The range, and what moves it
An automotive business website costs from the free page your garage software gives you to several thousand, and the spread comes down to four things: whether the site books the car in online with the registration, whether it states prices for common jobs, whether it looks like an honest garage with real people in it, and whether you own it. Here are the bands, and what each buys a garage, MOT centre, tyre shop, detailer or driving school.
Band 1: Google Business Profile and the software's booking page
Autoflow, Garage Hive, Shopmonkey, Tekmetric and Workshop Software each give you a hosted booking page or widget. Add a Google Business Profile and a Facebook page and that is a presence.
Cost: nothing beyond the software you already pay for.
You get: a phone number, reviews, a way to book.
You do not get: a domain that ranks for "MOT [town]" or "car service [town]", fixed prices laid out where a driver compares, a fault form with photos, the workshop and team on show, or anything for a detailer whose Booksy page shows slots but not the before-and-after.
Right for: a single-bay workshop full from word of mouth, and the first months of a mobile mechanic.
Band 2: a template site, $800 to $2,500 (roughly £600 to £2,000)
A garage theme or builder template with your logo, some photos and a contact form, sometimes with a link to booking.
You get: a site with your name on it.
Usually missing: speed on a phone (drivers book from the car park); booking embedded with registration lookup rather than a "call to book" line; prices for services, tests, brakes and tyres; a fault form that takes photos; accreditation logos linked to the schemes; a plain page on how you quote and authorise work; and ownership clarity if it came bundled with a marketing contract.
Right for: a garage that gets its work from regulars and wants a business card online.
Band 3: a purpose-built automotive site, $2,500 to $6,000 (roughly £2,000 to £4,800)
Built around how drivers choose a garage. Book online with registration lookup from your software. Services and prices with fixed prices for services, tests, brakes and tyres, editable by you. MOT and testing, Repairs and diagnostics, and Tyres pages that each rank on their own. A fault form with photos, symptoms and a call-back slot. About and accreditations with real workshop and team photos. Google reviews pulled in near the Book button. Reminders for the next service or test from your software. Under two seconds on a phone. Structured data, tracking, everything in your name.
You get: a site that ranks for services in your town, removes the overcharging fear before the driver arrives, and books the car in without a call.
Not usually included: photography (a morning in the workshop is worth it), copy unless specified, the garage software subscription itself.
Right for: independent garages, MOT centres, tyre shops and body shops that want new customers from search rather than only from the street.
Band 4: multi-site groups and tyre e-commerce, $8,000 and up
Several branches, tyre search connected to a supplier feed with fitted prices, dealer groups, franchise brands.
After launch
- Hosting: managed WordPress at $20 to $50 a month (£15 to £40) or often free on a framework host, in your name.
- Domain: small, annual. Yours.
- Garage software: whatever you pay now. The site does not add to it.
- Maintenance: a care plan at a modest monthly fee, or hourly when something breaks.
- Photography: half a day. Real photos of the ramps, the waiting area and the people are the most persuasive thing on a garage site.
Where the band 3 money goes
- Booking with registration lookup, embedded and deep-linked per service, tested on phones.
- Fixed-price menus as records, so a full service by engine size and a test fee are stated and editable without a developer.
- The fault form with photos and a call-back slot, landing in your software or on a phone.
- Trust: accreditations linked to the schemes, workshop and team photos, Google reviews, the quoting page.
- Speed, search foundation and structured data for a local automotive business.
- Tracking of bookings, fault forms and calls by page.
- Ownership and a recorded walkthrough.
Judging a quote
Ask: does Book go to my software with registration lookup; are prices stated and can I edit them; does the fault form take photos; are the accreditations linked; what is the speed target on a phone; what is tracked; whose name is the domain and hosting in. A quote that says "call to book" is band 2 however it is priced.
What we charge
Our automotive sites are band 3 at a fixed price; the scope is on the automotive business website page, with sub-pages for MOT and test centres, detailers and driving schools, because each books differently. If drivers still phone to ask what a service costs, the number that matters is how many of those calls booked and how many rang the garage whose site had the price.