Advice for independent garage owners

Things worth knowing.

Straight-talking advice on running a garage business, from someone who ran one.

Pricing and profit

What should your labour rate actually be?

Work it out from your own costs, not from the garage down the road. Here's the sum, and what to do with the answer.

Andy Savva · 12 September 2026

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Pricing and profit

Busy and profitable are not the same thing. How to tell which one you are.

Team and recruitment

Why they leave, and what it really costs you to replace them.

Pricing and profit

One of them is quietly costing you money. Here's the difference that matters.

Running the business

Three numbers, and the one that actually keeps the doors open.

Running the business

You need both, but only one of them scales. Building a garage that runs without you.

Customers

What customers actually judge you on — and it isn't the spanner work.

Marketing

The race to the bottom, and how to step out of it.

One straight-talking email a month, with the best of it.