Opinion: A garage work provider website will send you customers, but at what cost?

Columnist Luke Robinson shares his views on garage work provider websites

Opinion: A garage work provider website will send you customers, but at what cost?
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Work provider websites promote themselves as offering an endless supply of new customers to keep our ramps busy, but at what cost? And do they really bring in all the work they say they do?

They are to garages what Just Eat is to the takeaway industry, and they’re spending millions in advertising to drive customers through our doors. The way they operate, however, can differ hugely, potentially undermining the hard work we do. If you consider using one of these sites, there are several questions you need to ask yourself.

Why choose a work provider site?

Firstly, they fill the workshop, hopefully with the premium work that we are targeting, which for us is servicing and MOTs. They offer efficiency with online bookings, which frees up phone lines while allowing us to confirm the bookings at a time that suits us. They also direct new customers who are usually searching for a garage in their local area.

The quality of work offered by these companies does and will differ hugely; I have experience with three companies, and I can assure you that, of these, BookMyGarage is the only one I would recommend.

Do they offer value for money?

No two garages are the same, but something to think about is whether we own the customer or we’re effectively acting as a contractor. If we own the customer – i.e., we can invoice them directly and are free to market our business to them – then how much did that customer cost us compared to other measurable forms of advertising? If we can turn them into a regular customer, this could represent good value but only if the customer is not purely driven by price.

Unfortunately, many of these customers base their decisions on the quote , so if you’re offering big discounts how profitable is the work? At what point do we become more like a national chain and start recreating the race to the bottom? This is something I feel the aftermarket industry has been working exceptionally hard to change, so we need to be careful not to take a step backwards.

Do these websites focus too much on price?

I’m going to contradict myself here, because on the surface it is all driven by price; due to the impersonal nature of the web it could be the only differentiator between garages. However, a quick search on the BookMyGarage website shows we are the most expensive service and combined MOT provider listed within a 12-mile radius, yet we have 228 more reviews than any other competitor. Is this because we have a bigger workshop and more capability?

Not necessarily. I like to think that it’s because we try to deliver a great customer experience, which then drives more reviews and gives potential customers more confidence. Maybe it’s also down to research, word of mouth and reviews too.

What’s interesting is that a quick Google search of just four provider sites for an MOT and collection and delivery on my car started at a frankly ridiculous £18 and went up to an outrageous £84. There is absolutely no consistency between offerings, so this clearly demonstrates that different sites are targeting different demographics. Why we can’t just settle on one price is beyond me, but that’s a story for another opinion piece.

Which work provider website should you choose?

Research, research, and more research. Gather opinions from other garages. Do they like the provider? Would they recommend using it? Use the work provider’s website as a potential customer; is it enticing, and does it Instil trust? I have experience with three of the biggest providers and I am more than happy to give my honest opinion on all of them.

I’d avoid providers which take a yearly free upfront. Once they have your money where is the incentive to direct work to your garage? Paying a fee or a percentage per job is a better way as you can factor this into your pricing and the company has a vested interest in sending you work.

We welcomed these work provider websites with open arms, but do we need them? We probably didn’t, but now they are here we may need to work with them. They can send us servicing and MOT work that could be going to garages with bigger advertising budgets, so they help to level the playing field for independents. They remove obstacles for us, which is why we started using them and why our customers choose them too.

I’ll leave you with the fact that in 2021, one of these companies paid out £1.2 million dividends, so how much of your profit margin are you willing to give away?

You’ll find Luke Robinson at Marchwoods Motor Engineers in Folkestone, Kent.

This article first appeared in issue 2 of Garage Wire Aftermarket magazine.

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