The Independent Garage Association (IGA) has secured a meeting with the Department for Transport to press its case for raising MOT test fees, calling it a significant breakthrough in a campaign that matters to trade body professionals as a test of whether sustained advocacy can move a fee frozen for fifteen years. No financial terms apply, as this is a policy engagement rather than a transaction.

IGA is the UK's largest and most prominent trade body representing independent garages, operating under the Retail Motor Industry Federation with more than 3,000 member businesses. As a trade association, it does not publish commercial financials.

The current MOT fee cap for class 4 vehicles has remained at £54.85 since 2010. The DVSA has already raised fees for buses, coaches, HGVs and trailers this year while holding the cap on cars and smaller vehicles.

The campaign reflects a structural cost squeeze on independent garages rather than a routine fee review.

Cumulative UK inflation since 2010 stands at around 58 per cent, meaning garages are absorbing significantly higher costs while charging the same regulated fee for a legally mandated test, according to InflationTool. Testing complexity has also risen, with electric and hybrid vehicles requiring specialist diagnostic equipment and training that did not exist when the cap was set.

For IGA, securing government talks converts a long running campaign into a formal negotiation, giving its members a direct channel on an issue it says undermines the financial viability of MOT testing. For the Department for Transport, the DVSA's recent fee rises for buses, coaches and HGVs create a precedent that will be difficult to justify withholding from smaller vehicle classes indefinitely.

A frozen fee against a fifteen year run of inflation is the kind of gap that tends to close eventually, either through a negotiated rise or a gradual thinning of the independent testing network as marginal operators drop out.

Whether the department moves before that attrition accelerates will shape how much of the MOT testing market independent garages retain against manufacturer franchised networks.

Source: Car Dealer Magazine / InflationTool