Updates

A Few Important Updates From Florian Motors

Florian Motors has grown a lot over the years, and these days the workshop is busier than ever. We’re incredibly grateful for that, but it also means there are a few things we need to be clear about.

As a family-run business, we take great pride in the work we do and genuinely care about the vehicles we work on. As things get busier, though, there are a few things we need our customers to understand and respect.

Discounts & Price Negotiations

Please don’t ask for a discount once a price has already been agreed and the work has been completed.

If we have inspected your vehicle, discussed the work with you, provided a price and you have agreed to proceed, that is the agreed price for the job.

We understand that you may find another garage that will carry out a particular job for £20 or £50 less. That’s absolutely fine. Every garage has its own pricing, working methods, parts suppliers and operating costs.

We do not cut corners to make our prices cheaper.

If you have found somebody who can do the job cheaper and you would prefer to use them, there are absolutely no hard feelings. Please use them from the beginning. We would rather be clear about this than have an uncomfortable conversation once the work has already been completed.

Our prices reflect the time, labour, equipment, parts, experience and responsibility involved in carrying out the work properly.

We are currently extremely busy and booked well in advance, and unfortunately we simply don’t have the time to negotiate every job. We are already doing our best to accommodate additional work between existing bookings and have become more selective about the work we accept so that we can maintain the standard of service we provide.

Our prices are not a starting point for negotiation.

Delays & Completion Times

We would also like to apologise in advance if there are sometimes delays with your vehicle.

Unfortunately, vehicle repairs do not always go according to plan.

A job that we initially expect to take two hours can sometimes turn into a four or five-hour job because of seized bolts, additional faults, damaged components, difficult access or unexpected problems discovered during the repair.

When one job takes considerably longer than expected, it inevitably has a knock-on effect on the vehicles booked afterwards.

We understand that everyone has plans and needs their vehicle back, and we genuinely do our best to keep everything on schedule. Sometimes, however, we simply cannot predict what we will find until we start working on the vehicle.

We therefore ask for a little patience and understanding if your vehicle is occasionally delayed.

Communication & Telephone Calls

I would personally like to apologise to anyone whose calls or messages I have missed. It is not intentional and I am not ignoring anyone.

Our phone rings constantly throughout the day, and we currently do not have a full-time receptionist. Even with a receptionist, many customers understandably still want to speak directly with me, which makes managing the phone while working on vehicles extremely difficult.

I do my best to return calls and answer messages early in the morning, before starting work, and again at the end of the working day.

We have both a landline and mobile number, and I know many customers have both. However, after 18:00, please remember that we are also a family. We have children, we need to eat, have a shower, spend some time together and eventually switch off after a long working day.

My phone can continue ringing and receiving messages until midnight on some days. If you call after 18:00 and I don’t answer, please leave a message or send a text or WhatsApp message and I will get back to you the following day.

I completely understand that genuine emergencies happen. However, repeatedly calling 5–10 times within a couple of minutes will not make me available any quicker. In fact, when the phone is constantly ringing, it becomes even more difficult to see which calls I have missed and return them.

One call is enough. If I miss it, I will return it as soon as I am available.

Again, we are not ignoring anyone. We are simply extremely busy.

Vehicle Storage

We are a working garage with limited space, so unfortunately we cannot store vehicles on our premises indefinitely.

We now have a formal Vehicle Storage Policy covering collection times, repair authorisation and the storage charges that may apply when vehicles remain on our premises, which can always be found in our Important Information section.

Please make sure you read the policy when leaving a vehicle with us.

Rising Costs & Labour Rates

Unfortunately, this is probably the least welcome part of this update.

As everyone knows, the cost of running a business continues to increase.

Parts, oils, consumables, electricity, fuel, insurance, equipment, diagnostic subscriptions and specialist tools have all become increasingly expensive.

Modern vehicles are also becoming more technically advanced. Newer vehicles often require specialist diagnostic equipment, timing belt and timing chain tools, programming equipment and other professional tools in order for repairs to be carried out correctly.

These tools and equipment are not optional if we want to continue providing the standard of work we expect from ourselves.

We have always tried to keep our prices as reasonable as possible while still providing a proper service. However, with the continuing increase in operating costs, we will need to review and increase our labour rates going forward.

This isn’t something we are doing simply because we want to charge more. It is necessary to allow us to continue investing in the equipment, tools, training and facilities required to work properly on modern vehicles.

Our priorities remain the same:

QUALITY WORK
HONEST ADVICE
NO SHORTCUTS
PROPER EQUIPMENT
PROPER REPAIRS

We genuinely appreciate every customer who supports our family business.

We know we’re not perfect. Sometimes we may be difficult to get hold of, sometimes jobs take longer than expected and sometimes things simply don’t go according to plan.

But we can promise that we are doing our absolute best every day, and we are incredibly grateful to the customers who understand how hard our team works and continue to trust us with their vehicles.

Thank you for your continued support.

Florian