Independent garage · since 2006
MOT £40. Every advisory explained.
Servicing that keeps your manufacturer warranty, diagnostics, brakes, clutches and tyres, by Bank Quay station. We collect from home or work anywhere within five miles.
The DVSA maximum for a car MOT is £54.85. Ours is £40, or £30 with any service.
Three ramps on Slutchers Lane
A garage that shows you the part before it charges you for one.
We are four people, three ramps and an MOT bay, between the station and the river. Most of our cars are Warrington cars that spend their lives on the M62, the M6 and the M56, and most of their owners would rather be at work than in our waiting room. So we collect, we text photos of whatever we find with a fixed price beside it, and we do nothing you have not said yes to.
- MOTs a year
- 2,900
- First-time pass rate
- 81%
- Google reviews
- 4.9 from 412
- Miles from M62 J9
- 2.5
MOT testing
When is my MOT due, and what will it cost?
A car’s first MOT is due three years after it was first registered, then every year. You can test up to a month, minus a day, early and keep the same renewal date. Put in what you know and we will work out the rest.
Book now
Due 12 March 2027
148 days to go
- Earliest test that keeps the date
- 13 February 2027
- Our price
- £40
- DVSA maximum
- £54.85
Class 4 car
£40 here
DVSA maximum £54.85. Free partial retest within 10 working days if it stays with us.
Inside the MOT bay
Twelve things the tester checks, in the order they walk round.
12 of 12 checked
- 01
Lights
Every lamp works, is the right colour and is aimed. Headlamp aim is checked on a beam setter.
- 02
Registration plates
Secure, legible, the right font and spacing, and matching the logbook.
- 03
Windscreen and wipers
No damage over 10 mm in the driver’s view, and wipers and washers that clear it.
- 04
Mirrors
Present, secure and giving a view behind.
- 05
Horn
One continuous note, loud enough to be heard.
- 06
Steering and suspension
No excessive play, no broken springs, no worn joints or leaking dampers.
- 07
Brakes
Measured on the roller tester: efficiency, balance side to side, and the handbrake.
- 08
Seats and seatbelts
Seats secure, every belt locking, retracting and anchored.
- 09
Body and structure
No sharp edges, and no corrosion in a load-bearing area.
- 10
Doors, bonnet and boot
Front doors open from inside and out, everything latches.
- 11
Fuel system
No leaks, a cap that seals, pipes secure.
- 12
Exhaust and emissions
Secure and quiet, and the gas analyser or smoke meter reading within the limit for the engine.
What we do
Everything a car needs between the dealer and the scrapyard.
Any make, petrol, diesel, hybrid or electric. Prices below are fixed and include VAT; the full menu, by size of car, is further down.
-
MOT testing
Class 4 and class 7, in our own bay, by a DVSA nominated tester who is not paid on repairs.
£40DVSA maximum £54.85
-
Servicing
Interim, full and major services to your manufacturer’s schedule, with matching-quality parts. Your warranty stays intact.
from £119Book stamped, record emailed
-
Diagnostics
A warning light read properly: the fault code, then the test that proves which part is at fault before you pay for one.
£45Off the bill if we fix it
-
Brakes
Pads, discs, calipers, pipes and fluid. Measured and photographed, so you see the wear we are quoting for.
from £115Front pads, small car
-
Clutches and cambelts
Clutch kits and dual mass flywheels, cambelt and water pump kits on the mileage or the age, whichever comes first.
from £345Cambelt kit, small car
-
Tyres and alignment
Budget to premium, fitted and balanced while you wait, and four-wheel alignment for cars that pull on the M62.
from £82205/55 R16, mid-range, fitted
-
Air conditioning
Regas in R134a or R1234yf, leak test and a cabin filter, so the screen clears in October as well as cooling in July.
from £59R134a regas
-
Hybrid and EV
Servicing and high-voltage work by technicians with the IMI TechSafe Level 3 qualification, and nobody else.
from £69Hybrid health check
Under warranty?
Keep the warranty. Skip the dealer’s price.
UK competition law lets you have a car under its manufacturer’s warranty serviced at any garage, so long as the work follows the manufacturer’s schedule and uses parts of matching quality. The rule is the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Order, and dealers know it.
- Your manufacturer’s schedule, read for your exact car
- Oil to the manufacturer’s specification, written on the invoice
- Book stamped, or the digital record updated, and a copy emailed
- Recalls and warranty repairs flagged, so you take those to the dealer
A full service on a medium car is £219 here. Which? found dealers averaged £361.
Fixed-price menu, 2026
The price on the board is the price on the invoice.
What size is your car?
Prices shown for a medium car, 1.4 to 2.0 litre.
| Included | Interim | Full | Major |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil and filter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fluids checked and topped up | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lights, tyres, wipers and battery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Brakes checked, wheels off | No | Yes | Yes |
| Air filter and pollen filter | No | Yes | Yes |
| Steering, suspension and exhaust | No | Yes | Yes |
| Spark plugs or diesel fuel filter | No | No | Yes |
| Brake fluid renewed | No | No | Yes |
| Service book stamped, light reset | Yes | Yes | Yes |
All prices include VAT. Labour beyond the menu is £66 an hour plus VAT, £79.20 with it, and is quoted before we start.
Advisories, in plain English
What the bottom of your MOT certificate actually means.
An advisory is not a fail. It is the tester telling you what they saw that will need doing. These are the eight we write most often, with what they mean, how soon, and roughly what it costs here.
- Before winter worth doing in the next few months
- Keep an eye on it look again at the next service
“Tyre worn close to legal limit” Before winter
The legal minimum is 1.6 mm across the middle three quarters of the tread. “Close” usually means 2 mm or less. It passes today, but stopping distances in the wet are already getting longer.
From £82 a tyre, fitted and balanced
“Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened” Before winter
The discs have a lip or grooves. They will still stop the car; they will wear the new pads faster and may judder. Usually done with the next set of pads.
Front discs and pads from £215
“Oil leak, but not excessive” Keep an eye on it
Something is weeping oil, often a rocker cover or sump gasket. Check the dipstick every fortnight. If drops appear on the drive, bring it in and we will find the source.
Found for £45, fixed from about £120
“Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement” Keep an eye on it
A rubber bush is perishing. You may hear a knock over speed bumps. It becomes a fail when the play gets bigger, so we look again at the next service.
Lower arm fitted from £145
“Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material” Before winter
Common on older cars after a few winters of road salt. The pipe is sound now, but it rusts from the outside in. Cheaper to replace before it fails than after it bursts.
From £95 a section
“Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases” Before winter
A blow at a joint or a small hole. Louder, and fumes can reach the cabin. A bigger leak is a fail, and they only grow.
Joint or section from £85
“Windscreen has damage to an area less than a specified size” Keep an eye on it
A chip or crack small enough to pass. A cold morning and a heater on full can turn a chip into a crack. Most insurers repair chips for nothing.
Usually free through your insurer
“Coil spring corroded” Keep an eye on it
Surface rust on a spring. It is a fail only when the spring is broken or seriously weakened, but a rusty spring is the one that snaps on a pothole.
Pair of springs from £180
Cars that live on the motorway
Warrington sits inside the M62, the M6 and the M56. So do its cars.
Motorway miles are kind to brakes and clutches and hard on everything else: tyres worn on the shoulder, stone chips in the screen, wipers that never get a rest, and diesels whose filters are fine until the commute changes. We service to the mileage, not the calendar, when the mileage comes first.
- M62 J9 Up Winwick Road, the A49 8 min
- M62 J8 Out past Westbrook 10 min
- M56 J10 Down Wilderspool Causeway, through Stockton Heath 12 min
- M6 J21 Along Manchester Road, the A57 12 min
Drive times from the garage outside the rush, rounded.
Collection and delivery
Your car’s day with us, while you are at work.
Free collection and delivery within about five miles of Bank Quay, from home or from work, Monday to Friday. Or a courtesy car, free on jobs that take the day.
- 7:45
Drop off, or we collect
Keys through the door at Slutchers Lane, or Lou picks the car up from your house or your work.
- 9:30
We look, and we text you
Photos and a short video of anything we find, with a fixed price beside each item.
- 9:45
You say yes, or no
Nothing beyond what you booked is done without your yes. “No” is a fine answer.
- 14:00
Done and road-tested
Old parts kept in a bag in the boot, if you want to see them.
- 17:30
Home again
Collected cars are back on your drive by half five, invoice by text.
Collect and deliver
Free within five miles. Birchwood, Lymm and Culcheth £15 each way. Driven on our trade plates and insurance.
Courtesy car
One small hatchback, free on all-day jobs. Book it with the job and bring your driving licence.
MOT reminders
A text a month before your MOT and service are due. One text, not a newsletter, and you can stop it any time.
Where we collect from
Most of Warrington is inside five miles of Bank Quay.
- Town centre 0.6 mi
- Whitecross 1.0 mi
- Bewsey 1.2 mi
- Sankey Bridges 1.4 mi
- Latchford 1.8 mi
- Orford 2.1 mi
- Stockton Heath 2.2 mi
- Westbrook 3.0 mi
- Great Sankey 3.1 mi
- Penketh 3.6 mi
Birchwood, Lymm or Culcheth? We still collect, for £15 each way.
Directions to Slutchers LaneReviews
What Warrington says once the car is home.
- ★★★★★
Passed with two advisories and Dave actually showed me both under the car. No hard sell, just “those discs will want doing by Christmas”. They did.
Gemma, Great Sankey
MOT and advisories
- ★★★★★
Collected from my work at Birchwood, clutch done, back by half five. The price on the text was the price on the invoice.
Rob, Penketh
Clutch
- ★★★★★
The dealer wanted £340. This was £219, the book was stamped and the warranty’s fine. I checked.
Aisha, Stockton Heath
Full service, under warranty
- ★★★★★
Two places had guessed at my engine light and replaced parts. These found a split vacuum pipe in an hour. £45.
Phil, Orford
Diagnostics
- ★★★★★
Hard to find anyone local who will touch a hybrid. They explained what the battery health report meant, in English.
Kerry, Westbrook
Hybrid service
- ★★★★★
They sent a photo of my old pads next to the new ones. I do 40,000 miles a year on the M6, and I’ve been back three times.
Mo, Latchford
Brakes
Who will have your keys
Four people. You will speak to one of them.
- Dave R.Owner and DVSA nominated MOT tester. Thirty years on Warrington cars.
- Sana K.Master technician, IMI TechSafe Level 3. Diagnostics, hybrids and EVs.
- Jake P.Technician. Trained here as an apprentice. Clutches, cambelts and brakes.
- Lou B.Front desk and the collection van. The voice on the phone.
- DVSA Authorised MOT test centre, classes 4 and 7
- TechSafe L3 IMI qualified for hybrid and EV high-voltage work
- 12 months Parts and labour guarantee, 12,000 miles
- £66 + VAT Labour rate an hour, written on every quote
Will servicing here affect my new car’s warranty?
No. Under the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Order you can have a car serviced anywhere, so long as the work follows the manufacturer’s schedule and uses parts of matching quality. We do both, stamp the book and email a record you can show a dealer. Warranty repairs themselves still go to the dealer, and we will tell you when something is one.
How early can I MOT my car?
Up to a month, minus a day, before the current one runs out, and you keep the same renewal date. Test earlier than that and the new certificate runs a year from the test. The checker above works the date out for you.
What happens if my car fails?
You get the certificate, a photo of each fault and a fixed price for each repair. Leave it with us and fix it within 10 working days, and the partial retest is free. You are free to take it elsewhere; a car with a dangerous fault should not be driven, and we will help you arrange that.
What is an advisory, and do I have to fix it?
An advisory is something the tester has seen that is not a fail yet. You do not have to fix it to pass. Our decoder above says what the common ones mean and how soon they usually need doing.
Do you really collect the car?
Yes, free within about five miles of Bank Quay, which is most of Warrington. Further than that, Birchwood, Lymm or Culcheth, is £15 each way. Lou drives it on trade plates and insurance, and it comes back by half five.
Is there a courtesy car?
One, a small hatchback, free on jobs that take the day. Book it with the job, bring your licence, and bring it back with the fuel it left with.
Can you service hybrids and electric cars?
Yes. Any work on the high-voltage system is done by a technician with the IMI TechSafe Level 3 qualification, and the rest of the car, brakes, tyres, suspension and air con, is serviced like any other.
Book a job
Tell us about the car. We will ring to confirm.
We reply within the working hour with a time and a fixed price. Nothing is booked until you have heard from us.
- Front desk01632 960 418
- Collection van, texts welcome07700 900 266
- Emailbookings@bankquaymotors.co.uk
- The garageUnit 3, Slutchers Lane, Bank Quay, Warrington WA1 1NF
Open Monday to Friday 7:45 to 5:30, Saturday 8 to 12:30
| Monday | 7:45am to 5:30pm |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 7:45am to 5:30pm |
| Wednesday | 7:45am to 5:30pm |
| Thursday | 7:45am to 5:30pm |
| Friday | 7:45am to 5:30pm |
| Saturday | 8am to 12:30pm |
| Sunday | Closed |
Thanks. That is with Lou.
We will ring within the working hour to confirm a time and a price.
Reference BQ-1015