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Scania slams test fee hike
Page 18
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Manufacturers rebel against test fee hikes. Guy Sheppard reports.
A SCANIA sales boss is calling for the privatisation of HGV test stations to avoid further big hikes in test fees.
Tun Ward, director responsible for aftersales, says the latest increase of 10% above inflation is a huge extra cost for anyone providing repair and maintenance (R&M) contracts because it can't be passed on to customers.
In a letter to Maurice Newey. chief executive of the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA). he points out that the latest increase has forced up Scania's costs by £49.003.
"Currently, Scania in Britain operates circa 12.000 vehicles under contract and will need to absorb these increased levies as part of the existing customer contracts," he adds.
He says Newey is wrong to believe that most dealerships recover £50/hour for R&M work and argues that privatisation "would give greater flexibility to the transport industry and would alleviate the inspectorate of the heavy burden of investment".
A spokeswoman for VOSA says the privatisation of test stations has been considered and rejected by the government twice in the past 20 years.
"Fees rose quite a bit this year because we want to improve our estate of 91 test stations around the country,''she adds."The majority of them were built 30-odd years ago."
Ward says margins in dealer workshops are extremely tight: "Some of our southern depots get £45/hour but nationally we are recovering nearer £35. You have to remember that there could be another £50,000 on top of the £50,000 extra we are having to pay this year."
Both Mercedes-Benz and Daf say the hike, which was introduced in August, will not cause them a serious problem. But Tony Pain, Dal's marketing director adds: "I can't see any justification for test fees going up above inflation when other areas of the industry are being asked to contain higher costs within inflation levels."