Garage visit 52 www.aftermarketonline.net MARCH 2025 Lancashire garage shares how its commitment to training, investment and working with key industry leaders and organisations is driving success A&S Car Care Centre has always been a forwardlooking business, ever since it was established in 2010 by Mark Williams and his father. Today, Mark wholly-owns the Bolton firm, which still runs very much as a family enterprise with family members working within the business that is committed to investment for the future. A&S supplies ICE vehicle services and specialises in advanced diagnostics while a second site in Bolton — run as a separate business, Williams EV Specialists — supplies purely EV services. A&S works mainly with Alliance Automotive and has been an AutoCare garage for the last 10 years. Mark also works with James Dillon, Garage Services Online (GSO), and Garage Hive as tech partners. He’s also worked with Andy Savva and considers Andrew Crook an inspiring peer. Mark said A&S has a reputation for fixing faults other garages have been unable to remedy — but have still charged for. This can leave A&S’ customer service department with a tough job. The team will work hard not just to find the fault, but to regain customers’ trust in garages and the wider industry. MOTs are an essential, ‘bread and butter’, part of the business and Mark is a strong proponent of raising the cost of the test. It’s been the same for 15 years and every other cost involved has risen — from the minimum wage and overheads to equipment and regulatory costs. Garages cannot simply keep absorbing the costs, Mark said. He believes the cost should be around £75 and at that, still thinks it would be cheap. A&S charges less than the standard £54.85 because there’s so much MOT competition locally. The business breaks even on the MOT fee, so if a vehicle passes, it’s not really profitable. However, it is a service that’s essential for the firm’s loyal repeat customers so must be offered for customer retention. It does become profitable if repair work is required, and Mark says this is where integrity sets good garages apart from the others. However, this has not stopped Mark investing heavily in the business, including training, a website and a new garage management system. Eighteen months ago, A&S was operating from one site with three bays and attracting lots of low-profit work. The garage was operating in survival mode even though the owners regularly worked a 70-hour week. But it now has two sites, employs eight staff, and has increased its hourly rate by 150%. A healthy 90% of its work yields an optimum profit margin and it’s also attracting trade work from prestigious car sales companies. Mark has found the best way to build In the last 12 months we’ve spent £45k on training alone From surviving to thriving
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