Well, that's £296 I won't be spending on computer games.
I had its MOT test done, too. [Overseas readers: this is the annual roadworthy test that all vehicles over three years old have to take to be allowed on the public highway.] As part of some new government initiative to allow test centres to charge more money, there's a new VT32 Advisory Notice supplied by VOSA, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (the existence of which I was completely unaware of until I read the form). The professed purpose of this new document is to list things which are wrong with your vehicle, but not so wrong as it would fail the MOT standard.
Here's what it says for my car:
[Overseas readers: the silencer is what we call what some other countries call the muffler.]
OK, so the silencer is slightly deteriorated. That doesn't seem so bad.
However, also in the documents I got from the garage was its own Vehicle Visual Appraisal form, which is somewhat blunter in its assessment:
Crash Victim: Give it to me straight, doc. Is there (cough), is there much chance I'll come out of this alive?
Consultant: Your pulmonary system has part of the left lung slightly deteriorated.