Mot charged to much. AA

Were_Doomed

AdrianC said:

Were_Doomed said:

AdrianC said:

Were_Doomed said:

One does wonder how they can make a profit though, given that the test fee itself is >£35.

The test fee is a maximum of £55, 0% VAT. Any garage is free to charge less if they wish.

The government don't take any cut from the test fee? (A quick search doesn't throw up any relevant results to this question). If not then I accept that it's a purely commercial decision by the provider, albeit with a mandated maximum charge.

DVSA charge garages for test slots - but tests are zero vat, if that's what you mean.

Sort of yes, but also sort of no. How much do DVSA charge for the slots? That'll set the bar as to how profitable £35 might be.

AdrianC

Were_Doomed said:

AdrianC said:

DVSA charge garages for test slots - but tests are zero vat, if that's what you mean.

Sort of yes, but also sort of no. How much do DVSA charge for the slots? That'll set the bar as to how profitable £35 might be.

£205 per hundred in 2014, so about two quid per slot.
https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/using-direct-debit-to-make-slot-payments/

A test should take about 45min, all in. So a bit under £45/hr.

But, of course, that doesn't factor in the AA's commission or fees, and the costs of collection and drop-off...

dogshome

The AA is sinking under a mountain of debt, grasping every penny it can get.it's hands on

It used to be a Mutual owned by it's customers, (My wife was a customer when it became a company and got a worthwhile pay-out)

Since then it has had at least 4 owners to my count, each of which used borrowings for the Buy-out price and then loaded the debt onto the AA.

It's been up for sale for about 3 months with no takers - I wonder why

lopsyfa

Sunseteyes said:

Hi, I went through the AA To get my mot, they have taken over £600.00 to pass my car. When I went to pick my car up. I was told  the garage quoted the AA £280.00!.  Why can they charge twice the garage price and can I do anything about it? 

The rest is for admin/profit and as already mentioned the price may not be available to  you going direct. Next time, just go direct.

AdrianC

dogshome said:

The AA is sinking under a mountain of debt, grasping every penny it can get.it's hands on

It used to be a Mutual owned by it's customers, (My wife was a customer when it became a company and got a worthwhile pay-out)

Since then it has had at least 4 owners to my count, each of which used borrowings for the Buy-out price and then loaded the debt onto the AA.

It's been up for sale for about 3 months with no takers - I wonder why

It isn't "up for sale" any more than any other public limited company - it is trading on the LSE, and has been since 2014.

While it was a private limited company, between 1999 and 2014, it had two owners - Centrica until 2007, then jointly between two venture capital companies (CVC and Permira), who merged it with Saga as Acromas Holdings. They were demerged when they were both listed.

As for "sinking" - £257m operating profit in FY19-20, up 17% on FY18-19, off revenue of £995m, up 2%, EBITDA of £350m, +3%, doesn't look horrible to me...

moneysavinghero

Were_Doomed said:

Worked for me today too. Same result ... £35 for the MOT only (including collection/delivery) and specified the choice of test centres.

One does wonder how they can make a profit though, given that the test fee itself is >£35.

Maybe by finding £280 worth of work that needs doing and charging £600 for it.

Car_54

AdrianC said:

dogshome said:

The AA is sinking under a mountain of debt, grasping every penny it can get.it's hands on

It used to be a Mutual owned by it's customers, (My wife was a customer when it became a company and got a worthwhile pay-out)

Since then it has had at least 4 owners to my count, each of which used borrowings for the Buy-out price and then loaded the debt onto the AA.

It's been up for sale for about 3 months with no takers - I wonder why

It isn't "up for sale" any more than any other public limited company - it is trading on the LSE, and has been since 2014.

While it was a private limited company, between 1999 and 2014, it had two owners - Centrica until 2007, then jointly between two venture capital companies (CVC and Permira), who merged it with Saga as Acromas Holdings. They were demerged when they were both listed.

As for "sinking" - £257m operating profit in FY19-20, up 17% on FY18-19, off revenue of £995m, up 2%, EBITDA of £350m, +3%, doesn't look horrible to me...

It may not have a "For sale" sign up, but it has been reported to be in talks with three potential buyers. The P & L may be healthy, but the need to sell is driven by debts of £2.65 million.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/04/aa-bought-by-private-equity-group-debt-shares-takeover

AdrianC

Car_54 said:

AdrianC said:

dogshome said:

The AA is sinking under a mountain of debt, grasping every penny it can get.it's hands on

It used to be a Mutual owned by it's customers, (My wife was a customer when it became a company and got a worthwhile pay-out)

Since then it has had at least 4 owners to my count, each of which used borrowings for the Buy-out price and then loaded the debt onto the AA.

It's been up for sale for about 3 months with no takers - I wonder why

It isn't "up for sale" any more than any other public limited company - it is trading on the LSE, and has been since 2014.

While it was a private limited company, between 1999 and 2014, it had two owners - Centrica until 2007, then jointly between two venture capital companies (CVC and Permira), who merged it with Saga as Acromas Holdings. They were demerged when they were both listed.

As for "sinking" - £257m operating profit in FY19-20, up 17% on FY18-19, off revenue of £995m, up 2%, EBITDA of £350m, +3%, doesn't look horrible to me...

It may not have a "For sale" sign up, but it has been reported to be in talks with three potential buyers. The P & L may be healthy, but the need to sell is driven by debts of £2.65 million.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/04/aa-bought-by-private-equity-group-debt-shares-takeover

£2.65bn - stated in that article as down from £3bn in 2014 at flotation...

Were_Doomed

Car_54 said:

AdrianC said:

dogshome said:

The AA is sinking under a mountain of debt, grasping every penny it can get.it's hands on

It used to be a Mutual owned by it's customers, (My wife was a customer when it became a company and got a worthwhile pay-out)

Since then it has had at least 4 owners to my count, each of which used borrowings for the Buy-out price and then loaded the debt onto the AA.

It's been up for sale for about 3 months with no takers - I wonder why

It isn't "up for sale" any more than any other public limited company - it is trading on the LSE, and has been since 2014.

While it was a private limited company, between 1999 and 2014, it had two owners - Centrica until 2007, then jointly between two venture capital companies (CVC and Permira), who merged it with Saga as Acromas Holdings. They were demerged when they were both listed.

As for "sinking" - £257m operating profit in FY19-20, up 17% on FY18-19, off revenue of £995m, up 2%, EBITDA of £350m, +3%, doesn't look horrible to me...

It may not have a "For sale" sign up, but it has been reported to be in talks with three potential buyers. The P & L may be healthy, but the need to sell is driven by debts of £2.65 million.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/04/aa-bought-by-private-equity-group-debt-shares-takeover

I thought that must be a typo so I checked the linked article ... debts of 2.65 billion! (Debts of 2.65 million on revenue of 995 million is a pittance).