Editor’s comment 3 www.aftermarketonline.net SEPTEMBER 2025 Editor Chris Callander chris@aftermarket.co.uk +44 (0) 1732 671123 Head of Sales Angela Lyus angela@aftermarket.co.uk +44 (0) 7823 736 629 Managing Director Ryan Fuller ryan.fuller@dfamedia.co.uk Marketing Manager Hope Jepson hope.jepson@dfamedia.co.uk Production Design Anthony Wiffen production@aftermarket.co.uk +44 (0) 7851 612799 Finance Department accounts@dfamedia.co.uk +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Published by DFA Media Group 192 High Street Tonbridge Kent TN9 1BE +44 (0)1732 370340 ISSN 2516-9149 Aftermarket is published 10 times a year and is sent free of charge to applicants meeting the publisher’s criteria. All others may subscribe at £60 per anum, £120 Europe and £150 rest of the world. While every care is taken to provide accurate information, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or ommisions, no matter how caused. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher. The views of contributors do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Copyright: DFA Aftermarket Media Ltd 2026. Average net circulation July 2024 to June 2025 22,797 The unintended cost of a higher MOT fee I found an interesting perspective on the MOT pricing debate last week when I took my own car in for its annual test. My local garage was booked up, thanks in part to the demand hike in September, so I had to find an alternative. The garage I was able to secure a slot with discounted its MOT fee to £40; it was the first time I had used a garage that charged below the statutory maximum. Thankfully, my car sailed through, advisory-free, despite suggestions that some discounters make up the difference through additional work, and so when I picked it up I wanted to see what the owner’s view was on the pricing debate. He wasn’t interested in seeing an increase and was happy with charging what he did. To give some context, it was a good-sized independent with around 12 bays. The MOT work accounts for approximately 10% of the business’s turnover, and they are planning to add another MOT bay in the future, as they can accommodate more work. The garage is on the outskirts of a city, so it has local competition, unlike some more rural MOT stations. In fact, another unit offered MOTs just a few doors down. That was the owner’s main reason for offering a reduced price, he told me, to be competitive. But he said he made it work. He was happy with how he was operating; it was profitable, and he said he was happy for it to continue as it was. But it was his reason for thinking a fee increase might not be the silver bullet it is sometimes made out to be that really caught my attention. It raised an unintended consequence I hadn’t heard before. He’s convinced that if there is a hike in the fee, then it will be exploited by other retail businesses. His example was that one of the supermarket giants could open MOT centres and offer £40 food vouchers with every £80 MOT, something the independent MOT businesses simply wouldn’t be able to compete with. Is that likely to happen? I really don’t know. But supermarkets have a history of diversifying into everything from mobile phones to banking, so perhaps it isn’t such a huge stretch. Either way, it was a useful reminder that changing the MOT fee could have consequences beyond simply putting more money into the pockets of MOT stations. Like most things in this industry, the apparently simple solution might not be quite so simple after all. Chris Callander Editor
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