How does your garage compare?
Drawing on honest answers from independent garage businesses, Andy asked the questions that rarely get asked out loud: what an hour really costs, what is holding the business back and when the owner last had a proper week off.
Email me the State of the Independent Garage report
Three numbers worth holding your own garage against.
The report is not a league table. It is a chance to compare what is happening inside your business with what other independent garages were willing to say anonymously.
- 62%
- cannot show what one workshop hour costsYet owners who had worked it out properly charged nearly £15 an hour more than those who had never calculated it.
- 35%
- say technicians are the biggest constraintOnly 3% said they did not have enough work. This is a capacity problem, not a demand problem.
- 57%
- are working harder for the same money or lessMore than half had not taken a full week away from the business in over a year.
What you will find inside.
Thirteen pages of plain-speaking findings, context and practical actions - not a polished version of the trade, but an honest one.
- The real cost of an hourWhy knowing the workings behind your cost of doing business changes the confidence to price properly.
- Prices versus valueWhy 84% raised rates, but only 51% believe their prices reflect what the work is worth.
- Capacity and techniciansWhat the staffing squeeze has to do with decades of underpricing workshop time.
- The business that cannot be leftOwner dependency, the missing week off and the uncomfortable difference between owning a business and owning a job.
- What owners asked when nobody prompted themStepping back, wellbeing, succession and the need to talk to someone who understands the job.
An honest snapshot, not a national census.
The 118 responses came from people connected to Andy through courses, social media, trade press and previous work.
That matters. This group is likely to be better informed about the business side than the trade as a whole – which makes some of the findings more worrying, not less. Every response was anonymous.
I asked because I wanted the honest answers, not the filtered ones.
Andy Savva
Read it. Then see where your own garage sits.
The report ends with five practical things Andy would tell you over a brew in your office.
Email me the report