How to get more customers to your garage

1. 1Remind every MOT and service customer before they're due.
2. 2Make your Google profile and website show what you do, your prices and how to book.
3. 3Ask for a Google review after every job.
4. 4Win fleet and local business accounts for regular weekday work.
5. 5Answer every booking call, including when you're under a car.

An MOT brings every car owner to a garage once a year. GOV.UK says drivers can get an MOT up to a month (minus a day) before it runs out and keep the same renewal date. That window is your marketing window.

DVSA also runs a free MOT reminder service: drivers in Great Britain can sign up for a text or email one month before a car's MOT is due. It reminds them to get an MOT, not to come to you, so your own reminder should arrive first and make booking with you easy.

• Record the MOT expiry date for every car you see. You can check it on the MOT history service.
• Send a reminder five or six weeks before the due date, with a booking link or number.
• Follow up anyone who hasn't booked about two weeks before.
• Offer the service on the same visit, so one reminder fills more of the day.

If a reminder also promotes your services, treat it as marketing. Under the ICO's electronic marketing rules, texts and emails to individuals need consent or the soft opt-in for existing customers, with a clear way to opt out in every message.

Yes. DVSA sets a maximum fee, not a fixed one: GOV.UK lists a maximum of £54.85 for a car, with no VAT on the fee. Many garages use the MOT price to bring in customers, but make sure the advert is accurate about what's included, and price any repairs fairly and clearly.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, what you tell a customer about the price can become part of the contract, and if no price is agreed they only have to pay a reasonable price. The Motor Ombudsman's Service and Repair Code says accredited garages give estimates in writing, agreed before work starts, and contact the customer for authorisation before any extra work. Following that is good marketing in itself: customers come back to garages that don't surprise them.

Most drivers look for a garage on Google and choose from the map. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Ask every customer when they collect their car, with a review link or QR code at the desk or in your invoice text. Never offer a discount for a review, and don't ask only the happy ones: Google's policy and the CMA's fake reviews guidance both rule that out. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews has the full rules. It's written for plumbers, but they're the same for garages.

Keep your Google Business Profile complete: the services you offer, with MOT and service prices, opening hours, photos of your workshop and team, and a way to book. Reply to reviews, especially bad ones, briefly and factually.

Fleet and business work fills weekdays and smooths out quiet months. Local businesses that run a few cars or vans, such as trades, delivery firms, care agencies and estate agents, often want one garage they can trust.

• List the businesses within a few miles that run vehicles, and find the person who manages them.
• Offer what they need most: quick turnaround, collection and delivery if you can, MOT and service tracking for every vehicle, and one monthly invoice.
• Agree prices in writing: your labour rate, menu prices and when you'll call for approval before extra work.
• Set credit terms. For late payment between businesses, GOV.UK says you can charge statutory interest of 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, unless your contract sets a different rate. Put your terms in writing from the start.

Your labour rate has to work for account customers too. Our guide to garage labour rates shows how to set it from your costs.

• Put menu prices for common jobs on your website and Google profile: MOT, interim and full service, brake pads and diagnostics.
• Offer seasonal checks before winter and before the summer holidays to existing customers who've agreed to hear from you.
• Partner with local workplaces, schools and gyms whose staff drive.
• Specialise where you have the skills: a make, hybrids and electric cars, or classics.
• Show real work, with short explanations, in photos on your profile and social media, with the customer's permission.
• Ask every new customer how they found you, and do more of what works.

Garage phones ring when everyone is under a car or out on a road test. A driver with a warning light on, or an MOT due next week, rings the next garage if you don't answer.

• Answer or pick up every call during opening hours, including lunchtime.
• Book the MOT or service on the first call where you can.
• Take the registration, so you can check the MOT history and what's due before the car arrives.
• Ring back missed new numbers as soon as you can.

To put a number on it, use our missed call calculator. An example with made-up figures: 6 missed booking calls a week, half of which would have booked, at an average invoice of £180, is £540 a week, or £28,080 a year. Our guide on how to stop missing business calls covers the practical fixes.