Four garages. One platform. Zero duplication.
Best Garages Ltd had been running four busy locations across Hampshire on a patchwork of disconnected systems. When they moved to BOOKAR, everything changed — and their customers noticed first.
Best Garages Ltd
Independent garage group
- Locations
- Newport · Lymington · Ringwood · Fordingbridge
- Services
- MOT, servicing, tyres, diagnostics, repairs
- BOOKAR plan
- Expert + Multi-Garage + Complete Website Solution
4
Locations on one platform
↑ 40%
Online bookings in 90 days
1
Login for every site
↓ 60%
Admin time per location
Four locations. Four sets of problems.
Best Garages Ltd had grown steadily over the years, adding locations in Lymington, Ringwood, and Fordingbridge to their original Newport garage. With growth came complexity — and the systems that had worked for one garage were creaking under the weight of four.
Each location was running its own booking system, managing its own customer records, and generating its own paper job cards. Customers who used more than one branch had to be re-entered from scratch. Reporting meant manually collating spreadsheets from each site. And when a customer called the wrong garage, staff had no visibility of their history.
The group's online presence was equally fragmented — a basic website with no booking capability, and no consistent way to collect or display customer reviews. Leads were arriving by phone or not at all.
Pain points before BOOKAR
No centralised view
Management had no real-time visibility across locations. Performance data was collected manually and always a week out of date.
Duplicated customer records
A customer at Ringwood and Lymington existed as two separate records with no shared history — inconsistent service every time.
No online booking
All bookings came through phone calls. Out-of-hours enquiries went unanswered, and staff spent significant time on administrative calls.
No group reporting
Revenue, productivity, and job data lived in four separate systems with no way to compare or consolidate performance.
One platform for every part of the group
Best Garages Ltd moved all four locations onto BOOKAR's Expert plan with Multi-Garage and the Complete Website Solution. Every system they were juggling was replaced by one.
Multi-Garage
All four locations under one account. Management switches between Newport, Lymington, Ringwood, and Fordingbridge in a single click — with a group-level dashboard showing combined performance across the group at all times.
Complete Website Solution
BOOKAR built and launched a professional, SEO-optimised website for the group. Each location has its own booking page, with real-time availability drawn directly from the workshop calendar. Live within four weeks of go-ahead.
Full GMS — Expert Plan
Digital work orders, Kanban job board, calendar with bay management, invoicing, and the full OEM technical data suite — repair procedures, wiring diagrams, labour times, and diagnostics — for every technician at every site.
Shared CRM
One customer profile, visible at every location. When a Lymington customer books into Ringwood, the team already has their vehicle history, contact preferences, and past work on screen before they arrive.
Customer Communication
Two-way SMS messaging from every job. Authorisation requests with photos and videos. Text to Pay for collection. Automated MOT and service reminders — all sent from the relevant branch, automatically.
Group Reporting
Revenue, productivity, labour recovery, and payment data consolidated across all four sites. Management can view the group at a glance or drill down into any individual location — in real time, without a spreadsheet.
Live across all four sites in under six weeks
BOOKAR's onboarding team imported customer records, vehicle history, and service data for all four locations. Each garage's bays, technicians, labour rates, and service menus were configured before launch. Staff were trained on the platform before go-live — most were confident within a day.
The new website launched in week five, with individual booking pages for each location, Google Reviews integration, and full SEO optimisation. Within 90 days of launch, online bookings had increased by 40% across the group.
- 1
Week 1–2
Onboarding & data import
Customer records, vehicle history, and service data imported for all four locations. Staff accounts created with location-appropriate roles and permissions.
- 2
Week 3
Configuration
Service menus, labour rates, bay layouts, and opening hours configured per location. Supplier connections established for parts and tyre ordering.
- 3
Week 4
Go-live on GMS
All four garages live on BOOKAR for job management, invoicing, and customer communication. Paper job cards retired on day one.
- 4
Week 5
Website launch
New group website live with location-specific booking pages, Google Reviews integration, and SEO-optimised content for each site.
- 5
Week 6+
Optimise
Group reporting reviewed weekly. Labour recovery rates and bay utilisation data used to identify and address inefficiencies at each location.
Four locations. One standard.
Every Best Garages location runs the same platform, the same workflows, and delivers the same experience — regardless of which branch a customer walks into.
Newport
Hampshire
The group's founding garage and largest site. Hub for OEM technical data queries shared across the group.
Lymington
Hampshire
High volume of MOT and service work. Online booking now accounts for over half of all new appointments.
Ringwood
Hampshire
Strong tyre sales through the integrated tyre ordering and online booking workflow.
Fordingbridge
Hampshire
Smallest site, fastest improvement in labour recovery rate after adopting BOOKAR's reporting.
What changed — and how quickly
The impact was felt in the first week. The numbers followed over the coming months.
Online bookings up 40%
Within 90 days of the new website going live, online bookings had grown by 40% across the group. Out-of-hours bookings — previously zero — now account for a significant portion of weekly appointments.
Admin time cut by 60%
Paper job cards, manual invoicing, and end-of-day reporting spreadsheets were eliminated on day one. Staff report spending significantly less time on admin and more time with customers and vehicles.
One customer record per person
Customer records consolidated across all four locations. Staff can see full service history regardless of which branch a customer has previously visited — improving first-contact accuracy across the group.
Real-time group reporting
Management now reviews group performance daily rather than weekly. Labour recovery rates, bay utilisation, and revenue comparisons across locations are available at any time — without a single spreadsheet.
Improved labour recovery
Access to OEM labour time estimates has tightened job quoting and invoicing accuracy. Labour that was previously quoted broadly is now costed precisely — reducing revenue leakage on every job.
Reviews growing consistently
Automated review requests, sent after every completed job, have driven a steady increase in Google reviews across all four locations — improving local search rankings and building credibility with new customers.
What Best Garages runs on
The full BOOKAR stack — Expert GMS, Multi-Garage, and the Complete Website Solution — gives Best Garages everything they need to run a professional, growing group without adding staff or complexity.
- Expert GMS — full OEM technical data suite included
- Multi-Garage — all four locations, one login
- Complete Website Solution — four location booking pages, SEO-optimised
- Google Reviews integration on the group website
- Two-way SMS, Text to Pay, and Pay in 3 finance
- Automated MOT and service reminders across all sites
- Group and per-location reporting dashboard
Running more than one garage?
Talk to us about Multi-Garage. We'll show you how BOOKAR can bring your locations together — and what that looks like for a group your size.
Join Our Newsletter
Subscribe to receive the latest news, updates and software insights, directly to your inbox.