I was amazed when I first moved to England back in the 80's ... I wasn't aware that you could take your car to a garage and and get an MOT test and repairs done at the same time ... an alien concept for me and my new workmates were able to guide me to where the 'best' place was for a pass ... not a criticism of the system but there were definitely some dodgy cars on the roads ??? !!
Back home now in Northern Ireland and some of you will be aware that you can only book an appointment with a government test centre ... it runs like a production line, there are ten lanes in the one I go to and you have a fifteen minute window ... I prefer this system, very thorough, no hanging about and there doesn't appear to be any way to abuse the system ...