Hi Sean
Firstly a point about MOT charges which you may find enlightning.
If you were to spend 1 hour dianosing a car fault,which say was alternator,for which customer paid.Then he took car away to fit his self,then bought car back for you to spend another hour to re-check that he fitted it right and every thing worked, would you do that free of charge?
The same applies to MOT testing
We used to charge £39 but after going live now charge £44,Also from 1st Feb we will be charging £44 for re-test if taken away.trade the same.
Sounds harsh,but we cannot afford to give away labour,and so busy dont need too.
I know that some traders near us charge £25 for pre MOT and there customers are pleased to pay it plus all costs at MOT station.
We do about 150 MOTs a month which is £6600,pays alot of the overheads.We started doing them about 6 years ago and no regrets.
You can now lease a MOT package over say 5 years from a company like Partco at good rates,but you need to look round as many to choose from,Saw add from Crypton today for gas/smoke blue tooth and free service/calibrations for 5 years for around £30/wk
Training is free from VOSA
Getting every thing up and running can be bit of headache but well worth it
HTH
Tony