20/04/2025
Sneak preview from one of our directors new book.
"Chapter 1: So You Took On a Garage... Now What?
Thereâs a good chance you didnât take on your garage with a five-year plan and a spreadsheet full of profit forecasts.
You probably took it on because:
You were good with cars.
You got fed up working for someone else.
Or, like me, you made a gut decision to do something that felt right, even if it didnât quite make sense on paper.
In my case, I was already running a car sales business when the local garage in our village was about to be turned into flats.
I didnât know exactly how I was going to fund it.
I just knew I had to do somethingâso I stepped in.
That decision nearly broke me.
Financially. Emotionally. Personally.
But I learnt more in three years of running that garage than I had in a decade of business.
This book is everything I wish I knew before I opened the shutter that first morning.
Itâs not a textbook. Itâs not a get-rich-quick guide.
Itâs a proper, grounded, no-fluff survival manual for anyone trying to run a garage without losing their headâor their house.
---
Itâs Not the Cars That Do Your Head In
Hereâs what most people donât realise: the actual fixing of cars is the easy bit.
What gets you is:
The constant interruptions
The suppliers sending the wrong parts
The customer who turns up late and still wants it done today
The paperwork
The invoices that never get paid
The staff drama
Running a garage in the UK isnât just about turning a spanner.
Itâs about balancing fifty plates while trying to finish a service, explain to Mrs Davies why her brakes have failed again, and still find time to eat a Tesco meal deal at 3:30pm.
---
Everyone Thinks Youâve Got It Easy
To the outside world, you're the boss. Youâve got your name on the front, a coffee machine in the office, and a diary full of bookings.
But hereâs what they donât see:
Youâre chasing parts at 8am and still replying to messages at 10pm.
Youâre pricing jobs on the fly while trying to figure out if thereâs enough left in the bank for payroll.
Youâre trying to be a business owner, a technician, a receptionist, and a bloody marriage counsellorâsometimes all in the same morning.
Itâs relentless.
And the worst part? Weâve normalised it.
We wear burnout like a badge of honour.
---
The Hard Truth: Busy Doesnât Mean Profitable
I learnt this the hard way.
Weâd be flying through jobs, running flat out every day, and somehowâstill not making money.
Why?
Because being busy doesnât equal being efficient.
A ÂŁ90 job that takes two hours, a returned part, a customer callback, and a rushed invoice isnât a ÂŁ90 job.
Itâs a ÂŁ20 headache.
Weâll cover a lot of this in detail later in the book, but the takeaway for now is this:
If you donât stop and fix your systems, your business will keep costing youâfinancially and mentally.
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This Book Is for the Blokes (and Birds) Still Showing Up
If youâve ever:
Had to take your gloves off six times in a morning just to check a spec
Eaten lunch standing up in the parts room
Wondered if youâd be better off back on the tools at someone elseâs garage
Thought about jacking it all in and flogging jet washes insteadâŚ
Youâre not alone.
This book is here to help you do it better.
Not perfect. Not fancy.
Just better.
Less chaos.
More profit.
More time for your family, your sanity, and the reason you started this in the first place.
So stick with it. Iâll share the mistakes I made, the near-misses, the worst days (and some hilarious ones), and most importantlyâthe simple systems that pulled me back from the edge.
Because you can run a great garage.
One thatâs not just survivingâbut thriving.
One that gives back more than it takes out of you.
Letâs crack on."
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