Running a garage sounds straightforward on the outside. Cars come in broken, cars go out fixed. In between, we roll up our sleeves, get our hands dirty, and do what we know best. The truth, though, is that it’s not just nuts, bolts, and oil stains. There’s a very human side to it, and sometimes that side is the hardest part of the job.
The invisible nature of our work
Most of what we do, customers will never actually see. A clutch, a timing belt, corroded brake lines; these are things hidden away, buried under the car, never admired or polished. When someone spends hundreds of pounds, or even over a thousand, they drive away in the same car they brought in. It looks no different, it feels almost the same, but underneath the bonnet is the difference between safety and disaster.
And that’s the tricky part. At the hairdresser, you come out with a new cut and people tell you how good you look. At the café, your coffee smells amazing. At the garage, you collect your car, sigh at the bill, and carry on with life. Nobody ever says, “Wow, that timing belt replacement looks fantastic.”
The weight of the quotes
Quoting work is where it hits hardest. We like what we do, we take pride in fixing cars, but it’s not exactly fun to tell someone their bill will run into the hundreds. You know what’s needed, you know what happens if they delay, and yet you’re fully aware that for the customer, this is money that was meant for something else.
I’ll never forget one customer who needed extensive repair due to corrosion on their car. It wasn’t just a small patch of rust, this was serious structural work to keep the vehicle safe. I explained what needed doing and gave the estimate. They sat in silence for a moment, then sighed and said, “Go for it. I won’t be going to my friend’s wedding abroad.”
It stuck with me, because in that moment, I saw the cost not just in money, but in memories and life plans. We were doing the right thing by repairing the car, but it drained me to know that keeping someone safe on the road had come at such a personal price for them.
Why we still do it
It would be easy to say that moments like that make us want to pack it in, but the truth is we carry on because we know the value of what we’re doing. The work might be invisible, but the safety is real. When a customer drives away in a car that will stop properly, won’t break down on the motorway, or will last them another few years, that matters.
There are still rewarding days. A problem solved that nobody else could figure out. A customer who genuinely appreciates the effort. Or that quiet satisfaction when a car that came in limping goes out running smooth.
Running a garage isn’t glamorous. It’s not champagne smiles or thank-yous at the counter. Most days it’s explaining big bills, fixing invisible problems, and quietly carrying the weight of knowing how much this all costs people. But at the end of the day, we know we’re doing something important. We keep people moving, we keep them safe, and sometimes the best repair is the one nobody even notices.