...and then spoils it all by trying too hard.
The BBC radio news this morning carried an item based on data from 'the consumer website Honest John', which revealed, amongst other things, that 20% of 2008 cars failed their first MoT.
So far, so shocking, you might think. But then he went and spoiled it by breaking the data down by manufacturer, revealing that 90% of Suzuki Splashes (not sure I know what that is) MoT'd for the first time in 2011 passed, whereas only 62% of Chrysler 300Cs did.
Not sure if it was HJ or the BBC that tried to extend this to say that certain manufacturers were best avoided - HJ's site does have a section on 'which first car to choose that's likely to pass the MoT' (!) - but the report went on to say that most failures were due to failed bulbs or defective wipers, hardly items the manufacturers can take the blame for.
In fact, HJ's site has a table of causes of failure - not just for first MoTs, where you'd expect major structural problems to make a smaller contribution - and over 60% are due to lights, brakes, tyres or windscreens; all maintenance items, for which the owner, not the manufacturer is responsible.
So, big news story turns out to be about nothing in particular? Who'd have thought it?
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