Garage visit 44 www.aftermarketonline.net JUNE 2025 60 years of service and counting… … how one garage has stood the test of time by moving with the times — embracing tech advances while sticking to tried and trusted customer service S&B Motors in Watford is a familyrun business celebrating 60 years in business and now looking ahead to expansion. Owner Natalie Morton-Boyce told Aftermarket: We are an independent business that was founded by my grandad, Peter Boyce, and his business partner, Bill Slevin, starting as a Jaguar specialist. “In 1975 my dad, Steve Boyce, finished school and started as a trainee working his way through the ranks. Both S&B’s customer base and reputation grew, fast becoming one of the leading garages in North London.” Natalie said the garage’s customer base was built on two principles, reliability, and honesty. Today, the business services and repairs vehicles for the third generation of many of the same families who became customers and friends all those years go. “We’ve heard so many stories over the years of our customers first visits all those years ago. “The uncle of one of our customers who sadly passed away last year, Geraldine DiPalma, was among the first to walk through the doors. When she learned to drive, he brought her in and introduced her to my grandad, who told her: ‘You never take your car anywhere else’, and she didn’t! It’s been so special to have such a unique relationship with our customers.” Natalie followed in her dad’s footsteps by joining the team in 2006. Like him, she always felt there was something special about family-led businesses. So, on her dad’s retirement in 2017, she took over with the then manager, Sean Regan. “It only feels like yesterday, but in 2017 Sean and I relocated the business to Watford. “Since then we have grown the business, so much so that we are looking to expand this year.” Over the last three years S&B, a Bosch Car Service centre, has seen a 20% increase in turnover following investment in staff, main dealer equipment, training, and a specialist website from Garage Services Online (GSO). Six years earlier, the garage had also transitioned from outdated paper-based admin procedures to a Techman garage management system (GMS). Now, with the GMS and website working together to identify and attract S&B’s ideal customer, profits have also increased enabling the garage to plan its expansion. Natalie said: “We already had a brilliant management system in place with Techman that kept our reminders seamless and bookings consistent, but since our website was redeveloped with GSO, our phone/internet enquiries have gone through the roof! “And the wizardry involved in the background ensures that we come up top on the search engines. In our opinion and experience, if (Clockwise from above) Bill Slevin and Peter Boyce with one of their beloved Jags in about 1970. A young Steve Boyce, aged around 18, working on some of British Leyland’s finest. Bill standing with an engine hoist at their second premises. The same engine hoist served S&B right up until their move to Watford in 2017 – and it was only disposed of then for lack of storage space
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