You get what you pay for, as they say. However, you also get what you charge for. Let’s take the MOT as an example. The mandated price is £54.80, but as we all know, there are very few garages that charge the full rate. They use it as loss-leader to get cars through the doors. If your MOT Tester has to fail a car, chances are the owner will give you the mandate to fix that car. They do not want the hassle of taking it away. Makes sense, right? There are a lot of garages in and around us in Colchester, and if you are patient, the price is only going one way, and it’s not up. We do not do discounted MOTs but if you start at our main site, turn right and keep going, it’s like Countdown until you get to £25. You have driven a couple of miles and the price has almost halved. Can you think of another product or service where that will happen? What does this say about the value of the MOT to motorists? What does it say about us as an industry? The last time the MOT price increased was in 2010. If you put the current price into the Bank of England's inflation calculator, it will tell you that the test should now cost around £80. The existing price does not take into account 13 years of wage increases, higher business rates, utility bills rising, and I don’t just mean the last 18 months. We are also expected to invest in our MOT Testing Stations, to be compliant with tools and equipment, and ultimately to keep up with the roll-out of connected equipment. Do you know why the price has not gone up? It is because the powers-that-be look at what we are doing in the industry, and they say “well, they're discounting the Test, and offering it for free in some instances, so why do we want to 12 AFTERMARKET NOVEMBER 2023 TECHNICAL www.aftermarketonline.net The owner of Top Garage 2022 and 2023’s multi-site winner shares his thoughts on MOT pricing impose additional cost on the consumer via a MOT price increase?” They don't need to deliver that bad news, because the industry is discounting the test, and devaluing it at the same time. This will affect road safety too ultimately, but at the end of the day, £54.80 for a full vehicle inspection to make sure it is safe is already a bargain. A plumber won't get out of his van for £54.80. How can we set up what is effectively a separate little workshop-wthin-a-workshop, fullyequipped and manned by specifically trained staff, to do this around eight times a day, for 30% under what it should cost? On the TV game show The Price is Right, the presenter’s catch phrase was “Come on down!” When it comes to the price of the MOT, we should be saying “come on up.” www.aftermarketonline.net BY Michael Shaikly, owner, Shaikly Motor Company THE PRICE IS RIGHT?
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