First Motoring Services

This is a small garage, owner/operated by a man who clearly has a deep knowledge of cars. Importantly he is honest and open and not trying to up-sell things that you don't need (like the major chains do). If you want honest advice and work done at a reasonable price from a local man with loads of experience then look no further. I will come back here for sure.

Excellent service. Not the cheapest but Russ makes sure you get your money's worth. Very flexible and kept me up to date while my car was in the garage, explained everything he found, gave me quotes as and when I needed it, and offered excellent advice even when he would lose work from doing so. Overall friendly and reliable service. Would recommend.

The owners of this garage always go the extra mile with no fuss. When my car has refused to start on a couple of occasions over the last two years (always around Christmas time, strangely?!) Russ, the owner, has got us going again even without a booking or an appointment. And the prices are great too! Excellent service.

Have been using Russ for about 4 years (he was recommended by a friend). hes the best mechanic I've ever had by a country mile. Honest, reliable, always happy to give you options re best way to proceed....and even helped me see the light re which cars are the most reliable when I was looking for a new one (clue, not european!!).

We went to Russell for servicing for many years before a recent gap associated with getting a new car. Now that it's a bit older we are very glad to be back on his books. The manufacturer's garage was OK, but less convenient, more expensive and lacked the personal touch. In our experience Russell is reliable, pleasant to deal with, always ready to provide advice, and willing to put himself out to help if you are in difficulty. He recently checked a tyre for a problem for us, found nothing wrong, and did not charge. He contracts out certain work, but in the case of a job just done for me made that perfectly clear.

I have always found the service, efficiency and supportive manner incredible at this garage. Russell is the best mechanic I've ever had and I highly recommend him.

Brilliant service and very reasonably priced. Work was done very quick

Just moved into the area and saw first motoring Hove as I was due an MOT and was very impressed, great service! Would definitely recommend!

A very friendly and professional garage. I was poorly and off sick today and was unable to take my car in for its MOT, so Dawn offered to walk up and collect my car from my home. Exceptional customer service.

Very knowledgable about all types of cars. Gave good advice and kept me up to date on everything. Fitted me in at short notice, super convenient location. £62 for labour per hour- you can decide if that's good value because I genuinely don't know (ive never used a garage before except Qwik fit). Easily contactable - didn't charge me extra even though the job took longer than originally thought :) thanks!

Very friendly and busy gentleman went out of his way and changed our tyre for us! What a star! Thank you so much!

Brilliant service from a friendly local garage, and excellent value for money, half the price I was quoted eleswhere, (H****fds), and a lot of unecessary work was avoided, highly recomended.

Beware this garage. I was very disappointed with the treatment I received for 2 main reasons. The first is the owner is dishonest. He prides himself in providing an honest service by outsourcing the MOT to Kwikfit and therefore not being the one who decides what work you need doing on your car. This is not a bad thing in itself but unfortunately he does not have the ethical behaviour to back this up. He is not upfront about the fact that he does not carry out MOTs, so it was news to me when me car was not at the garage. He said I 'just didn't ask the right questions' and he didn't say he did MOTs he believes he said 'I will sort it for you'. Had I known he would not carry out the MOT himself I would of gone elsewhere for 2 reasons, 1 it would have saved me £30 as he charges £65.82 (inc VAT - not normally charged for MOTs) Kwikfit MOT £35 and 2.) It would have been quicker. He had my car for 2 full working days and over the weekend even though it only had 2 and a half hours work to be done on it. And even then it seemed too much trouble to get it back from Kwikft at my convenience and instead I had to wait for a time when his wife could collect it! However, the main reason I would not return is because he was aggressive, unpleasant and had no concern for customer service, claiming things were 'out of his hands' even though when I rang Kwikfit directly they were more than happy to help. He barked at me in his office for over ten minutes when I queried the MOT bill, claiming he 'had to make a living and put food on the table' 'did I want him to work for free' (at £62 per hour for the work he did it was hardly free) and then concluded 'well next time I will put £30 extra on the labour - you'd never know'. A highly unpleasant experience. I would never talk to anyone in this manner, let alone a woman who was 7months pregnant. A classy outfit. Please avoid.