We collect the car, service it properly, and bring it back with an itemised list of what we actually did. Fixed prices, and nothing added to the bill without a phone call first.
Servicing from
£120
Collection and return included
Itemised list of the work done
Photos of anything advisory
The honest bit
Hand a car over for brakes and you can see the new discs when you get it back. Hand it over for a service and you get back something that looks exactly the same as when you dropped it off. That is why so much servicing gets sold in three vague words, and why plenty of people quietly suspect they have paid £200 for an oil change and a look round.
Worth knowing: a service is not a legal test like an MOT. There is no official definition of a "interim service" anywhere, which means one garage's interim service can be another garage's basic. Compare the lists, not the labels.
So the whole list for every tier is published below, before you book. And when the car comes back you get an itemised note of what was done, what was checked, what was fine, and photos of anything worth keeping an eye on.
If something on your car does not need doing yet, we will tell you it does not need doing yet. That is not generosity. It is how you end up with customers who come back.
Three tiers, one price list
£120
With MOT: £165 (add £45)
Around every 6 months or 6,000 miles
Our basic service: an oil and filter change with a health check.
Most people need this one
£199
With MOT: £244 (add £45)
Around every 12 months or 12,000 miles
The annual one, and the one most people mean when they say "service". If you only do one a year, do this one.
£299
With MOT: £344 (add £45)
When your car's schedule calls for plugs and filters
Everything in the interim service plus the consumables that come round less often but cost you fuel and smoothness when they are overdue.
Which one your car is actually due depends on the manufacturer schedule and how you use it. Give us the registration and the mileage and we will tell you which you need, including when the answer is the cheaper one.
No mystery
Twelve months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. If you want one number, that is the number, and it is what most cars are built around.
Mileage is not the whole story though. A car doing short, cold, stop-start town journeys is working harder than the odometer suggests: the oil never gets properly hot, and the engine spends its life in the worst part of its cycle. Those cars are better off serviced sooner. Steady motorway miles are the easy end.
Your handbook has the manufacturer schedule. Give us the registration and the mileage and we will check it against that, and we will tell you if you are early.
This one saves people hundreds of pounds a year. You do not have to use a franchised dealer to keep a manufacturer warranty valid. Block exemption rules protect your right to have the car serviced by any competent garage.
What matters is that it is serviced to the manufacturer schedule, with correct-specification parts and oils, and properly recorded. We do all three, and stamp the book or give you a digital record.
The only work that genuinely has to go through a dealer is warranty repair itself and recalls. Routine servicing is not that.
No surprises
The complaints people have about servicing are almost never about the service. They are about the phone call that turns £199 into £400.
Ask to see it, as well. Any mechanic worth trusting will happily show you the worn part and explain why it matters now rather than in six months.
Collection and return from your home or your workplace is included in the price, not an extra. You do not need to be there when we bring it back if you would rather leave a key.
The work happens at Unit 6, Turner Street, Dudley, DY1 1TX, where there are ramps, torque wrenches and somewhere clean to work. We are open seven days, 7am to 5pm.
If it suits you better to bring the car in, the workshop is Unit 6, Turner Street, Dudley, DY1 1TX. Same mechanic, same parts, same paperwork, and the price does not change either way.
If the car will not start, you do not need to get it here at all. We come out to it, find out why for £45 with no call-out fee, and recover it in if it needs to come in.
How collection, callouts and recovery workClear pricing
£120
Oil and filter, all fluids, and a check of the safety-critical items.
£199
The annual one. Adds brakes, suspension, steering, a scan and a written report.
£299
Everything in the interim service plus spark plugs, air filter and cabin filter.
£0
Included in the price from your home or workplace, not billed as an extra.
Everything is covered by a 12-month parts and labour warranty and £5m public liability cover.
Would rather spread it over the year? The Service Plan is £20 a month and includes a yearly check, a free diagnostic when we come out, and labour at £45 an hour.
Booking in the autumn? The £95 winter check is included free with a Basic or Interim service.
From the workshop
Real jobs off our ramps, described by the mechanic who did them.
A customer from Stourbridge dropped this 2019 Honda Civic off with us for a routine service. Nothing reported wrong with it, just the maintenance it was due.
With the car up on the ramp, Elliot checked the front discs and pads as part of the service. That check is a standard part of any proper service, not an extra. Both were worn down and needed replacing.
The customer gave the go-ahead there and then, so Elliot fitted the new front discs and pads on the same visit rather than booking the car back in. It was back with them within a couple of hours.
Worth remembering: a service is not just an oil change and a tick-box. It is a proper look at the things that actually stop the car.
This one came into the Dudley workshop after the customer reported overheating, and then the engine would not start at all.
The cause was the water pump belt. It had snapped, and with nothing driving the pump the coolant stopped circulating, so the engine overheated quickly. By the time it reached us it had gone far enough to blow the head gasket.
That made it a full strip. The cylinder head came off and went for a skim, to give the new gasket a flat, true surface to seal against. Then a fresh belt kit went on, and it had an oil and filter service while everything was already apart and accessible.
Worth knowing if you ever hear a belt let go: a snapped auxiliary belt is not always a small fix. If it is the one driving your water pump, it is what happens next that costs the money. Back on the road.
We'll always tell you honestly if someone else is a better fit.
Before you book
Elliot has written up how often a car genuinely needs servicing, what a basic and a interim service each cover, and the upsells you can safely refuse.
We collect from all of these, and bring the car back when it's done.
Keith spent forty years as a Vauxhall main-dealer technician, so we know the service schedules and the faults these cars are prone to before we open the bonnet.
Vauxhall and Opel specialist service55+ years between them. 12-month parts and labour warranty. £5m public liability cover.
Every job is carried out by Elliot or Keith - the mechanic who quotes your job is the one who works on your car. No call centres, no subcontractors.
Lead Mechanic & Founder
Founder of Your Local Mechanic. City & Guilds Level 3 qualified with 15+ years experience, specialising in modern diagnostics and hybrid vehicles across the Black Country.
Senior Mechanic & MOT Assessor
Senior mechanic at Your Local Mechanic with 40+ years Vauxhall main dealer experience and a fully qualified MOT assessor, known for honest, careful work across the Black Country.
Before you book
A basic service is £120, an interim service is £199, and a major service is £299 including spark plugs and the extra filters. Add an MOT to any service for £45: Basic with MOT £165, Interim with MOT £244, or Major with MOT £344. The prices are fixed and include free collection and return, so what we quote is what you pay. Anything we find on top is quoted separately with the part and the labour priced out, and never done without your say-so.
Twelve months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first, is the rule most cars are built around. Mileage is not the whole story though: a car doing short, cold, stop-start town journeys is working harder than the odometer suggests and is better off serviced sooner, while steady motorway miles are the easy end. Tell us the registration and mileage and we will check it against the manufacturer schedule.
The basic (£120) covers the essentials: oil and filter change, all fluid levels topped up, and a check of the safety-critical items. It suits a newer or low-mileage car, or the halfway point between annual services. The interim (£199) adds a proper inspection of brakes, suspension, steering, belts and hoses, plus a diagnostic scan and a written health report with photos. If you only do one service a year, make it the interim one.
What a full diagnostic involvesNo. Block exemption rules protect your right to have the car serviced by any competent garage without losing the manufacturer warranty. What matters is that it is serviced to the manufacturer schedule, with correct-specification parts and oils, and properly recorded. We do all three and stamp the book or give you a digital record. The only work that has to go through a franchised dealer is genuine warranty repair and recalls.
An MOT is a legal annual roadworthiness test that has to happen at a DVSA-approved test centre, and it is a pass or fail snapshot of minimum safety standards on the day. A service is preventative maintenance with no legal standing at all: fresh oil, fresh filters and a check-over designed to catch wear before it becomes a breakdown. A car can pass an MOT and still be badly overdue a service.
See MOT testing and collectionNo. Collection and return from your home or workplace is included in the price, and you do not need to be there when we bring it back if you would rather leave a key. The service itself is done on the ramp at our Dudley workshop. If the car will not start, tell us and we will come out to it instead.
A quality branded oil, Castrol, Mobil or equivalent, in the grade and specification your engine actually requires. That is decided by the manufacturer, not by us or by what happens to be on the shelf. Using the wrong specification on a modern engine, particularly a diesel with a particulate filter, causes real damage, so it is not somewhere to save a few pounds.
You get an itemised note of the work, a stamp in the book or a digital service record, and photos of anything advisory we spotted. If something needs watching rather than fixing, we tell you which it is. If it does not need doing at all, we say that too.
Often, yes, for a basic or interim service if we have the diary space, and Elliot or Keith will tell you honestly when you call rather than after you have booked. A major service or a job with collection at both ends usually wants a proper slot. We are open seven days, 7am to 5pm.
Tell Elliot or Keith the registration and the mileage and you'll get a straight answer on which service you actually need, and what it costs, before you commit to anything.