Owners Ian & Catriona Robertson (centre right) with the winning team at The Garage, Whitburn
A winning formula autotechnician talks to Ian Robertson, owner of The Garage Whitburn, and discovers their award-winning attitude to customer service, their views on the challenges the trade currently faces and their unique pricing structure that has placed the issue of parts quality centre stage with customers
WORKSHOP VISIT
Established in 2010, the Garage Whitburn is a small, familyrun workshop in West Lothian that strives to provide a ‘good old-fashioned service for all modern vehicles’ by prioritising customer service, establishing a fair and transparent pricing structure and becoming an active part of the local community. Giving back to a local area that supports them has earned them an enviable reputation, customer nominations to national workshop awards and winner’s trophies for the past two years.
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Nicola St Clair caught up with Ian to find out about the people and values behind this successful service and repair business and discovered how they tackle complex diagnostic work, their approach to pricing and parts, and their views on the challenges the trade currently faces… Ian’s background was in electronics, designing radar before becoming a service manager in the semiconductor industry. Any spare time was taken up with his passion for stock car racing. Unsurprisingly, he had grown up around cars – his dad had a small garage and scrap yard, but when he became ill, Ian stepped in to help for a couple weeks – this developed into a full-time position, and he opened his own garage in Whitburn in 2010. Ian now works alongside his wife and son and says
Owners: Ian & Catriona Robertson Members of: The Motor Ombudsman; The AA Garage Guide; The Scottish Motor Trade Association; Group Auto’s AutoCare Garage programme & The Foxy Lady Driver Club Approved Garage Network Services: General repairs & maintenance, engine, brakes, alignment, MOTs, tyres, breakdown recovery Extras: Educationial and community activities
the success of the family business is down to the entire team at The Garage Whitburn. “We're just a traditional small garage, we do general repairs,” Ian says when asked if they specialise in any area, “but we do keep our staff up to date with training,” he adds. “My son and I are IMI qualified for Electric Vehicles; we were in the first group of six Scottish garages to get trained.” In addition to IMI courses, they also undertake training with Group Auto, have completed the Gates training belt courses and brake training with Apec – Ian sees this as vital, to stay safe ("avoiding electrocution on EVs!") to assure customers that they know what they are doing and stay up to date.
