshop equipment wasn’t mandatory.
• Roughly 5 million fewer high-voltage platforms were on the road in 2010.
• Commercial energy, business rates, and technician wages were a fraction of today's figures.

Officials from the Independent Garage Association (IGA) met directly with the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to present member-backed evidence warning that testing bays have reached a financial breaking point.

Based on the Government’s own inflation projections, true cumulative inflation would place the equivalent test price at £120.64 by 2029.

When general diagnostics, servicing, and mechanical repairs generate significantly higher hourly labour returns, committing an entire bay and a qualified tester to a capped £54.85 slot makes less commercial sense by the day.

Yet last year alone, testing stations uncovered 2.55 million dangerous defects, from catastrophic tyre failures to severely corroded brake pipes.

The test remains a critical pillar of UK road safety, but expecting workshops to absorb rising costs indefinitely threatens the resilience of that entire network.

Workshop owners and testers: If the fee cap isn't reviewed soon, are you considering reducing your allocated MOT slots or handing back your testing authorisation entirely? Have your say below.

📲 Download the FREE Garage Matters App for the full analysis.

10/09/2026

A beautiful Discovery Sport in today for its first service using genuine parts to the manufacturer service schedule and all updated to the online service history portal. This maintains the manufacturer warranty and keeps this vehicle exactly as it should be 👌🏻

04/09/2026

So we have closed early today as we are off to the Land Rover Owner show over at Belvior Castle for the weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend and I’m sure we will catch up with a few familiar faces at the show.

27/08/2026

😍😍 absolutely stunning L460 Range Rover in today for genuine Land Rover fixed side steps fitted. The new to us customer initially enquired about us fitting some cheapo aftermarket side steps he had seen for sale but after we spoke a little I managed to make him realise the benefits of using genuine parts to keep this beautiful vehicle as original as possible and get the benefit of accessories that will actually perform for many years to come.

06/08/2026

Very true, most people don’t realise some of the death traps they are driving or really give a monkeys as they know the mot will just cost them some money. But even lots of garages don’t help this situation by discounting the mot fee but making up the short fall by failing items that don’t need failing, it’s about time the DVSA made the test a set fee so everyone has to charge the same and also bring this inline with costs of running a modern vehicle workshop !!