Driving test fee increases to €75

Permabear

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Busi_Girl08

*Slams head repeatedly off desk*

:mad::mad::mad:

Pretty dramatic increase, isn't it??!!
Jaysus...

NOTSURE

see i told you about a month ago and you didnt believe me!

robo

That is absolutely madness!!!
And even if the new price is nearer the EU average, they could have increased it a small amount rather than so much.

From the Herald

The cost of a taking a driving test is to increase as and from today.

The test fee for a car or motorcycle is up to €75, with the fee for a bus going up to €110.

Corresponding fees up till today had been €38 and €63.

Last year the driving test service was subsidised by the government by €22 million, but the Road Safety Authority say this is no longer sustainable.

Chief Executive of the RSA Noel Brett said the new fees compared favourably with EU averages

brian076

robo wrote: »

That is absolutely madness!!!
And even if the new price is nearer the EU average, they could have increased it a small amount rather than so much.

Given all the other increases we've had to endure today this announcement probably came at a bad time, but it was long overdue. €38 was too cheap and led to multiple applications, which in turn caused a huge problem with no shows and contributed to our backlogs.

Also, some people sitting the test over the next few weeks weren't even born the last time the fee was increased, it was 17 years ago so I don't think we can complain too much.

Simon Jester

Presumably the money collected will be used to hire more testers to clear the backlog.

Or am I being too optimistic?

Feachan

A bit off topic but I wonder if the site administrator would consider whether ads about "Free Licence no test" and other scam ads should be allowed in this forum. U do not think they should be accepted.

robo

I think the other reason why they have hiked the price is that there are so many people passing, there are not as many backlogs - haven't they come down?

brian076

robo wrote: »

I think the other reason why they have hiked the price is that there are so many people passing, there are not as many backlogs - haven't they come down?

That's got absolutely nothing to do with it. The reason the backlog came down was because 150+ extra testers were employed by SGS in 2008. The RSA projected that there would be 4800 applications per week in 2009, however so far to date there have been less than 3800 per week.
So there are just fewer people applying for the test.

Buffman

Thats not too bad given the prices some people are paying for lessons. It's more or less gone up from the cost of 1 hours instruction to 2 hours.

Should hopefully cut down a bit on no shows also.

Permabear

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Permabear

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Permabear

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TheElf

Feachan wrote: »

A bit off topic but I wonder if the site administrator would consider whether ads about "Free Licence no test" and other scam ads should be allowed in this forum. U do not think they should be accepted.

The ads' on here are from Google Adsense, they are all content relevant so the admin doesn't pick and choose which ones are shown, Google does.

Kenny_D

Bit pissed off with this as I failed my test on monday and tried to reapply online that day but was unable to due to some problem with their system not recognising my candidate number. Now I have to pay double the fee because of an error on their part

Cabaal

Given the driving test in Germany is over 100e and last time Ireland increased the fee's was 1992 I think we did ok, sure it sucks but it might get alot more people to take it more seriously.

This crap of not showing up or just not practicing properly before hand is just a waste of time

Permabear

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timmywex

Aparently the full cost of a test is €120, woo, cant even think how it costs that much!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0409/1224244282262.html

Permabear

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brian076

donegalfella wrote: »

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It's not really just based on the cost of the tester's time. I heard Noel Brett from the RSA on the radio yesterday and this question was put to him by Matt Cooper. In addition to paying their 150 testers (approx), they also have about 50 back-up staff in the office and about 50 Test Centres to operate.

But I fully agree with your last sentence, and I'm sure that if SGS had been given the contract to conduct Cat B tests, they could have done it for half the price.

Permabear

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Alun

TheElf wrote: »

The ads' on here are from Google Adsense, they are all content relevant so the admin doesn't pick and choose which ones are shown, Google does.

I'm sure the site admins would still be interested. They can bring these matters up with Google if they feel that ads are misleading, or worse still, illegal which these are.

The HelpDesk or Feedback forums (can never figure out which) are the appropriate place for this, or PM DeVore directly.

Permabear

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roosterman71

I think €75 is reasonable enough. After all its an investment in the future ain't it?

Permabear

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NOTSURE

while they might have put up the price of the test all overtime tests incl sat are cancelled in finglas from mid may to save money even though backlog is at rising all the time,bad management seems to be the order of the day in the rsa.

Buffman

NOTSURE wrote: »

while they might have put up the price of the test all overtime tests incl sat are cancelled in finglas from mid may to save money even though backlog is at rising all the time,bad management seems to be the order of the day in the rsa.

In the UK you can pay a bit extra and get an evening or weekend test. It would be nice to have the option here.

Simon Jester

donegalfella wrote: »

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Yes, but in the UK the longes waiting list is 6 weeks with an average of 2 weeks. I have been waiting 10 with a note from my prospective employer (who has incidentally now told me to <SNIP> off)

sdanseo

Feachan wrote: »

A bit off topic but I wonder if the site administrator would consider whether ads about "Free Licence no test" and other scam ads should be allowed in this forum. U do not think they should be accepted.

Get Firefox + Adblock Plus - or better, subscribe to boards and they disappear.

J_R

donegalfella wrote: »

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Yes they have, In "Adsense setup" they can block any sites they wish, under the heading "Competitive Ad Filter".

Unfortunately these sites keep changing the URL's they use in their advertisements which re-directs to their main site.

My advice would be to