Question 1

How do I make a booking?

Accepted Answer

Choose a garage, tick the work you need & click “Book Now”
Select a suitable date for your booking. You can change this using the calendar icon in the box.
Enter your full name, email address & contact number into the relevant boxes. This gives the garage the ability to contact you before and during the appointment.
Enter any comments, notes or problems you would like to make the garage aware of. Please add as much detail as possible to help them fix your problem.
Accept our Terms and Conditions, tick the reCAPTCHA box and complete the booking.
We email you a confirmation email of your booking to the email address you provide.

Question 2

Why Do You Need My Vehicle Registration?

Accepted Answer

We need your vehicle registration as all prices shown are specific to your exact vehicle. It also helps us to match you with relevant SecretService dealerships in your area and ensure we only show garages that can service your make and model of car.

Question 3

Why Do You Need My Postcode?

Accepted Answer

Providing your postcode allows us to find your position in the UK and provide instant prices from all the garages within a certain radius of your location. You can tailor the search radius to your needs.

We don’t ask for exact address information unless you need the garage to provide vehicle collection and delivery or a customer drop-off service.

Question 4

Can I book a garage the same day?

Accepted Answer

Some garages offer same-day availability, but it may be rare in your area. To find a garage for the same day, adjust your “Available Before” date to the current date and see which options are available.

If you don’t see any results, we recommend expanding your search radius as far as you’re willing to travel to find a garage that offers a same-day booking.

Question 5

How far in advance am I able to make a booking?

Accepted Answer

We allow you to make a booking up to a year in advance. For example, this allows you to book this year’s and next year’s MOT at the same time to avoid forgetting the date.

Question 6

Do I pay anything upfront?

Accepted Answer

We never ask for payment details. You always pay the garage directly and you always pay the price quoted on BookMyGarage unless you’ve given the garage permission to carry out extra repairs after completing your initial booking.

You only ever pay for your booking once the work has been completed. If you’ve made multiple bookings, or book a follow-up appointment directly with the garage, you’ll pay for that work once it has been completed as well. There are no customer booking fees to pay either.

Question 7

How Do I Choose a Time For My Booking?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer the option of selecting a certain time for most of our garages as we don’t have access to their diaries. Once you’ve chosen a suitable date, they will contact you to confirm a time.

Certain SecretService dealerships have given us access to their diary, so we’re able to provide specific time slots for these branches. However, these may not be available in your area.

Question 8

How Do I Compare Garages?

Accepted Answer

To compare prices from garages in your area, enter your vehicle registration, postcode and select the service(s) you want to book.

Once you’ve clicked “Compare Prices Instantly”, you’ll see a full list of garages near you including their prices, availability, distance and more.

Question 9

How Do I Add or Change Products As Part of My Booking?

Accepted Answer

If the default product is not what you’re looking for, you can click the down arrow within the product selection box on the booking tool and select/de-select products as appropriate.

If you wish to add additional products or change your booked product from the directory results page, ticking/un-ticking the boxes will automatically update the available garages and the prices shown.

Question 10

How Do I Use Search Filters?

Accepted Answer

All our search filters are available on the left-hand side of the results screen on desktop, or behind the 3 lines “hamburger menu” on mobile.

To change the distance, simply click the down arrow on the drop-down and expand/shrink the radius of your search. The larger the radius, the more garages you will see.

To change the date, click on the calendar iconon the drop-down and select the date you need an appointment before.

You can view more garages by clicking on the “View More” button at the bottom of the results page.

If you want to add or change the products you’re comparing, just tick the relevant boxes on the left-hand side. This will automatically update the prices shown and remove any garages from the results that don’t offer the selected products.

Question 11

How Do I Change the Order the Results Are Shown In?

Accepted Answer

We default our search results to sort by reviews to help you find a garage based on the recommendations of other local drivers. If you wish to compare garages by price, distance, availability or in alphabetical order, click the drop-down in the top right corner of the results page which says “Reviews” and select the option you need.

You can click the down arrownext to this box to flip the results (i.e. reviews low to high instead of the default high to low)

Question 12

How Do I Change My Vehicle?

Accepted Answer

To edit the vehicle registration that the prices are shown for, click the pencil icon in the top-right corner of the “Your Vehicle” box. This will return you to the booking tool and allow you to enter a different reg.

Question 13

How Do I Edit My Postcode?

Accepted Answer

To edit your postcode, click on the box marked “From” that displays the postcode you originally entered. Delete the old postcode, enter the new one and click the blue button with the magnifying glass icon to update the results.

Question 14

Can I See the Garages on a Map?

Accepted Answer

If you want to see the garage results on a map view, click the checkpoint on a map icon next to the “Sort By” bar in the top-right corner. This will display a map of the local area and allow you to see where each garage is in relation to the postcode you’ve just entered.

If you find your perfect garage in the map view, you can complete the booking as normal without having to revert to the results list.

Question 15

How Are Prices Calculated?

Accepted Answer

Our garages set their own prices, so they represent fair and accurate pricing for the local area. If you’re looking to book a car service, every price is specific to your exact vehicle and is calculated against the same service schedule and checks. This allows you to compare every garage ‘like-for-like’ to ensure you book the best deal.

Our brake pads, brake discs and clutch replacement prices are priced according to the garage’s hourly labour costs and your vehicle’s make and model.

Question 16

How Do I Change the Date of My Booking?

Accepted Answer

Once you’ve made your booking, you can change the date right up until the day of the appointment.

Click the “View and Amend Booking” button in your BookMyGarage confirmation email. This will take you to your booking confirmation page.
Select “Edit My Booking” and change the date to something more suitable for you.

If you’ve booked an MOT, ensure that the new date falls before your expiry date, otherwise you won’t be able to drive the car in the days between.

Question 17

What Should I Do If I Am Ill or Need to Self-Isolate On the Day of My Booking?

Accepted Answer

If you’ve selected vehicle collection and delivery with your booking, you don’t need to worry. The booking can still go ahead as the garage will turn up to collect your car and drop it back without you having to leave home. You may wish to let the garage know that you’re ill and leave your keys in a safe place they can access to reduce contact with the technician.

If someone else is insured to drive your vehicle and you have not selected vehicle collection and delivery, we recommend that they drive to the garage, if possible, to keep the original appointment. They can also explain the situation and ask if the garage can drop the car back if that would be more convenient.

If you’re unable to make your original appointment, we always recommend rescheduling the work with the garage. Contact them on the morning of your booking and explain the situation. They may be able to arrange vehicle collection and delivery at short notice or rebook your car for another day when you feel better so that the work can still be completed.

Question 18

How Do I Cancel My Booking?

Accepted Answer

If you don’t want to amend your booking, here’s how you can cancel:

Click the 'View and Amend Booking' button in your BookMyGarage confirmation email. This will take you to the booking confirmation page.
Click “Cancel Booking” which will automatically remove your booking from our system and alert the garage that you’ve done so.

We’ll ask you to provide a reason for your cancellation in order to help us improve our service.

Question 19

What Happens If the Garage Contacts Me and Says They Are Unable to Fulfil My Booking?

Accepted Answer

We ask that all our garages provide us with accurate availability, so rest assured that this is uncommon.

In the unlikely event that the garage can’t fulfil your booking and you can’t reach a suitable resolution with them (whereby they will not reschedule your booking) please contact us on 0330 124 5662 or at info@bookmygarage.com with the details of your situation. We’ll contact the garage as quickly as possible to find out why they refused to accept your booking and why they would not provide a solution.

We’ll also offer to find you another local garage and do everything we can to get you booked in with them as quickly as possible

Question 20

I’m Worried the Garage Won’t Honour My Booking

Accepted Answer

Although it is rare for a garage to refuse a booking, we strongly recommend that you contact them before your appointment date, especially if they haven’t contacted you directly. If they don’t honour your booking, please contact us on 0330 124 5662 or email us at info@bookmygarage.com to report the issue. We’ll help you find another garage that will honour your booking and get an appointment sorted for you as soon as possible.

We’ll take up your complaint with the original garage to find out what the issue was. We would also like to apologise for the situation you have found yourself in. We pride ourselves on delivering a smooth and stress-free experience to every driver, so are naturally disappointed when these things happen, and won’t keep a garage listed if they continue to let drivers down.

Question 21

The Garage Has No Knowledge Of My Booking

Accepted Answer

We apologise for this frustrating situation. We work hard to prevent this and always send a confirmation email of every booking made to the garage. We ask them to contact you directly to confirm the appointment and are sorry that there has been an error with this process. We also check whether garages have opened the booking email and phone up any that haven’t to ensure they are aware of your appointment.

Please contact us on 0330 124 5662 or at info@bookmygarage.com to provide the exact details of your situation so we can contact the garage and find out what’s gone wrong. We’ll do all we can to find you another garage and get you booked in as quickly as possible so that you can still get the work done.

Question 22

The Garage Has Cancelled My Booking

Accepted Answer

We’re deeply disappointed that this has happened to you and would like to apologise for any stress or inconvenience caused. If the garage has not contacted you to explain why they cancelled your booking and offered to rebook the appointment, please contact us on 0330 124 5662 or at info@bookmygarage.com. We’ll get you booked into another garage as soon as possible and then contact the original garage you booked with to find out what went wrong.

We pride ourselves on helping UK drivers find local garages that they can trust, so we’ll do all we can to resolve your situation as quickly as possible. We remove garages from our listings that we feel are letting drivers down.

Question 23

The Garage Wasn’t Open

Accepted Answer

We’re disappointed when situations like this arise and would like to apologise for the stress and inconvenience caused by the garage not being open. We expect our garages to contact you if they cannot fulfil the booking as garages list their own opening hours and update their listing if there are any changes or planned closures.

Please contact us on 0330 124 5662 or at info@bookmygarage.com to provide us with the details of your situation so that we can contact the garage directly and find out what has happened. We’ll also do everything we can to book you into another garage at short notice so that you still get the necessary work completed on your car.

Question 24

Why Has the Garage Charged Me More Than the Price Listed on BookMyGarage?

Accepted Answer

If you didn’t ask the garage to use specialist oil when you made your booking but subsequently asked for it, or requested extra services with the garage directly, this may explain the difference in price.

If you didn’t ask for either of these things, and the garage has still overcharged you for your BookMyGarage booking, we apologise for the discrepancy. This is extremely rare as we require all of our listed garages to provide accurate prices and update them regularly, so we’re disappointed that this error has occurred. We pride ourselves on displaying transparent prices that you can trust, so apologise for the stress and inconvenience caused by this situation.

If the garage will not honour the original price stated on BookMyGarage, please contact us on 0330 124 5662 or email us at info@bookmygarage.com to provide more details. We’ll then contact the garage directly and find out why you were overcharged and how they plan to resolve the situation. We’ll do everything we can to provide a satisfactory resolution for you and ensure that the garage updates their prices on our system if needed going forwards.

Question 25

I’m Not Satisfied With the Service I Have Received; What Should I Do?

Accepted Answer

We apologise if you feel you’ve received an unsatisfactory service from a garage you booked through BookMyGarage. We pride ourselves on connecting UK drivers with quality garages they can trust and are disappointed that the garage hasn’t met your expectations.

In this instance, we first recommend that you contact the garage to discuss your complaint and try to resolve the situation between you. If you’re unable to do so, please contact us on 0330 124 5662 or at info@bookmygarage.com to explain the situation and why the garage hasn’t managed to resolve the issue to your satisfaction. We’ll then contact the garage directly and do all we can to find a solution that works for you.

If you choose to leave a bad review on BookMyGarage for your chosen garage, we may contact you for additional details. This will allow us to contact the garage to find out what they plan to do to resolve the situation for you. All customer reviews are published, but we do give our garages a window in which they can try to resolve your issue.

Question 26

How Do I Find Out More Information About a Certain Garage?

Accepted Answer

If you’re viewing the garage’s standard listing, you can click the “About” tab to find out more information. You can also click the “Reviews” tab to read what other drivers say about them, the “Prices” tab to view how much their services cost and “Dates” to see when they’re available for you to book an appointment.

If you’re viewing the garage on the map, you can click on the “More Info” button. This will direct you to their garage detail page where all the above information can be viewed in one place.

Question 27

How Can I View the Opening Times of a Garage?

Accepted Answer

A garage’s opening times can be found on the “About” tab on the directory listing or on their garage detail page. If you’re comparing prices in the map view, click on the “More Info” to access this.

Question 28

How Do I Book a Garage For a Specific Day?

Accepted Answer

To book a garage for a specific day, click on the “Dates” tab of their directory listing to see if they have availability on the day you need. Once you’ve compared garages and found the best one available on this day, you can complete your booking as normal and select the date you need on the checkout page.

Question 29

What is Vehicle Collection and Delivery?

Accepted Answer

Vehicle collection and delivery is a convenient way of getting your car to and from the garage without having to take it there yourself. It is an added extra offered by many garages on our comparison site to make your life easier. Some garages offer this free of charge, others charge a small fee for their time.

On the day of your appointment, a technician will arrive at a pre-agreed time to collect your car. If necessary, they will confirm any details about your booking and take your car to the garage. Once your booking is completed and paid for, they will return your car to the same address. This is usually either your home or place of work.

Question 30

How Do I Add Collection and Delivery to My Booking?

Accepted Answer

To add this service to your booking, remember to select it from the price list on your chosen garage’s listing. You can also add collection and delivery as a search filter so that it’s pre-ticked - this also ensures that your results only show garages that offer collection & delivery.

Question 31

Why Can I Not Select Vehicle Collection and Delivery As Part of My Booking?

Accepted Answer

Most garages only offer vehicle collection and delivery when you book a service, with the exception of a few garages that also offer it for MOT only bookings. You can only select collection & delivery on the garages that offer it and you must be within a certain radius of the garage to be eligible (this radius varies by garage but is usually about 10 miles).

If you cannot book collection and delivery with your chosen garage, check that you meet all of the above criteria. If not, you may have to choose another garage where you are eligible for collection and delivery.

Question 32

Can I Have My Vehicle Collected From One Address and Returned To Another?

Accepted Answer

Currently, we cannot offer the ability to book vehicle collection and delivery in this way. We recommend liaising with your chosen garage to find out if they’re able to return your car to a different address than the one they collected it from either on or before the day of your appointment.

Question 33

I Need My Vehicle Collected But I Can Get to the Garage to Pick it Up; Can I Still Book Collection and Delivery?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you’re still eligible for collection and delivery. We would recommend leaving the garage a note when you book your appointment that explains that you only need this service one way. We also recommend that you confirm this with them on the day of your appointment. This helps avoid confusion and makes your booking as smooth and stress-free as possible.

Question 34

What is a Customer Drop-Off?

Accepted Answer

A customer drop-off service allows you to take your car into the garage and still have a convenient way to get home or to your place of work. A technician will drop you off at the specified address in one of their vehicles.

Please note that not all garages offer this service, their lead times may be increased if you choose this service and it does not cover getting back to the garage to pick your car up.

Question 35

How Do I Add Customer Drop-Off to My Booking?

Accepted Answer

You can add customer drop-off as an extra from the price list of eligible garages during the normal booking process. You can also select it as a search filter option to only see garages that offer this service and have it added to your booking automatically.

Question 36

What is the Loan Car Option?

Accepted Answer

Some garages on BookMyGarage can provide you with a loan car while your vehicle is in their workshop. This will remove the stress of keeping your life moving without a car.

Please note that not all garages offer this additional service, their lead times may be increased if you choose this service and eligibility requirements may apply.

Question 37

How Do I Request a Loan Car?

Accepted Answer

You can select a loan car from the price list of eligible garages during the booking process. You can also select it as a search filter option to only see garages that offer this service and have the service automatically added to your booking.

Question 38

Why Can’t I Add a Loan Car or Customer Drop Off to My Booking?

Accepted Answer

Loan cars & customer drop off are usually only available when you book a service, and not every garage on our comparison site offers this service.

If you can’t book a loan car with your chosen garage, check that you have selected one that offers this service and that you meet the above criteria. If not, either choose a different garage or try adding one of the products that make you eligible for a loan car.

Question 39

How Can I See Which Garages Offer These Services?

Accepted Answer

You can select customer drop-off, loan car and vehicle collection and delivery as search filter options to only show garages near you that offer these services. Simply tick the box on the left-hand filter bar. The results will update automatically once you change your filter options.

Question 40

What is SecretService™?

Accepted Answer

A SecretService™ is a service and/or MOT at a main dealer for your 3+-year-old-vehicle that costs less than booking direct.

Question 41

Why Can’t I See the Name of the SecretService™ Garage I Want to Book With?

Accepted Answer

To avoid any preconceptions about the main dealer you are booking with, we hide their identity until after you have made the booking. You will always see a generic identity such as “SecretService™ Southampton” until you complete the booking. After that, we’ll provide you with the actual name and full address of the dealership.

Question 42

Why Can’t I See the Garage’s Location on the Map?

Accepted Answer

We keep the garage’s exact location a secret until after you complete your booking to keep their identity completely hidden. Once you have completed the booking, we provide you with the exact location as well as any other necessary details about their identity.

Question 43

Where Can I Find More Information About SecretService™?

Accepted Answer

If you’d like to learn more about what SecretService™ is and how it benefits you, please click the “SecretService™” tab in the navigation bar. This will direct you to our SecretService™ homepage which will go into more detail and answer many of your questions.

Question 44

Where Can I Leave a Review For the Garage?

Accepted Answer

You can leave a review for the garage both on BookMyGarage and on Google. To leave a Google review for the garage, search for their name, click on “See Google Reviews” on their information bar on the right-hand side of the screen and then click “Write a Review”.

We’ll invite you to review the garage on BookMyGarage after your appointment date.

Question 45

When Will I Receive an Email Inviting Me to Leave a Review?

Accepted Answer

You’ll receive an email inviting you to review the garage 24 hours after your appointment date. This will be sent to the same email address you provided during the booking process.

Question 46

How Do I Leave a Review For the Garage on BookMyGarage?

Accepted Answer

Once you click on “Leave a Review” within the email we sent, you’ll be directed to the review page on BookMyGarage.

We ask you to rate the garage out of 5 stars for Communication, Value, Quality of Work and Timekeeping and then provide a title and any other details you wish to leave within the body of the review.

Question 47

How Do I Leave a Review for BookMyGarage (The Comparison Site Itself)?

Accepted Answer

If you had a positive experience using our comparison site, you can either leave us a Google or Trustpilot review to inform other drivers about the service we provide.

To review BookMyGarage on Google, search for us by name and click on “See Google Reviews” on our information bar on the right-hand side of the screen. From there, you can click “Write a Review” and follow the on-screen instructions to post your review.

To review BookMyGarage on Trustpilot, head to Trustpilot.com and search for BookMyGarage. Then, click the “Write a Review” text and follow the on-screen instructions to post your review.

Question 48

Why Can’t I See My Review on the Garage’s Listing?

Accepted Answer

We pride ourselves on offering unfiltered reviews and ratings for every garage, so we never suppress a bad review. However, we often give the garage two weeks to respond to your review and try and resolve the issue. If you leave a bad review on our system, you may not see it until this window has passed. We and/or the garage may contact you in the interim.

Question 49

How Do I Create a BookMyGarage Account?

Accepted Answer

To create a BookMyGarage account, click “Login” on the navigation bar and then “Sign up here”. We’ll ask you to provide an email address, create a password and complete a reCAPTCHA form to create your account. Once you have done so, click “Sign Up” and follow any further onscreen instructions.

Question 50

How Do I Opt Into Marketing Emails?

Accepted Answer

You can opt into marketing emails on the booking checkout page when you complete a booking. Just tick the box labelled “Please tick if you’d like us to email you with information about our services and special offers”.

To sign-up for our email newsletter, enter your email address on our blog homepage. You can find this by clicking “Blog” in the navigation bar.

Question 51

How Do I Opt-Out of Marketing Emails?

Accepted Answer

You can opt-out of marketing emails from your BookMyGarage account or from any marketing email you’ve received from us.

To opt-out through your BookMyGarage account, navigate to the settings page and click “Email Preferences”. Uncheck the emails you no longer wish to receive and click “Update”.

To opt-out through any marketing email, click the “Unsubscribe” button and check “Yes” on the following screen. We ask you to provide a reason for unsubscribing to help us improve our service.

Question 52

How Do I Delete My BookMyGarage Account?

Accepted Answer

To delete your BookMyGarage account, navigate to the settings page and click “Delete My Account”. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process.

Question 53

Do You Send MOT Reminder Emails?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we do send MOT reminder emails. We always send a “Duty of Care” reminder email if you have previously booked with us but you can also sign up for MOT reminder emails through our MOT Date Checker page.

Enter your vehicle reg and click “Check Now” to find out your MOT expiry date. If your MOT is not due imminently, we offer the ability to subscribe to our free reminder service that will alert you 1 month before your expiry date so that you don’t miss it.

Question 54

Do All Prices Include VAT?

Accepted Answer

Yes, all prices displayed on BookMyGarage are inclusive of VAT.

Frequently Asked Questions

Making a Booking