How we verify

This site is only worth anything if the numbers on it ring the right business. So here is exactly what we checked, how, and what we did not check.

What is on the site today

• 502 independent garages across 119 postcode areas in mainland Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• 499 with a phone number we have a reason to trust. Where a number looked transcribed wrong or incomplete, we dropped it rather than publish it.
• 307 with a real review score attached. Where we could not tie a rating to that specific business, we show no rating at all rather than borrow a neighbour's.
• Zero recovery operators, mobile mechanics, mobile tyre fitters, hire desks or hotels. Those categories are in progress and say so on every page.

The four tests a garage has to pass

1. Class 7 authorised. It holds a DVSA Class 7 MOT authorisation, so the ramp and bay physically take a van between 3,000kg and 3,500kg. This is the test most directories skip, and it is the one that matters most when your van is already on a truck.
2. Independently owned. Not a chain, not a franchised main dealer, not a depot of a national network. Chains are easy to find without us and generally cost a van owner more per hour.
3. Still trading. Checked against current web presence and, where the company is a limited company, against Companies House. Garages close and directories do not notice for years.
4. A real reputation, tied to that business. Reviews that genuinely belong to that company at that address, not to the unit next door with a similar name. Where we could not establish that, we either list it with no rating or we leave it out.

What we did not check, and you should

We have not visited any of these garages, we have not had work done at most of them, and we cannot tell you what they will quote you. A listing here means the business exists, is independent, can physically take your van, and has a reputation that is not a red flag. It does not mean we are vouching for the invoice.

So do the three things that protect you, at any garage anywhere:

• Get the price before the work, in writing, even a text.
• Ask what the diagnostic charge is and whether it comes off the repair.
• Ask for the old parts back.

All three are completely normal requests and a good garage will not blink at any of them.

Safety information

The get-safe guidance on this site follows the Highway Code rules on breakdowns and obstructions (274 to 277) and National Highways breakdown guidance. Every official phone number was checked against the operator's own website rather than written from memory, and we deliberately do not publish a Northern Ireland traffic line because there is no single equivalent, so NI routes to the police numbers instead.

Our interest in this, stated plainly

VanDown is run by someone who operates a working van fleet, and who also runs transport and storage businesses. That means on two categories, onward transport and storage, we may end up being the ones who do the job. Where that happens we will say so on the page rather than dress it up as a neutral recommendation. The safety pages carry no commercial interest at all and never will.

Questions

Do businesses pay to be listed on VanDown?

Not the garages currently listed. Every one of them was found through DVSA Class 7 MOT authorisation records and checked without their involvement, and none of them know they are here. Paid listings may exist in future for categories we are still building, and if that happens they will be labelled as paid on the page. A paid listing will never be able to displace or outrank a verified one without saying so.

Why are there no chains or main dealers?

Deliberate. A chain is easy to find without us and a franchised dealer will usually charge a van owner considerably more per hour. The hard thing to find at eight in the morning with a dead van is a good independent with a Class 7 bay, so that is the only thing we list.

What does Class 7 actually mean?

Class 7 is the DVSA MOT class for vehicles between 3,000kg and 3,500kg design gross weight, which is where most working vans sit. A garage holding Class 7 authorisation has a ramp and a bay rated to take one. It sounds like a technicality right up until a car-only garage turns you away with your van already on a recovery truck.

A listing is wrong, or I want mine removed.

Email us and it will be corrected or removed, no argument and no conditions. Wrong information is worse than no information on a site people use at the roadside, so we would rather take an entry down and re-check it than defend it.

Why do some categories have no businesses listed at all?

Because we have not verified any yet, and we will not publish a business we have not checked. The categories with nothing in them say so plainly. A phone number that rings the wrong business at nine at night is the single worst thing this site could do, so an honest gap beats a padded directory.