A new LKQ Euro Car Parts survey says nearly nine in ten independent garages have turned away or referred EV and plug-in hybrid work. Bob explains why, what it means for your wallet, and what drivers can do.
A new survey reported by GarageWire this week backs up something I've been hearing from other independents for a couple of years now: [nearly nine in ten independent garages have turned away or referred EV or plug-in hybrid work in the last six months](https://garagewire.co.uk/news/company/euro-car-parts/90-of-independent-garages-turn-away-ev-work-over-diagnostic-access-concerns/), mostly because they can't get proper diagnostic access to newer electric brands.
After 32 years on the tools, I've seen a lot of changes in this trade — carburettors to injection, distributors to coil packs, cable throttles to drive-by-wire. Every one of those changes brought new kit and new training, and the independents adapted. This one is different, and it's worth explaining why in plain English.
What the survey actually found
The figures come from the first LKQ Euro Car Parts "Plug In-Dex", a tracker of how independent workshops are coping with electric and hybrid cars. The headline points:
- Nearly 9 in 10 independent garages turned away or referred at least one EV or plug-in hybrid job in the past six months. - 27% named diagnostic access for newer EV brands as the single biggest thing putting them off investing further — the most common reason given. - 83% expect electric and hybrid cars to make up most workshop enquiries within five years. - LKQ estimates that pushing EV servicing back to franchised dealers could add £260m to £550m to UK plug-in drivers' bills over one round of routine servicing.
That last number is the one drivers should pay attention to. It's not an abstract industry squabble — it's money out of your pocket.
Why garages are saying no
It isn't because independents can't handle the work, or don't want it. Plenty of workshops have spent serious money on high-voltage training, insulated tools and safety kit. The problem is the information and the software.
On an older petrol or diesel car, a decent OBD2 scanner will read the engine fault codes, show live data, and on a lot of models let you do service resets and basic coding. Manufacturers had to make that emissions-related data available by law, and the aftermarket built good tools around it.
Electric cars don't have an exhaust, so a lot of that emissions-driven openness simply doesn't apply in the same way. Battery management, thermal management, charging systems and high-voltage isolation checks are all manufacturer-specific. On some newer brands — especially the ones that have arrived in the UK recently — there is no mature aftermarket tool at all, or the security gateway locks out anything that isn't the dealer's own software. Sometimes the technical information exists but sits behind portals with subscriptions per brand, per year, and every brand does it differently.
So a garage owner looks at it like this: I can spend thousands on kit and training, but if the next car through the door is a brand I can't even talk to with a scanner, I've got to send it away anyway. That's why 27% say diagnostic access is what's stopping them investing more. The appetite is there; the return isn't guaranteed.
The security side — and SERMI
To be fair to the manufacturers, there's a genuine security argument. Modern cars are connected, keyless and software-driven, and nobody wants a system where anyone with a laptop can reprogram keys or immobilisers. Car theft is bad enough as it is.
In Europe there's already a framework called SERMI, which lets approved independent technicians access security-related functions after vetting. The LKQ people are arguing that the UK should mandate something similar, so garages get consistent, secure access and manufacturers keep control of who is doing what. From where I stand that seems sensible. Vet the technician, log the access, and let the independent do the job. What doesn't make sense is locking the customer into one dealer for a brake fluid change or a cabin filter.
What it means for EV and hybrid owners
If you run an electric car or a plug-in hybrid, here's what this looks like in the real world:
Less choice. If your local independent has to refer you on, you're heading to a franchised dealer, which may be a long drive away — something we know all about in rural Perthshire.
Higher bills. Dealer labour rates are typically well above independent rates. On a car that needs very little servicing, that gap still adds up over the years, and it adds up a lot faster once you're out of warranty and something actually goes wrong.
Longer waits. Dealers are busy. If every EV in a region has to go through one or two sites, you wait.
Worse resale confidence. A used EV buyer wants to know they can get it looked after affordably. If the answer is "only at the dealer", that knocks confidence in the second-hand market.
A lot of EV work isn't electric at all
Here's something drivers often don't realise. A big chunk of what an EV needs has nothing to do with the battery or motor:
- Tyres — EVs are heavy and have instant torque, so they chew through tyres faster than many people expect. - Brakes — regenerative braking means the pads don't work as hard, which sounds good, but discs can corrode and seize from lack of use. Scottish salt on the roads doesn't help. - Suspension — the extra weight is hard on bushes, drop links and wishbones. - Wipers, lights, cabin filters, 12-volt batteries — yes, EVs still have a small 12-volt battery, and when it goes flat the car won't wake up. - MOT items — steering, suspension, lights, tyres and brakes are tested just the same.
Most of that is bread-and-butter work for any competent garage. The trouble starts when the car needs a service reset, a brake caliper put into service mode electronically, or a warning light cleared — and the tool can't talk to it. That's when a simple job turns into a referral.
What I'd tell a driver right now
I'll be straight with you. Bob's is an independent workshop in Birnam, and like every independent we'll tell you honestly if a job is one we can do properly or one that needs to go elsewhere. Nobody should be poking around high-voltage systems without the right training and equipment, and I'd rather send a customer to the right place than bodge it.
But if you're buying or running an EV or hybrid, a few practical tips:
1. Ask before you buy. Before picking a newer or lesser-known brand, phone a couple of local independents and ask whether they can service it. If they all say no, that tells you what your running costs will look like after warranty. 2. Know what your warranty requires. Under block exemption rules, you don't have to use a dealer to keep your warranty, as long as the work follows the manufacturer's schedule and uses parts of matching quality. Keep receipts. 3. Don't skip brake checks.
Get the brakes cleaned and checked regularly even if the pads look fine — seized calipers and rusty discs are one of the most common EV MOT fails. 4. Look after the 12-volt battery. A tired 12-volt battery causes more "my EV won't start" calls than the big battery ever does. 5. Mainstream brands are easier. Older, more established models tend to have better aftermarket tool support. The brand-new names are where access is hardest.
Can an independent garage service an electric car?
Yes — in most cases, for most of the routine work. This is the question I get asked most, so here's the straight answer. An independent garage can legally service your electric car, and a well-equipped one can do the majority of what an EV needs: tyres, brakes, suspension, steering, wipers, lights, cabin filter, 12-volt battery, coolant checks and the general inspection that goes with a service.
Where it gets harder is anything that needs the manufacturer's software to talk to the car — service interval resets on some models, electronic parking brake service mode, battery health reports, software updates and high-voltage fault finding. That's exactly the bit the Plug In-Dex survey is about. The garage may be perfectly capable of changing the parts, but if the car won't let the scanner in, the job can't be finished properly.
So the honest answer is: an independent can do most EV servicing, but whether they can do your car depends heavily on the make and model.
How much does an EV service cost in the UK?
EV servicing is usually cheaper than servicing a petrol or diesel car, simply because there's less to do. No oil change, no oil filter, no spark plugs, no fuel filter, no timing belt, no clutch, no exhaust. As a rough guide:
- Independent garage: an EV service commonly costs somewhere around £100 to £200, depending on the car and what's included. - Franchised dealer: often £150 to £350 or more, with some premium brands higher again.
Those are ballpark UK figures, not a quote — every car and every garage is different. But that gap is where LKQ's £260m to £550m estimate comes from. Multiply the difference by the number of plug-in cars on UK roads and you can see how quickly it becomes serious money.
Things that push an EV service bill up include brake fluid changes (usually every two years), coolant for the battery and motor cooling loop on some models (often at longer intervals), replacing seized brake calipers or corroded discs, and tyres. It's worth asking for an itemised quote so you know what you're paying for.
Will using an independent garage void my EV warranty?
No, not if the work is done properly. This is a myth that costs drivers a lot of money. UK competition rules — often called "block exemption" — mean a manufacturer can't refuse warranty cover just because you had the car serviced outside the dealer network. The conditions are sensible:
- The service follows the manufacturer's schedule. - Parts are original or of matching quality. - The work is recorded — keep the invoice and any service book stamps.
There are some exceptions to watch out for. Warranty repairs themselves are carried out by the dealer, free of charge, and some manufacturers tie battery warranty conditions to specific health checks or software updates. Read your battery warranty booklet carefully — it's usually separate from the main car warranty and often runs to eight years or 100,000 miles.
Hybrid cars: the forgotten middle
The survey covers plug-in hybrids too, and in some ways they're the trickiest. A hybrid has everything a petrol car has — engine oil, spark plugs, filters, exhaust, cooling system — plus a high-voltage battery and electric motor. That means twice as many systems that can go wrong, and twice as many systems a garage needs access to.
The good news is that the engine side of a hybrid is standard work for any competent independent, and the older, well-established hybrids have decent aftermarket support. If you run a hybrid, keep up with oil changes even if the engine doesn't run much — short journeys on electric power can leave the oil full of condensation and fuel, which isn't good for it. And have the hybrid battery cooling fan and filter checked; on some models they clog with dust and pet hair and the battery overheats.
Common EV faults we hear about
From what drivers tell us and what comes up in our [Ask a Mechanic](/ask-a-mechanic) questions, the most common electric car problems aren't the dramatic ones people worry about:
1. Flat 12-volt battery — the car won't unlock or power up, even with a full main battery. 2. Seized or corroded brakes — grinding noise, pulling to one side, or an MOT fail on brake efficiency. 3. Tyre wear — heavy cars with instant torque wear tyres, especially the fronts on front-drive models. 4. Suspension knocks — drop links and bushes working hard under the extra weight. 5. Charging faults — often the cable, the charge port flap or the home charger rather than the car itself. 6. Warning lights — which is exactly where diagnostic access matters most.
Very few EVs we hear about have a genuinely failed main battery. Most keep well above 80% of their original capacity for many years.
Frequently asked questions
Why are garages turning away electric cars? Mostly because they can't get reliable diagnostic access to newer EV brands. The LKQ Euro Car Parts Plug In-Dex found 27% of independents name this as the biggest barrier, and nearly nine in ten have turned away or referred EV or hybrid work in six months.
Do electric cars need servicing? Yes. They need less than a petrol or diesel car, but brakes, tyres, suspension, cabin filter, brake fluid, coolant and the 12-volt battery still need checking. Most manufacturers recommend a service every one to two years.
Do electric cars need an MOT? Yes, from three years old in Great Britain, the same as any other car. There's no emissions test, but lights, brakes, tyres, steering, suspension and bodywork are all checked.
Is it cheaper to service an EV at an independent garage? Usually, yes — often considerably. The catch is whether your independent has the tools and information to work on your specific make.
What is SERMI? It's a European scheme that lets vetted independent technicians access security-related vehicle functions. The aftermarket is calling for the UK to adopt a mandatory equivalent.
Finding a garage that will take your EV on
This survey is exactly why we built the [EV & Hybrid Garage Network](/ev-hybrid). It's a free UK-wide directory of independent garages that work on electric and hybrid cars, organised by make and by town, so you can find someone near you who has the kit and the training before you're stuck. If 9 in 10 garages are having to turn work away, the ones that can do it need to be easy to find.
If you run an independent workshop and you've invested in EV and hybrid capability, you can [add your garage to the network](/ev-hybrid/list-your-garage) — the more garages listed, the fewer drivers get pushed back to main dealers by default.
Where this goes next
The survey says 83% of garages expect EVs and hybrids to be most of their enquiries within five years. That tells you the independents know what's coming and want to be ready for it. What they need is a fair, secure, consistent way to get at the data — the same thing we fought for on petrol and diesel cars years ago.
If that happens, drivers keep choice and keep costs down. If it doesn't, you'll be driving further and paying more for work your local garage could have done.
I'll keep an eye on how this develops and update you here. In the meantime, if you've got a warning light or a fault you're unsure about, have a look at our [fault code guides](/fault-codes) or [ask a mechanic](/ask-a-mechanic) — and if you're local to Birnam and Dunkeld, just give us a ring.
Source: [GarageWire — 90% of Independent Garages Turn Away EV Work over Diagnostic Access Concerns](https://garagewire.co.uk/news/company/euro-car-parts/90-of-independent-garages-turn-away-ev-work-over-diagnostic-access-concerns/), reporting the LKQ Euro Car Parts Plug In-Dex survey, September 2026.