Motorbike MOT

[Baryonyx]

I've just booked my CG125 in for MOT. I was thinking, whilst I was on the phone, that testing bikes must be easy money.

The particular garage I've booked with (for the sake of convenience, there isn't a great deal of choice locally) always charges as much as they can for an MOT (IIRC VOSA prescribe the maximum cost). How long would it take to test a CG125, or any simple old motorbike, for that matter?

Moving parts are at a minimum. Tyres and lights can be checked in an instant, forks and springs also (is this just a visual check and a push up and down on the bike to check travel?). Onto the rollers for the brake test. Will they even do an exhaust gas test on such an archaic piece of machinery?

Seems like an easy few minutes work for my £50-odd.

[Fleegle]

Easy money perhaps, but what do you think pays for the rent of the premises, utility bills and business rates, the cost of purchase and to maintain the testing equipment, the cost of training the staff and of course the staffs wages.

I shouldn't think there is a lot left for profit

[trickywoo]

Baryonyx said:

I've just booked my CG125 in for MOT.

Seems like an easy few minutes work for my £50-odd.

Eh? They shouldn't be charging more than £30 https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/mot-test-fees

It is easy once you know what you are doing but you aren't going to get rich MOTing bikes.

Don't forget the 20% tax on any 'profit'.

[Baryonyx]

trickywoo said:

Eh? They shouldn't be charging more than £30 https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/mot-test-fees

It is easy once you know what you are doing but you aren't going to get rich MOTing bikes.

Don't forget the 20% tax on any 'profit'.

Ah, I hadn't realised the cost was different to that of a car.

[black-k1]

As said above, it should only be £30. (With no VAT). Even with a CG125 it'll be a 30 minute job including all the on-line updates the tester needs to do. A £60 per hour charge from a business is peanuts. I'd be surprised if they actually cover their costs. I expect most do it as a loss leader to get punters through the door to spend their money on other things.

[pozi]

I guarantee it will take precisely 37 minutes whether you like it or not because when MOTs went computerised VOSA told bike MOT stations that this was the national average and said anyone who was doing it faster must be cutting corners.

Ignoring the fact that they seem to have included car MOTs to generate this statistic.....

[obscene]

pozi said:

I guarantee it will take precisely 37 minutes whether you like it or not because when MOTs went computerised VOSA told bike MOT stations that this was the national average and said anyone who was doing it faster must be cutting corners.

Ignoring the fact that they seem to have included car MOTs to generate this statistic.....

This. My local place takes all of 10 minutes and then we have a good old chat about bikes for the next 25 while he's working on any cars which are about.

[anonymous-user]

Baryonyx said:

How long would it take to test a CG125, or any simple old motorbike, for that matter?

Tyres and lights can be checked in an instant, forks and springs also (is this just a visual check and a push up and down on the bike to check travel?).

Will they even do an exhaust gas test on such an archaic piece of machinery?

Three things you don't know that an MOT tester will.
I make that a tenner per item. Cheap.

[moanthebairns]

so.....lets just remember that the following has to be covered

Training
rent
bills
wages
equipment
insurance
holiday pay
sick pay
downtime

£30 isn't much at all considering.

Many car places service whilst doing the MOT to adjust their loss.

Even if you done 7 a day, 5 days a week, for 48 weeks a year it would be over just £50k

they make their money from failures.

[Baryonyx]

It seems much more reasonable now given the specified time limit of 37 mins and £30 fee - less than £1:hour.

I had thought I'd be charged £54 for 15 minutes work, but it seems there is a bit more at play. The place I used to take my cars charged £25 for an MOT in 2012, very reasonable. But too far away from me now to make it viable (and they made a hash of fixing the handbrake on my 106 Rallye).

[xstian]

I think most garages lose money on bike mot's. Which is why I suppose I'm finding it harder and harder to find places locally that still do them. It not like a car mot, where they can often generate a bit of work from it, I've only had a bike fail an mot twice and I still did the repairs myself.

[dapearson]

I used to take mine to Marshall Honda in Peterborough. They let me have one of their demo bikes for the whole day. I'd ride back on their VFR1200, 'blade or whatever, pay my £30 and ride home on my (worth about £1k) Fazer. I used to look forward to it!

No wonder they closed

[srob]

pozi said:

I guarantee it will take precisely 37 minutes whether you like it or not because when MOTs went computerised VOSA told bike MOT stations that this was the national average and said anyone who was doing it faster must be cutting corners.

Ignoring the fact that they seem to have included car MOTs to generate this statistic.....

And then imagine taking a bike with no suspension, no electrics (at all, no lights, battery, brake light), no rubber seals, a frame you can see the entirety of and too old to qualify for any emissions or noise tests.

It really was embarrassing taking a vintage bike for an MoT, they'd literally ask us if there's anything else to check and then we'd have to make small talk for half an hour and hand over 30 quid.

Luckily, no more

[croyde]

I'd have a look around. I get my Triumph MOT'd at a local Honda Scooter place. It's been £20 for years. They'll also service the Triumph for half what those lots at Metropolis charge and are a lot friendlier too.

[catso]

Baryonyx said:

Seems like an easy few minutes work for my £50-odd.

My local MOT place charges me £50 for two bikes (I take them down one after the other).

Apparently there is a VOSA prescribed time and they can not do it any quicker as it's on a timer, this is to stop dodgy places doing loads of tests in a short space of time.

One reason he charges me less is that my bikes are clean and everything works so the test is straightforward, rather than having to scrape several layers of st off the bike before he can even get to the bits that need checking.

[Andy XRV]

The garage on our trading estate does very nicely out of car and bike MOT's. Most of his customers pay cash which is also very nice. But to be fair to him though he does charge us mates rates and he's very helpful with off road bikes

[black-k1]

Baryonyx said:

It seems much more reasonable now given the specified time limit of 37 mins and £30 fee - less than £1:hour.

Maths your strong point then?