Are the Government mad, deluded – or just ignorant of how garages actually work?

December 23, 2025

There is a growing assumption in government circles that garages are happy to absorb additional, non-core checks – such as stand-alone mileage verification – because “it only takes a few minutes”.

That assumption is wrong.

A garage is not a call centre where work can be paused and resumed without cost. It is a tightly scheduled, high-throughput operation built around productive technician time and constrained resources such as MOT bays.

If a customer arrives and requests a mileage check, the reality is this: a technician has to stop what they are doing, leave a productive job, locate the vehicle, move it into an MOT bay, carry out the check, enter the data, produce or register the result, return the vehicle, liaise with reception, and then mentally and physically re-engage with the original job. That interruption typically takes 15–20 minutes, and the productivity loss is greater than the clocked time because of workflow disruption and context switching.

For an independent garage billing £110 per hour, that interruption costs £30–£40 in lost capacity. Once bay disruption and admin spillover are included, the real cost is closer to £45–£60 per check.

Now consider a main dealer or prestige operation where technician charge-out rates are £180–£200 per hour. The same interruption costs £60–£70 in lost productive time alone. Expecting that to be delivered for “a few pounds” is commercially unrealistic.

The issue is not whether garages are willing to help. The issue is that unfunded mandates quietly transfer cost and risk from the state to private businesses.

If additional checks are required, they must either be fully integrated into existing processes, removed from the workshop environment altogether, or priced honestly to reflect the true cost of delivery.

Anything else is not policy. It is wishful thinking.