A garage's phone problem is everyone's, with a twist: the person who should answer it has their hands inside a car, and the caller may have a car that will not start. The paperwork problem is more particular — the estimate that became the bill, the price on the website that did not say whether it included VAT.
Calls that ring out in the workshop
Missed-Call Text-Back sits behind a divert from the number you already publish. Once the call counts as missed, the caller gets one text — sorry we missed you, reply here or book — from a line on the platform, naming your business first, and replies land in one inbox. It carries no offer, no discount and, by our standard, no review link: on our reading, a service message under the test of the Information Commission (the ICO) (missed-call text rules). A booking link, unsettled under that test, is by our standard one plain link on your own domain. Our build standard: the caller's number is used to reply to that call, and for nothing else unless they ask.
An AI receptionist for the calls nobody can take
When nobody can pick up at all, the AI Receptionist answers on a divert of the number you publish, says in its first sentence that it is an automated assistant, books into a calendar on the platform, answers a question from the short list you approved, takes a message or, in opening hours, puts the caller through. On this plan it answers calls and never makes them.
MOT reminders, and who may receive them
A reminder of a booking already made is a service message while it promotes nothing: the ICO lists messages that "confirm or remind them about appointments". A reminder that the MOT, the service or a seasonal check is due invites a new booking, so we build it as marketing: our build position, not a ruling (appointment reminder rules). It goes only to customers who gave consent, or who fall within the soft opt-in.
The due date comes from your own records of the vehicles you have seen. Our build standard takes no due date from a vehicle look-up, and never sends a reminder to a number that was never a customer's (who you may text). Each reminder names the garage and carries a way to stop. Email & SMS Marketing sends them, starting with a consent audit, or a CRM set up in your own account.
GOV.UK offers free reminders of its own, "by text message or email", sent "one month before your car, van or motorcycle MOT is due" and "2 months before your lorry, bus or large trailer MOT is due". It also says: "You cannot use this service if you live in Northern Ireland. You’ll get a reminder by post 7 weeks before your MOT is due."
Prices: the Code for the accredited, the law for everyone
The Motor Ombudsman's Service and Repair Code binds only the garages accredited to it, but it is public and says what they commit to. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute has approved it, as it has other codes for the motor trade. The Code's clause 1.3: "Any price quoted will be inclusive of VAT where applicable, and cover any additional charges such as environmental disposal costs." An Estimate "could go up or down" and a Quotation is "the firm agreed price"; each "should be given and agreed before any Work is carried out" and is labelled as which (2.8, 2.9).
Beneath the Code sits the law that binds every garage. Where a website gives prices, the E-Commerce Regulations 2002 say they "shall be indicated clearly and unambiguously", saying whether they include tax and delivery costs (UK website legal checklist). What the site says can become a term of the contract if the customer takes it into account (section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015). For the test itself, GOV.UK's MOT costs page says: "There’s a maximum amount MOT test stations can charge." and "You do not pay VAT on the fee."
Our build standard for any garage site: fixed prices labelled fixed, everything else an estimate, the VAT position beside every figure, and the MOT fee shown with GOV.UK's line on VAT. A mobile mechanic's quote accepted at the customer's home follows the doorstep rules set out on our trades page.
Accreditation logos on your site
The Motor Ombudsman's logo page says: "Accredited businesses should place the Motor Ombudsman logo and a link to the Motor Ombudsman website on their website". Its Smart Badge lets a customer "verify that your accreditation is active". The Chartered Trading Standards Institute's guidelines put its Approved Code logo only "alongside the logo of the Code Sponsor", to its right or beneath it, as "a mandatory requirement of approval". Displaying a trust mark "without having obtained the necessary authorisation" is a banned practice (DMCC Act, Schedule 20, paragraph 3). Our build standard: a code's logos only on your written evidence of membership and a check on the day the page goes live (for The Motor Ombudsman, its Garage Finder or Smart Badge), never "approved garage" without the scheme's name, and never "trading standards approved".
The forecourt rules, and their silence online
DVSA's MOT testing guide, which "Applies to England, Scotland and Wales", is specific about the premises. Appendix 2 says the three-triangles sign "must be displayed in a prominent position", and that authorised examiners "must also display" "the current MOT test fees and appeals poster (VT9A)" with "the details of how to contact DVSA". As read on 10 October 2026, neither that appendix nor the guide's section on requirements for authorisation sets any rule written for a test station's website, social media or the sign online.
Silence is not permission, so the site claims nothing on DVSA's behalf. Two lines in the guide still shape our build standard. Authorised examiners "must not display disclaimers against liability for loss, damage or injury caused while vehicles are in their custody for MOT tests", a ban that names no place; a consumer notice cannot exclude liability "for death or personal injury resulting from negligence" (section 65); our build standard keeps any such disclaimer off the site. And DVSA publishes each test station's "trading name, address and phone number"; our build standard is one trading name on the forecourt, in DVSA's listing, on the site and on your Google profile.
Reviews, asked after the job
The customer may be at the counter with the keys in their hand. Google does not allow merchants to "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers", says they "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises", and names "Merchants requesting that staff solicit a certain number of reviews". Its own tips say "Print and display the QR code in your store" (Google's policy and UK law). Review Management asks every customer once for a Google review, by text or email after the job, timed for your service, with nothing offered, and drafts a reply to every Google review for your approval.
Your Google profile
Google's guidelines call "auto repair shops that have a garage for repairs and offer roadside service" "hybrid service-area businesses", which "can show their shopfront address and designate a service area"; a mobile mechanic who only travels to customers is a service-area business, which Google says "should hide" its address. A business "must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours": we give you our reading on the first call, and the decision is Google's. Google Business Profile management runs the profile in your own Google account, you the owner and us a manager, with your name and phone number matching your website exactly.
What we build
- The website. Web Development: five pages for a fixed fee, to WCAG 2.2 AA, checked automatically as the site is built and by a manual keyboard pass before launch, and online booking as an add-on.
- The phone. Missed-Call Text-Back, or the AI Receptionist, which answers the call itself, says it is automated and never dials out.
- Reminders. Email & SMS Marketing: a consent audit in month one, then automations such as a rebooking prompt at the interval your service runs on (an MOT or service due reminder), each checking who may receive it before it sends. A reminder of an MOT already booked goes from the booking calendar, in a CRM we set up or on a Local Business Plan.
- Reviews and the profile. Review Management, and Google Business Profile management in your own Google account.
- Or as one plan. Local Business Plans: the phone, the reviews and the follow-up, run for you in a hosted account, one location per plan.
On a hosted plan your customers' names, numbers, messages and bookings are processed for you under a written contract, on a platform whose data does not stay in the UK. Some details a caller gives can be health data.
What we are not
We are not The Motor Ombudsman, DVSA, Trading Standards or a solicitor. Our build standard is written to respect the rules above: a specialisation, not advice. Anything that could cost you a test-station authorisation, an accreditation or a court date belongs with someone qualified to advise on it.
Where to next
Start with a free audit: five prioritised findings on search, speed and conversion, a recorded walkthrough of your own pages and a one-page summary. It does not check the site against the Code, DVSA's guide or consumer law, and the findings are yours whether or not you work with us. Starting figures are on our pricing page.