To be absolutely spitting tacks about this

I had my car fail an MOT due to what they said was a bad oil leak. I hadn't seen any oil on my drive so I didn't believe them. When I took the car to a different garage, it passed the MOT no problems. Obviously the mature woman syndrome again!

It's not just women who get "done" by garages. Men who know nothing about cars do, too, and they're the majority of men! It is at least a defence against this sort of thing to read the car manual and know what you can do between services - from tyre pressures to checking oil/water/antifreeze. Which the OP undoubtedly does.

Grinding noises in the passenger side area tend to be wheel bearings - I'm surprised, if the brake shoes/fluid etc are so worn down that the OP didn't associate it with noises when she braked. Worn brake shoes often make it hard to move the car as they slip.

It would be interesting to know when the car was last serviced/MOT'd. If I were the OP and the MOT report didn't indicate any of this (eg no warning notes about low brake fluid, worn shoes needing replacement shortly etc) to go back to the original garage with the second garage's findings and try to negotiate a lower price for repairs given they didn't spot it.

Funny noises can be very difficult to pin down, the last time my little Polo had one it turned out to be a road chipping wedged in the brakes, it took them half a day to find it.
They did change the pads while they had it in bits and charged me £200.

I would be highly suspicious of the garage who said springs were broken and brakes useless

Chewbacca
My DH says you MUST ask the garage who are fixing the problem to keep the parts they remove......
a) So that you can see for yourself the condition that the parts were in, and also know exactly what they've replaced.
b) You can then take the worn parts to the original garage, demand to see the service manager, and let him see the extent of the wear/damage that they intimated was your imagination!
Make sure you do this, it'll do two things, keep the garage who are doing the work on their toes, and let the service manager of the first garage know his mechanics aren't doing what they're paid for!

Brakes tend to make a grinding sound, is that what you heard? Also springs rarely go bad unless you are hitting giant holes in the road. Also if your brake fluid were empty you would know it because your braking power would be obviously hindered. I think the 2nd garage is pulling your leg not the first one.
Do you have a friend that knows anything about cars to take a look. If not try this....
Look inside the wheel when the car is COLD not after it's been drive and look at the brake discs are they worn down? Put your finger on the edge of the disc do you feel a "lip" on the edge of it? That lip will get deeper as the disc is worn down.
To check your springs, lean down on the front of the car and push down with all your weight then let go real fast does the front of the car bounce wildly, if not your suspension (coils, shocks, struts) are fine.
Remember this...a garage is never going to not want to work on your car. I am betting pounds to dollars your first garage is being honest your 2nd garage might not be so honest. But I am guessing totally on this!
But whatever you do, as per one posters advice please don't post bad things about either garage until you KNOW what's going on.

I've recently had the same problem with a garage I've been to for a long time because they used to be brilliant - even with women! - and are Vauxhall dealers. (Is it all Vauxhalls?). Over the last couple of months it's broken down twice and they've said they can't find a problem even though both pick up truck drivers mentioned the same fault. Travel around here always includes a motorway journey so I was still, obviously, worried. The local garage checked, concurred with the pick up drivers, and fitted a new part for £400 less than the dealers. It's now running beautifully. Never again, Vauxhall!

I have heard of garages showing a client parts from another car when asking to see what's been replaced.

I have a Corsa too, bought from new 6 years ago, so I always take it back to the main dealer for servicing otherwise the lifetime warranty would be invalidated if Vauxhall approved parts are not used. If you are not the first owner though, the lifetime warranty won't apply.

To be honest if your car has been serviced annually at a reputable garage, as you state it has been regularly maintained, it shouldn't have got into that state in less than a year with low mileage use!

The car was MOT'd this time last year and so I was due to take it in for this year's MOT, service and the faults to be found and repaired anyway. Garage #1 said that the "funny noise" I could hear was simply "road noise" and they'd checked the wheel bearings and could find nothing wrong with them. That's when I asked if it could be the brakes that were beginning to go,but I was given very short shrift on that and was told to"make my mind up. Is it wheel bearkngnoise or brake noise". Not being a car mechanic myself, I couldn't give a sensible answer. That's when I took umbrage and found garage #2.

Garage #2 showed me the faulty parts when I went to pick the car up last night and I took DS with me because it would appear that a male presence is required before a garage will listen to me these days. I've also got a printed MOT certificate that shows what the car failed on before they started work on it and they were:
Both coil springs
Brake pads
Brake discs

As for hearing the noise of wearing brakes when driving; I agree, I did hear a grinding noise and did tell garage #1 that the noise I could hear was like metal on metal. But they said that was "road noise".

All in all, I'm hacked off that a bunch of men have dismissed me, probably because of my age and because I made the fatal error of going into a garage without a man with me to add credibility to my claims. End result is that I've spent weeks driving GC around in a car with failing brakes and springs. (Coil springs probably damaged by the appalling holes in roads around these parts).

I'm still stewing on what I'm going to do next 're garage #1.

The cost isn't bad considering the work need. I paid £220 for brake shoes to be replaced whilst on holiday in July. (brakes started to scream at me). Difficult situation, which garage is being honest but considering you were aware of the noise, would guess the last one. AA does car inspections but they may be expensive. If you still want to keep your car you wi have to pay. Have you considered replacing with something newer. The cost of repairs could go to a deposit. Put the "could have happened" thought behind you, they didn't happen. Shame the garage on FB.

Whatever you decide to do, do please be very careful if you decide to mention them on Facebook or Trustpilot. One of my friends landed herself in the soup with an action for libel because she expressed herself too freely about poor service.

By and large all craftsmen tend to tell women that there is nothing wrong , not only mechanics. I would invite the mechanic out for a drive in the car the next time, so he can hear the noise you are complaining about..

It once took me three months lugging an electric typewriter to and fro the repair man before the carriage started juddering in the way I had complained of, while he was working on it, whereupon he triumphantly informed me that the fault was something completely different than what he had assumed. I replied that if he had listened to what I had told him, he would long before have realised what the problem was.

I was young, mini-skirted and relatively attractive at the time, so I don't think age comes into it. Some men never credit a woman with the sense to know what is actually wrong with a piece of machinery.

If the MOT is due why not put it through that to see what turns up then you'll know which of the two garages is right! If the car fails you get a second test once you've had it fixed (I think).

You could also ask locally for garage recommendations. Where does it get serviced? surely they should notice if something's not right or showing signs of wear?

what a disgrace the first lot were Chewy!
I would write|email to let them know what happened and how useless they are.

When you move to a new area, I can't think of anything more pressing than finding a garage/mechanic whose opinion you trust.
Sadly now with so many of us retired it's harder (I always used to ask colleagues at work to recommend plumbers, gas fitters etc).

I really would write a strongly worded etter to your local trading standards office, normally at County Council level, hand ask them to investigate both garages.

Your local authority will have an MOT station where they test their fleet vehicles. They also will offer MOTs for the public.

Because they do not carry out repairs, they have no vested interest in "finding" work that needs to be done. If they say it needs to be done - it will need to be done.

Unfortunately, they don't do servicing, but I always go there at MOT time, because I am so suspicious that garages will see a woman and then see ££££. My own fault for being so clueless about everything mechanical

I think I agree with other posters when they suggest getting another impartial opinion.

HurdyGurdy's reply is spot on!!
My family have been in the motor trade for over 50 years and having MOT done at your local authority garage is the best recommendation.
They MOT taxis etc and do regular maintenance tests on public service vehicles, as well as general MOT for members of the public and have no vested interest in looking for unnecessary work.

OP go round to garage *1 (with your helpful male if neccessary) with the report from garage *2. Ask them politely why they missed all this after all your visits. Tell them politely that they could have ruined your car and worse allowed you to drive when the car was dangerous.

That's all you can do. But if you have a local Facebook website, without running into libel etc, make sure if anyone asks where to take their car, you recommend garage *2.

Can you leave it at garage 1, and have them put it through the MOT, then surely, if theres a problem with the brake pads and springs it will be obvious then, as it would be a definite fail. Where I am from , you take your car to a totally impartial MOT centre, they don't do anything other than inspect the car and if it fails, they tell you why, and it's up to the driver to find their own garage to carry out the repairs . We don't have garages that carry out MOT's so it's totally unbiased .