Interesting Public Awarness News.......................

I don't profess to know what the correct answer to the problem is regards to mot pricing, but I know this;

1/ Its a specialised job that office workers can't do, and

2/ everybody wants to tell us what we can and should charge, but

3/ somebody has to foot the bills, and

4/ I am getting older and not getting a pay rise, while

5/ All these do guiders get good wages and pensions and in reality probably understand very little about our trade

However I do know what would standardise the trade no problem, and here it is;

Just get every AE in the Country to write to the local office with an attachment to Bristol saying that everyone has had enough and is giving in their authorisations in two months time

Panic will set in at Bristol and I guarantee that the fee will be standardised and nobody will discount and no free retests

And I will get a long awaited pay rise

AE's just need to grow some balls and do it.

Davidg 

Dec 23, 2013 10:57:45 GMT 1 David said:

Dec 21, 2013 23:51:05 GMT 1 davidg said:

I don't profess to know what the correct answer to the problem is regards to mot pricing, but I know this;

1/ Its a specialised job that office workers can't do, and

2/ everybody wants to tell us what we can and should charge, but

3/ somebody has to foot the bills, and

4/ I am getting older and not getting a pay rise, while

5/ All these do guiders get good wages and pensions and in reality probably understand very little about our trade

However I do know what would standardise the trade no problem, and here it is;

Just get every AE in the Country to write to the local office with an attachment to Bristol saying that everyone has had enough and is giving in their authorisations in two months time

Panic will set in at Bristol and I guarantee that the fee will be standardised and nobody will discount and no free retests

And I will get a long awaited pay rise

AE's just need to grow some balls and do it.

Davidg 

If (like you say you have), owned and ran an MOT Station you wouldn't of posted the above.

David I don't want to fall out over this but I am telling the truth. I had a Test Station on lease and if the landlord had not been a down and out rouge I would have still had the Station today.

As you should be fully aware when running a Test Station the full responsibility rests with the AE to ensure that VOSA's guidelines are followed, and you should also be aware that people come from all walks of life with differing personalities and understanding.

I had a bad run with some of my staff who were stealing off me and a bad landlord who was ringing vehicles and dealing drugs using his business as a false front next door to me. The police were round weekly in the last days and customers were dwindling down and so the point came when I said enough was enough and walked away.

Before all this started I was trying to be honest with people and do a good job for them, but money is a vital element in this and this is were I point the finger at AE's because it is completely down to the AE's as to what is charged for a test and retest. Now before I was in the scheme I used to use a local MOT station who always charged full fee, although he did not charge a retest fee I was none the wiser about right and wrong back in the day on this subject.

I spent 10 years taking my customers vehicles to this station for mots and retests, and like the public at large I believed what the NT told me had to be done when the vehicles failed the test, I never questioned his judgments ever, I just fixed the vehicles and took them back for retests.

I vaguely remember one visit to his station when he was testing a vehicle in before me and he popped his head up from under the pit and said to the customer, you don't want any work do you?

The customer said no, hence that vehicle passed and probably should not have, but hence I said "probably".

When I was authorised by the Department for Transport (Vehicle Inspectorate) back in the day when I initially attended the area office training school as was everybody there at that time, we were told you are here to compliment your skills that you all know and understand from the mot manual?

MOT Manual!!!!!

I had never ever seen the manual in reality in my life up to that point in time.

Now after being authorised to run a Test Station and starting to use the guide and manual I realised that I had a lot to learn, and I admit I am still learning. Comparison of decision making about what failed and passed an mot test was significantly different to what I was used to, the Test Station I used for 10 years was completing making his own rules up by the day to whatever suited him, but to the outsiders mechanics and the public would never pick up on this because the rules were not known outside of the Testing Scheme.

My local VE visited every six months on the dot without fail for about 7 years before he dropped off, and towards the latter end he visited me with a new VE where they both jumped head into the mot documentation and the new VE said and I quote, "isn't he good with the admin", the VE said don't tell him that, so I said why not and my VE then said that the majority of garages are not that good with the administration, where you seem to be very good with it. 

Now during my time as an AE/NT back in the day I more than likely viewed the scheme like you and Baz, because money is important in a business, and hence I was absolutely pi**ed off that I was being forced to cut price the tests and give free retests because my training as a manager back in the day quite easily proved how much test bay time was being wasted not being charged for, hence the mot trade for a very long time have set themselves up as a door mat to be walked over, which undermines the whole idea of being a professional mot testing station in my opinion.  

Now I could carryon but time is limited at this time so, to be continued maybe.........

Davidg