my mot places have always adjusted the light beems or swapped a bulb or two, i know its probably not allowed nowadays but they do still do it,
lets face it , do you have a light beem set up machine in your shed ? or is the only place you know that has one is the mot station!
my last mot ...ok it was a re test but a late re test so had to be done as a full mot . the test man spent a full 30 mins showing me all around my car inside outside underside everything ... i learned loads about my car maintenance, mechanics, what to look out for dodgy repairs corrosion and general . how a car works.
it cost me 50.00 for the retest and ok it was late so was happy to pay but as the car had done 6 miles since he saw it for the first mot , it really only needed the failed bits cheaking. i think all this red tape with mot's is absolute crap... most mot places mould not have let a bad car through anyway
the dodgy ones still do dodgy ones even now with all the red tape, once again its honest joe who is loosing out !
i do however think you should be able to be shown around your car by someone like an mot station, lets say 50.00 pounds to show you your car the information you would learn would be invaluable.
with safety in mind you would learn maintenance how it works how to find faults etc you could save thousands later on
next time you have an mot, go to a smaller garage and make use of your right to view the mot . all stations have to have a place you can stand to view your mot, watch and learn. they might even talk to you and show you things about your car