To close our garage?

[EssentialGarage]

Car repair and car sales garage, 8 members of staff. It's my dad's business and he is now in 12 week isolation as he is at risk. Classed as essential as keeping transport moving. Doing what we can to keep apart from customers, two members of staff have close family in at risk group.

If we close would this be

A. Letting people down as they need to have somewhere to get car repaired /MOT
Etc

B. The right thing to do to protect staff and social distance.

Thanks

If you let the two staff with close family who are vulnerable go home, will you / they be able to access the government money for losing their jobs?

I don't know much about garages - but is there some kind of reduced service you can offer?

Of can you close but give advice over the internet to your customers to help them fix easy problems and still order parts for them? (I guess as so many modern cars need a computer to fix them this might be unrealistic?!)

Thanks, can't work from home at all. After BoJo last night I'm even more confused. We are listed as essential but I can't see how we are if everyone is stuck at home.

The people who need to get to work need the support of a garage to keep their cars on the road, whether that's MOT testing, if it's not being waived for a period, servicing and repairs. Operate with a minimum number of staff. Send the others home.

Garages are not on the list of businesses that need to close (only car showrooms). Maybe only open for essential repairs and observe social distancing. If vulnerable people and key workers can't get out to get food or work in the nhs more lives will be at risk.

Here is the government guidance
www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close?utm_source=77e9a975-dcba-4146-b1f9-d36e8d01465f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

@crazydiamond222 thanks that's very helpful as was unsure about takeaway deliveries

In case anyone was interested we are closing tomorrow. Despite being a 'key worker' since the MOTs have been extended we have had mass cancelation, have gone from being booked three weeks in advance to only three customers next week.
Scared and sad, will do everything in our power to continue to pay the staff, not sure we will survive it.

I'm sorry this has happened to you, your family and employees. The change on MOTs just shows how seriously this is being taken.

I’m in the exact same position as you, owning a garage we have also made the decision to close :( but we can’t keep staff safe anymore

organisedmother exactly, it's not just that it's financially not viable, but it's the fact we can't adequately protect the staff.

When isolation is over just means work will be chaos and half the nation will need an MOT 😬

Agree and after 18 months the failure list will be bigger. Just hope the govt revert to 12 month MOTs when this is over as so many cars are dangerous in 12 months let alone 18.

My dh works in this area and his garage has just closed . It is starting to hit already,; key workers cars are breaking down, but no garages open to fix them as it isn't financially viable to stay open , and even if they were it is a huge struggle to get the parts.

Essentially, If your car breaks down anytime soon, you are fucked.

I had my car MOT'd last week. Failed on a minor thing but the garage I took it to couldn't fix it. Had it fixed else where and was due to take it back for its re test on Monday but ended up having a work a full day instead of just the 2 calls I was due to be doing. Rang up on Tuesday no answer so I drove down to find it all locked up. Had to take it to a different garage and have the whole MOT done from scratch so the 2 MOT's cost me £147 because it needed a pay test? doing (work fixing my headlight was free because it was literally just a couple of turns of a screw driver to realign it.

We will leave an emergency number so customers can contact in an emergency however agree with above and it's very difficult to get parts.

Lozz22 that's awful, we wouldn't close with outstanding retest

Garage, can I ask a question?

We have a car and a camper van both parked up. We are both classed as vulnerable so unlikely to be going anywhere for the next 12 weeks .

What impact can that have on our vehicles...is there anything we should be doing to keep them in good state?

Good luck for the future

@midgebabe firstly make sure you leave the handbrake off (unless on a hill) leave the car in gear and put something under the wheel. Handbrakes will seize on if left on for too long. As long as your vehicles don't have a tracking device (or need to have the car alarm) then disconnect the battery. Modern cars really don't like being jump started and the battery will drain.