Checkatrade alternatives for garages: 6 honest options
Start with a free Google Business Profile, because it still brings in more local work than any paid directory. Then, if you want a paid channel, pick one that matches how you win jobs. Trade sources report Checkatrade membership at roughly £70 to £140+ a month plus a £300 to £500 setup fee, with each lead shared between three or four trades. For a garage that already gets word of mouth, that's a lot of money to enter a quoting race. Here are six alternatives, with the honest downsides included.
First, the fair bit: Checkatrade does work for some garages
No strawman here. Checkatrade has real brand recognition, and a garage in a competitive town with an empty diary and someone happy to answer the phone fast can make it pay. The gripes you hear in the trade aren't about the idea, they're about the model. Reported costs (Checkatrade doesn't publish garage pricing) sit around £70 to £140+ a month depending on area, plus a setup fee of £300 to £500 and lead credits on top. Each lead usually goes out to three or four trades at once. You're paying for the chance to quote, not for a customer. If that suits you, fine. If it doesn't, here's what else exists.
1. Google Business Profile (free, and do it first)
Before you spend a penny anywhere else, sort this. It's free. When someone searches "garage near me" or "MOT [your town]", the map results at the top are Google Business Profiles, and most independent garages have a half-finished one. Fill in every service you offer, add real photos of the workshop, list your opening hours accurately, and reply to every review, including the bad ones. It takes an afternoon and it outperforms most paid directories because the customer found you directly. No middleman, no shared lead, no fee. The only downside is patience: reviews take months to build, and in a town with six garages you're fighting for three map slots.
2. FixMyCar (formerly WhoCanFixMyCar)
You pay £99+VAT to join, then a success fee on each booking you win. No monthly subscription, which sounds friendly. The catch is the quoting war: drivers post a job, several garages quote, and the cheapest quote usually wins. That pushes prices down, and the success fee comes off an already-squeezed job. It suits a new garage or one with dead time on the ramp, because you only pay when you win work. It suits established garages far less, and we've written a fuller breakdown of whether FixMyCar is worth it. Run the maths per job before you rely on it.
3. BookMyGarage
Comparison site where drivers book MOTs and servicing directly by price. You pay commission per booking (rates vary by job and aren't published; trade sources report per-booking fees rather than a flat rate). Good side: bookings arrive confirmed, not as leads you have to chase. Bad side: it's a price-sorted list, so cheap garages float to the top, and the commission eats into jobs that were priced low to win the click in the first place. Works well for filling MOT slots. Less good as your main source of repair work.
4. Trustpilot free tier
Not a lead generator, a trust builder. The free plan lets you collect and reply to reviews, and the profile ranks well when someone Googles your garage name. Costs nothing, takes little time, and backs up every other channel: a driver who finds you on any platform will check your reviews before booking. The limitation is obvious. Trustpilot won't put you in front of anyone who hasn't already heard of you.
5. Local Facebook groups and your own page
Free, and genuinely effective in smaller towns. "Anyone recommend a garage?" gets asked in every local group weekly, and the garages that get named repeatedly get the work. You can't spam these groups (and you shouldn't), but a decent page with photos of real jobs, plus happy customers mentioning you organically, is worth more than a directory badge. Downside: slow, unpredictable, and it depends on service that earns the mentions.
6. MyRepairCost Fair Price Approved listing
This is us, so judge accordingly. Thousands of UK drivers a month use MyRepairCost to check what a repair should cost before they book. A Fair Price Approved listing puts your garage in front of drivers in your area at the exact moment they've finished checking a price, which is a different kind of lead: they already know the fair cost, so they're not shopping for the cheapest quote, they're looking for a garage they can trust to charge it. First 3 months are free, then it's £39 a month flat. No per-lead fees, no commission, no setup cost, no contract. The honest downside: we're newer and smaller than Checkatrade, so volume depends on how many drivers in your postcode use the site. Details on the for garages page.
Side by side
| Platform | Typical cost | How you pay | Main drawback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Free | Nothing | Slow to build, competitive map slots |
| Checkatrade | £70-£140+/mo + £300-£500 setup* | Subscription + lead credits | Leads shared with 3-4 trades |
| FixMyCar | £99+VAT setup | Success fee per booking won | Quoting war drives prices down |
| BookMyGarage | No setup* | Commission per booking | Price-sorted, favours the cheapest |
| Trustpilot (free tier) | Free | Nothing | Builds trust, doesn't find customers |
| MyRepairCost | £39/mo after 3 free months | Flat fee, no commission | Newer platform, volume varies by area |
*Not published by the platform; reported by trade sources.
How to actually choose
Don't stack five paid platforms. Fix your Google profile first, get reviews flowing, then add one paid channel and measure it for three months. Count jobs won, not leads received. A £39 flat fee that brings four jobs a month costs you under a tenner per job; a lead platform that sends twenty shared leads and wins you two can quietly cost ten times that. We've put the full numbers side by side in our garage advertising sites comparison if you want the detail before committing to anything.
Common questions
Is Checkatrade worth it for a garage?
It can be, if your diary has gaps and you respond to leads within minutes. Trade sources report £70 to £140+ a month plus a £300 to £500 setup fee, with leads shared between three or four trades. Busy garages with steady word of mouth usually find the numbers don't stack up.
What's the cheapest way for a garage to get more customers?
A properly filled-in Google Business Profile. It's free, it's what drivers actually use when they search "garage near me", and most independents have a half-finished one. Complete every section, add workshop photos, and reply to all reviews. It beats most paid directories.
Do lead generation sites share leads with other garages?
Most do. Checkatrade leads typically go to three or four trades at once, and FixMyCar jobs are quoted on by several garages, so you're competing on price from the first message. Flat-fee listings and direct bookings avoid that, because the driver picks you rather than the cheapest quote.
How much does a MyRepairCost garage listing cost?
The Fair Price Approved listing is free for the first 3 months, then £39 a month flat. There are no per-lead fees, no commission on bookings, no setup charge and no contract, so you can leave whenever you like. Full details are on the for garages page.
Can a garage use more than one advertising platform at once?
Yes, and most do, but measure each one separately for at least three months. Track jobs won and revenue per platform, not leads received. Twenty shared leads that win you two jobs can cost far more per job than a flat-fee listing that brings four direct bookings.