Ed speak: Thank goodness for independent garages

A rural garage goes above and beyond to fix a fuel leak on a Renault Safrane

Ed speak: Thank goodness for independent garages

I rarely stick around to see an independent garage in action. If one of my cars is in for an MOT test, I’ll leave the car at the garage then spend the entire day refreshing the MOT history website looking for good or bad news.

It helps to soften the blow when the MOT tester calls with news. The conversation is normally preceded by a sharp intake of breath and a suggestion that I might want to sit down. The joys of running old but not necessarily classic French cars…

On other occasions, I tend to leave a car with a garage for a day or two; handing over the keys when the shutters are opening and collecting them when the answering machine message is turned on and the technicians have gone home.

My visits are planned; events you put in the calendar. Like many others, I figured that the days of dropping in unannounced were behind us. Garages are overworked and overstretched, so the chances of getting something fixed ‘on the fly’ are slim to zero. I was wrong.

On Saturday, while returning from my mum’s house, I detected the unmistakable scent of petrol in one of my Renault Safranes. Yes, I own two Safranes, because you can never have too much jeopardy in your life.

A cursory ‘I-know-what-I’m-doing-crouch’ under the car confirmed the worst: petrol was dripping from under the engine. Being 30 minutes from home and just a mile or so from Exbourne Cross Garage, I figured I could leave the car there for diagnosis before making alternative travel arrangements.

Upon arrival, Richard (the owner) invited me to drive the car into the workshop, where Will the technician spotted a fuel leak perilously close to the exhaust manifold. I’m paraphrasing a little, but his words were: “Turn it off, quick, because you really don’t want petrol on your baking-hot manifold.” Quite.

Despite the garage having a diary full of work for three weeks, Will fixed the car within the hour, by which time I’d completed my daily steps on an unexpected tour of the village and spent a few minutes observing the goings on at a busy rural garage in 2023.

The petrol station – still operating as an attendant service – saw a constant stream of customers. Hardly surprising when 142.9p for a litre of unleaded is around a penny less than the national average. A price of 145.9p for diesel is roughly in line with the rest of the UK; it’s great to see an independent garage resisting the temptation to capitalise on a lack of local competition.

It’s not as though my impromptu visit coincided with a lull in the workshop. Every lift was loaded with a car, while the surrounding lanes were filled with vehicles awaiting attention. Richard told me that he’s picking up the slack following the closure of four local garages. If my experience is anything to go by, the new customers are in good hands.

I’m sure countless other independent garages are going the extra mile to keep their customers satisfied, and you’re probably wondering why I’m singling out Exbourne Cross Garage for praise.

There are two reasons. Firstly, the age of social media has made it easy for consumers to complain when something goes wrong, so it’s important to champion businesses when they go above and beyond to do something right.

Secondly, we need to counter articles like this one, which serve only to tarnish the independent garage sector with the same brush. Every industry has its crooks, it’s just that good news stories don’t generate as many clicks and social shares. Words and phrases like ‘scams’, ‘gullible customers’ and ‘dodgy ruses’ are far from helpful.

This is a thank you to Exbourne Cross Garage for sparing me the lottery of the weekend rural transport network, and a shout-out to the industry for helping to keep people like me on the road.

Encourage your customers to post positive online reviews. Alternatively, encourage them to buy something French from the 1990s or ’00s, because you’ll never be short of work…

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