A website for garages and mechanics.
The fee, before the car is in pieces.
Someone booking an MOT wants the fee, and what happens if the car fails. Someone booking a service wants to know what “full” includes, and whether VAT is in the number. A mobile mechanic’s customer wants the figure before the van is booked. We design and build the site around those answers, then host it and help you keep it current.
From £15/mo, plus a one-off build pack from £29.
The old part is on the counter before the bill. That is the idea of this example. The 1978 date on the picture is part of the fiction. The review score printed further down the live example is invented, and it is not the part to copy.
This is a live example of our work, not a customer business.Of the sites we read
The fee is the line most pages leave out.
We read the front page of 690 UK garage and mechanic websites between 25 and 27 August 2026, and recorded what each one said and offered. Tyre-centre domains were left out, and so were a national car retailer, a booking platform and a parts catalogue. Other pages of each site were not read. The figures describe those 690 sites.
7.0%, 48 of 690. put an MOT price where the prices were recorded.
A phone number was on 657 of the 690 (95.2%). Thirty-three (4.8%) had none. Email was on 464 (67.2%). The test itself is named far more often than it is priced: MOT is on the service list of 486 (70.4%), and somewhere on the front page of 543 (78.7%). Servicing is on the list of 666 (96.5%).
Another 116 (16.8%) had some workshop price in that field: a service, labour, a diagnostic, brakes, a clutch, a cambelt. Any price at all was on 218 (31.6%). The figure £54.85, the maximum for a car, was in the prices field of 4 (0.6%). A pound sign next to a job word appears in the page text of many more, reviews and footers included. The prices field is the count used here.
37.7%offered online booking.
260 front pages had an online booking route. A contact form was on 248 (35.9%). A site can have both, so the two numbers are not added. The button is more common than the fee. Walk-in was on 66 (9.6%). WhatsApp, as a booking route, was on 50 (7.2%).
1.3%named an ombudsman.
Nine front pages had the word ombudsman in the accreditation field. Joining The Motor Ombudsman is voluntary. An empty field is not evidence a test station is unauthorised, and a string in the field is not a check that the scheme is real. Anything at all was recorded there on 248 (35.9%).
93.8%named an area.
647 front pages named a place. The useful version is the towns you will actually drive to, or the villages the van will come to. A year the business was established was on 212 (30.7%). The scan left the size of the business blank on 501 (72.6%).
30.1%recorded a guarantee.
208 front pages had something in the guarantees field. The words are not one promise, and they are not a 12-month or 12,000-mile standard. If you offer one, the months, the miles, and parts or labour have to be in the sentence.
On the counter
Write the job the way you would say it at the desk.
The decision is made at the counter, or on the drive — before the car is in pieces.
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The test
£54.85
The class, the maximum, and what else is in the number.
The maximum fee for a car, class 4, up to 8 passenger seats, is £54.85. The first MOT for that car is due at three years. You do not pay VAT on the MOT fee. A class 7 goods vehicle over 3,000kg up to 3,500kg design gross weight is £58.60. A standard motorcycle is £29.65. A zero-emission class 7 goods vehicle from 3,501kg to 4,250kg is also £58.60. Motor caravans in class 4 are £54.85. Other classes differ. Do not invent a fee for a class that is not on the GOV.UK fee table.
If a retest or collection is included, say so in the same line. A figure above the maximum is not the test fee on its own. A price that says the test fee includes VAT is not the statutory fee alone.
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The service
Say VAT
Interim and full are different jobs.
Name which one. Say whether parts and labour are included, and whether VAT is in the number. One “from” price for an oil change, an interim and a full service is three jobs hiding behind one floor. Diagnostics were on the service list of 373 of the 690 (54.1%), brakes on 237 (34.3%), air conditioning on 219 (31.7%), a clutch on 180 (26.1%) and a cambelt or timing belt on 90 (13.0%). A name in a list is not a price.
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If it grows
Call first
Extra work is a new conversation.
A quote is a promised price for stated work. An estimate is a best guess, and the bill can move within reason. If a price was agreed, that is the bill. If no price was agreed, only a reasonable price is payable. Extra work the customer did not ask for can be undone, or they pay only for the agreed job. “Do whatever it needs” is a different instruction from “do this job”. If no date was agreed, the work is due in a reasonable time. This is England advice from Citizens Advice. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own pages. Work not done with reasonable skill and care can be done again, or the price reduced.
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The centre
Blue sign
The van is not the test.
Only a centre showing the blue sign with three white triangles can carry out the MOT. Northern Ireland uses a different booking process. Some centres collect the car and return it. Someone else may drive it in if they are insured to drive it. A mobile mechanic can arrange that. A qualified tester does not turn the van into the test centre. Say where the test happens. The rules are on GOV.UK.
Two counters
Two example sites, for two different counters.
Both are example builds for fictional businesses. Neither is a customer. Each is one page plus a privacy page. Nothing on them is a testimonial for ThemeSmith.
Bilton Yard keeps the old part on the counter.
Bilton Yard, Alnwick, is a fictional village garage. The useful idea is the counter: the old part is kept and shown, and the quoted price is the price paid. Hours, the job list and the form are on the example. The form asks for a name, a phone or an email, the car, and what it is doing. In the fiction the hours are Monday to Thursday 07:30 to 17:00, Friday 07:30 to 16:00, and Saturday 08:00 to 12:30.
It offers MOT testing and does not say the workshop is an authorised centre. It does not mention the blue sign. That sentence still has to be written. The MOT line says the test is priced when you book, which is the gap the 7.0% is about. Do not treat the 1978 date, the recovery radius or the review score as a real business. The shelf stories are fiction. The idea of showing the old part can be kept. The noises and the outcomes cannot be quoted as results.
Marsh sends the figure before the van moves.
Marsh Mobile Mechanics, Lincoln, is a fictional mobile mechanic. The useful idea is the text: registration, what the car is doing, then one itemised figure before anything is booked. The sample amounts are blanked. The form asks for the registration, the postcode, a mobile number, and what is wrong. In the fiction the hours are Monday to Friday 07:00 to 18:00 and Saturday 07:00 to 13:00, and a Monday morning non-start is taken first.
The job sheet says the car is checked at the customer’s, then driven to the station and back. That is a line a mobile mechanic can keep. It does not claim the van carries out the MOT. The witness lines, the review score, the 12 months and 12,000 miles promise, the public-liability figure and the named part brands are fiction.
Front pages
Four real front pages, and the line worth copying.
These are real UK front pages from the same read, described by region only. Their prices belong to those businesses. They are not ThemeSmith customers, and they are not fees to copy onto your site. Reviews are left out.
West Yorkshire, established 1997.
Also a tyre shop, and also naming Huddersfield, Halifax, Sowerby Bridge, Brighouse and Hipperholme. Class 4 and motorhomes are £54.85, including a free re-test. Class 7 vans up to 3,500kg are £58.60, including a free retest, and the page says that retest is within 10 days. Those are the statutory maxima, and the page does not add VAT. Hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm, weekend closed. Phone, email and a contact form. The same page says 25 years beside a start in 1997. In August 2026 that is 29 years. Copy the fees and the free retest. Do not copy a year-count that does not match the year.
Bristol, a sole trader.
MOT tests are written as £90.85 including VAT, with free collection and delivery, in one sentence. That is above £54.85, and VAT is not charged on the test fee, so the reader cannot see the split. The interim is clearer: from £150 plus VAT, including parts and labour, for engines under 2,000cc. Full service from £300 plus VAT, including parts and labour, with larger engines and long-life servicing on application. A pre-purchase inspection is from £180 plus VAT. The page says NVQ level 3 and qualified MOT tester. It does not say the driveway is the test centre, and it does not mention the blue sign. Copy the boundary. Do not copy the bundled MOT figure.
Plympton, Plymouth.
MOT only £40, written as the test alone, under the maximum, with no VAT word on the price lines. MOT and a full service from £225. MOT and an interim from £119. Air-conditioning re-gas is £50 for one gas and £120 for the other. Cars and vans up to 3.5 tons. A 12-month warranty on all work, with no miles and no split between parts and labour. That is their line, not a rule of the trade. The waiting room is part of the offer: coffee, Wi-Fi, alternative transport, and a place to watch the test. Phone and email.
Loughborough, established 1994.
MOTs from £45. Class 4 and class 7 are both named and not priced apart. Oil change, intermediate or full service: from £96, depending on make and model. One floor, three jobs. Alignment from £39. Air conditioning from £60. None of these say whether VAT is included. Online booking sends a text to confirm, and a reminder before the test is due. The workshop is Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:30. “24-hour” on that page is the booking form, not a workshop that never closes. Recovery is written as working with specialists, not as a radius. Electric-vehicle servicing is a named service. Copy the text and the reminder. Do not copy the single floor.
The pages
Give the MOT its own answer, and the service its own.
The average service list on these front pages has 11.3 items. Tyres were still on 243 of them (35.2%) after tyre-centre domains had been left out. A long list is not the same as a price a customer can use.
Home
The work you want more of, the area, the hours, the phone, and either the fee or a promise that the quote is in writing before anyone books. An area was named on 647 of the 690 (93.8%). The useful version is the places you will actually drive to.
The MOT
The class, the maximum, whether a retest is included, and the blue sign. If you collect the car, say where the test happens. A page that lists the test and hides the fee is the common shape: 486 list an MOT, and 48 price one in the prices field.
Servicing
What interim and full include, parts and labour, and VAT. A diagnostic, brakes, air conditioning, a clutch and a cambelt each get their own line if you sell them. Courtesy cars were a listed service on 33 (4.8%). The words “courtesy car” or “courtesy vehicle” appear in the page text of 76 (11.0%), reviews and footers included. If you have one, say when it is free.
The driveway, if that is the business
Which jobs you will do kerbside, and which you will not. Clutches and cambelts are a different promise from an oil change. Collection, or “we collect”, is in the page text of 71 (10.3%), reviews and footers included. Put the boundary in the same sentence as the price, the way the Bristol interim does and the Bristol MOT figure does not.
Contact
The hours the phone is answered, and what the form needs. A registration and what the car is doing is enough to price a known job. If the phone goes to voicemail while you are under a car, say what happens next. A payment option was recorded on 234 (33.9%). If you take cards, say so beside the fee.
Who is doing the work
Sole trader was recorded on 4 (0.6%), a small team on 144 (20.9%) and a larger firm on 41 (5.9%). The rest were blank. If it is you from the phone call to the invoice, say that. If a van or a tester may be someone else, say that too. Customer type was blank on 467 (67.7%). If you work on vans as well as cars, write it. A blank is not a claim that you do both.
Before it goes live
Say what you will put in writing.
The guarantee, in one sentence.
A guarantee of some kind was recorded on 208 of the 690 (30.1%). If you offer one, say the months, the miles, and whether it covers parts, labour or both. Do not borrow 12 months or 12,000 miles from an example site. That line is fiction.
The same name as the Google listing.
Use the same business name, hours and number as the listing a customer already has open. A second phone number, or Saturday hours the ramp does not work, is the thing they will mention at the counter.
Cars for sale stay off the labour list.
If the workshop also sells cars, keep those prices off the list that holds the MOT. A five-figure figure was in the prices field of 83 (12.0%). That can be a vehicle or a large job. Page text on 202 (29.3%) matched part-exchange, used car, cars for sale, or “we buy”. That is not a clean count of dealers. It is enough to keep the two lists apart.
The warranty you can actually give.
Do not promise that a manufacturer warranty survives the service. The 2023 motor vehicle block exemption order has been in force since 1 June 2023, across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is not a line that says the warranty is safe. Say what you will put in writing.
Older cars, and the 40-year rule.
A vehicle built or first registered more than 40 years ago, with no substantial changes, does not need an MOT. It still has to be roadworthy. You do not apply to stop the test. The rule is on GOV.UK. Tax exemption is a separate matter and does not belong in the MOT sentence.
A scheme, if you are actually in it.
Good Garage was in the accreditation field of 21 (3.0%), RAC of 20 (2.9%), Trust My Garage of 16 (2.3%), and Bosch or ServiceSure of 15 (2.2%). DVSA was in that field on 26 (3.8%), which is not the same as an authorised test station. Write the scheme you have joined. Leave the others off. The Motor Ombudsman page is the place to read the Service and Repair Code, if you choose to join. You do not have to.
Website design for garages
A template has a place for a phone number. It will not decide what “full” includes.
Search suggestions for “garage website” run to templates, a design, and a clothing brand that is not this trade. “Not working” is an outage, not a workshop. “Car garage website” drifts into car-sales sites. A website builder can suit a workshop whose jobs, patch and hours rarely change, if you have time to write it. It will not choose the class of MOT, whether VAT is in the service, or where a mobile test actually happens. Of these front pages, 338 (49.0%) already credit a builder.
We write a brief with you, design and build the site, then look after updates for a monthly fee. You check the work before it goes live.
The build is a one-off cost. Hosting and ongoing work are monthly.
A home page can carry the fee, the hours and the phone. Add a servicing page, or a driveway page, when those jobs need their own answers.
Monthly plans
Edits with your assistant use credits. You can buy more, and bought credits do not expire. Monthly billing has no annual contract, no setup fee and no minimum term.
One-off build packs
1 page
3 pages
5 pages
Each pack includes a custom domain, global hosting, SSL, backups, and 30 days of Forge edits after the build, paired with your first month on a plan. Add pages any time, priced per page. You see the price before you pay.
Cancel any time, in two clicks from your account. The site keeps running until the end of the billing period. Your domain stays yours, and if you leave we send a static snapshot you can put on another host. A failed build is not charged. A human follows up the next working day. There is no introductory rate. We tell you 30 days before any price change. Move up or down any time from your account, and you see the exact amount before anything changes. Moving up is charged straight away for the rest of the month. Moving down credits what you have not used against the next bill.
Get startedQuestions from the counter
Before the next car is booked in.
Can I start with a one-page garage website?
Yes. The one-page build pack is £29, with a custom domain, global hosting, SSL, backups and 30 days of Forge edits, paired with the first month on a plan. Starter is £15/mo for one live site and 150 credits a month. Business is £39/mo for three live sites and 500 credits a month. Three pages are £59 and five are £89. A home page can carry the work, the area, the hours, the phone and the fee. Add a page later, priced per page, and you see the price before you pay.
Should the MOT fee be on the site?
If you test cars, put the class and the fee where they can be read before the car is booked in. Of the 690 front pages, 48 (7.0%) had an MOT price in the prices field, and 4 (0.6%) showed £54.85 there. That £54.85 is the maximum for a car, class 4, up to 8 passenger seats, and VAT is not added to it. A class 7 goods vehicle over 3,000kg up to 3,500kg is £58.60. If a retest or collection is in the number, say so in the same line.
Can a mobile mechanic advertise MOTs?
You can say you arrange a test. Only a centre showing the blue sign with three white triangles can carry it out. Northern Ireland uses a different process. Some centres collect and return. The line worth keeping is the one on the Lincoln example: the car is checked at the customer’s, then driven to the station and back. Do not write that the van is the test centre.
What if the workshop also sells cars?
Keep those prices off the labour list. A five-figure amount was in the prices field of 83 of the 690 (12.0%). That can be a vehicle or a large job, so it is not a count of stock. A reader who sees it beside an MOT will treat it as a car. Give the sales their own page, with their own prices.
Do I have to join The Motor Ombudsman?
No. Accreditation is voluntary. It is not a regulator, and a garage that has not joined has not broken a joining rule. The word ombudsman was in the accreditation field of 9 of the 690 (1.3%). The Service and Repair Code is the garage code, if you choose it. An empty accreditation field does not tell a customer whether you are an authorised test station. The blue sign does.
What if I cancel?
Cancel any time, in two clicks from your account. The site keeps running until the end of the billing period. Your domain stays yours. If you leave, we send a static snapshot you can put on another host. A failed build is not charged, and a human follows up the next working day. There is no introductory rate. We tell you 30 days before a price change.