It saddens me so much when I read of people who've experienced abuse from the garage trade. Makes me ashamed to be part of the trade which I earned my living in and tried, always, to give customers value for money and a good experience. There are known "bad eggs" around me but there are also some very good establishments. The problem is how you identify the good ones? It's very difficult if you're inexperienced and have no links to people in the trade. Personally I'd avoid anywhere offering cut price MOTs. They will be doing this to attract new business, possibly because they are not making enough (If I'm being cynical, maybe because their past customers are not returning?) The present suggested price for properly conducted MOT with the expensive equipment the garage has to buy, is probably about right to make it a decent business proposition. If you start discounting the profit quickly disappears so you need remedial work to generate profit and it becomes attractive to fail stuff which may be interpreted as "marginal" or push customers towards thinking Advisories should be done immediately on a "safety" footing. The other group of garages I've found to be trustworthy and competent is one which is specialising in a make or type of vehicle. Around me there's the wee Fiat garage, one which does Hondas, and three around the city who do VAG (Volkswagen Group, so VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT) There's also a Vauxhall specialist who I've used twice when my boy had the Astra. All of these are quite small setups with the owners working on the shop floor along with any others they employ and you can usually "talk to the man" if you need to. These types of workshop are relatively easy to identify and it's even better if you find someone, maybe at work or in the pub? who has had work done by them. When you try to widen your search base from that it becomes more difficult. Personally I pay almost no attention to internet reviews and I feel too nervous of internet booking with a provider I have no experience of. If someone asks me about a local place they are considering using and it's not one I know of - there are a lot of we "back street" workshops in most cities - I'll usually just say I don't know that one. I've learned that you can quickly become an unpopular person if you give poor advice. However if I find myself having to help, maybe because it's a friend of a relative or other significant person, then I'm lucky enough to be able to ask around the other motor trade people I know and, failing that, I would walk into the establishment asking about a repair, what it might cost and how long before they could do it. This gives me a good chance to take a good look at the condition of the workshop and what hardware they have. Pricing often gives me a good idea if they know what they are doing and also lets me, perhaps, pose a "what if this happens" type question. How long before they can take the car? Often, but not always, if they can take it "tomorrow" it's an indication that people are staying away, but you do need to be careful with that one - they may just have taken pity on you and are trying to help you out if it's a job that's not too complicated. I think there's nothing like a recommendation from a customer who regularly uses the same garage.
