The reminder arrived today, with info on the "new quick and easy service" (for which we're going to charge you £2.50 extra if you use your credit card.) So doesn't me doing it online save them money? I get a discount on my electricity and gas for online billing. Way to go, DVLA.
This isn't a new service, I used it about 5 months a go, and the surcharge is only if you use a CREDIT CARD like a Visa or Mastercard, if however you use a Debit card such as a Switch/Meastro (sp?) then there is no surcharge.
So on that basis shopping sites like Amazon and eBuyer should give me a discount if I use Maestro instead of Visa. Can't say I've noticed any that do. TV license renewed online is the same price, debit or credit. It's bad PR for DVLA (or anybody else) to show surcharges. They should re-word it as a discount for cash (or debit card) and fool me into thinking I've got something off.
No, every time a customer uses a credit charge the credit card company charges the company around 2% surcharge. It's become the norm for businesses usually to take the cost of these charges into the business, but they don't have to if they don't want to. If the DVLA didn't pass these surcharges onto the customer, then in effect, they would be actually giving you a discount (from their transactional end) rather than the contrary you are thinking of.
It wont be subsidised, the banks are not going to let a Govt agency get away with not paying bank charges theres way too much money involved. At work we pass those charges onto the customer, not by hiding it in teh price like some places but by having a bloody big sign on the wall basically saying banks are greedy buggers so we have to charge you if you use plastic, much like people used to pass paypal charges onto customers on ebay. Its amazing how many people pay cash when they see that and as we all know business's love cash.. its hidable
I believe J-Pepper is correct. Credit Card companies routinely charge businesses for credit transactions. There also are other costs associated with maintaining a credit card payment system, such as software licensing, that large companies can easily absorb. Amazon.com can maintain that kind of system cheaper than a government agency. Small companies often have to pass this cost to consumers in the form of a surcharge. -monkey
As someone that works with the DVLA on a daily basis, I'm surprised that they even know what the internet is, let alone allowing online renewals. They still use Windows 95 on some of their PCs and their IT support staff are one of the most incompetent bunch of twits (sic) I've ever had the misfortune to deal with, then again their partners on the PACT servicedesk (Fujitsu Services) make having root canal work seem like fun compared to trying to get a Printer added to their network.
