Recommended Garage - Automerc, London
Posted: 29 Jul 2014, 20:28
Hello everyone.
There are always requests for recommended mechanics and garages, so I thought I'd do a write-up of a North London Garage for the forum, just in case it comes in handy for someone in the future.
Automerc is a long-established indie, run by a partnership who really know their stuff. They have recently moved to new premises and now have an excellent large workshop with several lifts and a detailing bay, as well as connections to handle all kinds of work from the basics to full restorations. German cars are their specialty - I came to know them after purchasing my other car, an elderly Mercedes. They have brought that car back to an excellent, reliable condition and over recent years have always provided good service and faultless work every time, including great support with many issues along the way.
While they have all the modern diagnostic tools for MB, BMW and Audi, and work on some serious modern machines, what I love about them is their knowledge and experience of older vehicles, proper experience that most garages lack for the quirkier or older vehicles. Ivan is the business manager who you'll speak to if you call - he's friendly, efficient and delivers on his promises, and will help plan work without the hard sell. Joe is the chief mechanic, and he's great - he will not throw parts at a fault and spend the customer's money in the hope of a lucky fix, rather he will use his great experience to trace the problem before addressing it (often when others have failed, including main dealers.) Their second mechanic is Adrian, another hard-working and competant guy.
My 'new' T25 has just been with them for a thorough inspection and some remedial work: everything that I knew was wrong was efficiently spotted and fixed properly, and the appraisal was honest. It's running perfectly after a top-end rebuild and a new exhaust, and the wasserboxer is no mystery to Joe who's seen plenty in his time, despite his regular diet of old-fashioned straight-eights, classic German stuff and computerised modern motors of all kinds.
Their labour rates are not the lowest - this is London after all and it's no back-street workshop either, but I have never had anything but good service and quality work, whether servicing, minor repairs or more major overhauls. You get what you pay for... if you are in London and have had problems with a different garage, need a second opinion or are a new owner looking for a trustworthy business to deal with, give them a call.
And no, I'm not a relation of theirs! I just feel that good work should be praised on the forums, much as bad work is discussed for the benefit of others. To be honest, I have not always had good experiences with garages to say the least, and it's made a big difference to my experience of running older cars to have a good one to rely on.
Tim
There are always requests for recommended mechanics and garages, so I thought I'd do a write-up of a North London Garage for the forum, just in case it comes in handy for someone in the future.
Automerc is a long-established indie, run by a partnership who really know their stuff. They have recently moved to new premises and now have an excellent large workshop with several lifts and a detailing bay, as well as connections to handle all kinds of work from the basics to full restorations. German cars are their specialty - I came to know them after purchasing my other car, an elderly Mercedes. They have brought that car back to an excellent, reliable condition and over recent years have always provided good service and faultless work every time, including great support with many issues along the way.
While they have all the modern diagnostic tools for MB, BMW and Audi, and work on some serious modern machines, what I love about them is their knowledge and experience of older vehicles, proper experience that most garages lack for the quirkier or older vehicles. Ivan is the business manager who you'll speak to if you call - he's friendly, efficient and delivers on his promises, and will help plan work without the hard sell. Joe is the chief mechanic, and he's great - he will not throw parts at a fault and spend the customer's money in the hope of a lucky fix, rather he will use his great experience to trace the problem before addressing it (often when others have failed, including main dealers.) Their second mechanic is Adrian, another hard-working and competant guy.
My 'new' T25 has just been with them for a thorough inspection and some remedial work: everything that I knew was wrong was efficiently spotted and fixed properly, and the appraisal was honest. It's running perfectly after a top-end rebuild and a new exhaust, and the wasserboxer is no mystery to Joe who's seen plenty in his time, despite his regular diet of old-fashioned straight-eights, classic German stuff and computerised modern motors of all kinds.
Their labour rates are not the lowest - this is London after all and it's no back-street workshop either, but I have never had anything but good service and quality work, whether servicing, minor repairs or more major overhauls. You get what you pay for... if you are in London and have had problems with a different garage, need a second opinion or are a new owner looking for a trustworthy business to deal with, give them a call.
And no, I'm not a relation of theirs! I just feel that good work should be praised on the forums, much as bad work is discussed for the benefit of others. To be honest, I have not always had good experiences with garages to say the least, and it's made a big difference to my experience of running older cars to have a good one to rely on.
Tim