Ten Years of Boosting Garage and Workshop Bookings

As we celebrate our tenth anniversary year, BookMyGarage continues to drive more motorists into our partner garages and workshops.

In the past four years alone, the number of drivers comparing and booking MOTs, services and repairs has grown from 5 million in 2022 to 29 million (as of July 2026) and we’re channelling a that growth in online demand to our Independent and Franchise garage partners.

To mark the anniversary, we combed through our booking data to compile our first annual industry report illustrating the role we play in helping our partners optimise their capacity whilst those signed up on our Accelerate programme typically enjoy enhanced results.

Accelerate is our premium package designed to drive measurable growth for garages through digital marketing, customer acquisition, and operational support.

At a glance

A Decade of Delivering for Our Partners

Our industry report looks at pricing trends, seasonal demand patterns and the real return on investment of online bookings. Our insights help our partners shape their strategy and reveals changing customer behaviour.

The last 12 months of data (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026) shows the value of retail work we delivered to garage and franchised workshop partners grew to £158 million in the first six months of 2026 alone (18% growth vs 2025), against 2025's record figure of £134 million.

Bookings grew even faster: up 41% on the previous 12 months and independent garages captured almost nine out of ten of those bookings (89%).

Accelerate: Delivering Even More for Garages

Now in its third year, 73% of our independent garage partners (as of July 2026), have signed up to our Accelerate programme.

While Accelerate guarantees a minimum £3 back for every £1 invested in a garage's first 12 months, the most recent rolling year (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026) shows members achieved an actual 820% return, with an average final invoice value of £297.

Late last year we expanded the programme further, adding a new telephony system and dedicated account managers for faster, more effective support.

Chief marketing officer Jessica Ruddick said: “Accelerate continues to perform beyond our expectations and as the programme expands, we are working even harder to ensure it still delivers for all garages which have signed up. Our latest figures show that we continue to put the right measures in place to boost even more business for our Accelerate partners even though members are by far the largest group utilising our platform.”

Fully funded, highly targeted PPC campaigns push participating garages to the top of local search results, and the knock-on effect shows up in reviews: 96% of Accelerate partners now have more than 20 customer reviews, with an average review score of 4.71 out of 5. This gives users on our platform the confidence to convert their search into a booking.

What Garage Partners Say About Working with Us

Some of BookMyGarage's earliest partners, including Smile Servicing in Portsmouth, Williams Garage in Winchester and J Petty Motors in Goole, East Yorkshire, are still active on the platform a decade on.

Co-owner Sarah Petty of J Petty Motors said: “One of my first managerial decisions was signing up to BookMyGarage in the earliest days of the platform's inception and ten years later, our business wouldn't be at the point it is now without it.”

CEO Peter Whieldon of Williams Garage said: “I feel like the BookMyGarage team are an extension of our business. They provide marketing support, advice and campaign delivery that you would expect from a specialist agency but without the price tag.”

Owner Nick Dray of Smile Servicing and Hares of Sussex said: “It is very apparent that the BookMyGarage team has a genuine interest in how our business is performing. It's a two-way relationship which enables us to achieve a higher turnover and ultimately increases our profit.”

Our recent survey of independent garage partners (November 2025) found 79% of respondents cited that bookings from BookMyGarage have a “significant” impact on their business.

Investing in the Next Decade of Garage Growth

BookMyGarage was founded by husband-and-wife team Douglas and Karen Rotberg, who still run the business today. Douglas began his automotive career as a Rolls-Royce apprentice and went on to run the largest Rolls-Royce and Bentley workshop in Europe; Karen founded and ran Jobsite.com before it was acquired by the Daily Mail.

Karen said: “Douglas and I have enjoyed successful careers – him in automotive and me as a serial entrepreneur – but it wasn't until we combined our skills that BookMyGarage was born and it is this enterprise of which we are both most proud. BookMyGarage was built to make it easier for drivers to confidently choose great local garages while helping workshops grow through digital demand and ten years on, that mission hasn't changed.

“We are also extremely proud of our team here at BookMyGarage – with some team members having been with us literally from the start and very much helped us build the business from scratch – bottom up. We are very much committed to steering the business through the next decade – as the aftermarket continues to change, we plan to expand our use of data and technology to help garages compete more effectively in an increasingly digital market. Here's to the next 10 years.”

If you're wondering whether partnering with BookMyGarage is the right decision for your business, enquire today to find out what a similar uplift could mean for your bookings.

Figures are based on BookMyGarage's internal platform data, covering confirmed bookings and completed work value across its independent and franchised garage partner network for the periods stated above. The partner sentiment statistic (79%) is drawn from a survey of independent garage partners conducted in November 2025.