Bob's Mechanical Repairs is a physical workshop in Birnam, Perthshire. We do not have premises in Edinburgh. This page is an independent garage guide written by Bob — no Edinburgh garage is represented here unless a named, verified partner garage is listed on this page. Bob can give written advice on your vehicle by email; the network is still looking for one verified partner garage in Edinburgh.
Read this first if you're a driver in Edinburgh
The network behind this page is a workshop in Birnam, Perthshire recruiting independent garages around the country. A garage only gets named once its application has been reviewed. That has not happened in Edinburgh yet, so no local garage is represented here.
In the meantime you can still use Ask a Mechanic. Describe the symptom, or paste in the quote a Edinburgh garage has given you, and Bob answers in writing — 32 years on the tools, no upsell, because he is not the one doing the work.
Ask Bob about your car — If you run a garage in Edinburgh, you can apply to be the one listed here.
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One garage per city gets the exclusive featured slot on this page and the related MOT, servicing, mechanic and car-help pages for Edinburgh. Pay for 11 months at £49/month and the 12th month is free as a loyalty thank-you. The slot is in front of drivers who are already searching for help with their car in Edinburgh.
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How this guide works
This page is a reference guide, not a booking page for a workshop in Edinburgh. It sets out the typical scope of car servicing, the price range drivers usually see, and the questions worth asking so you can compare quotes properly.
Availability and the final price always depend on the garage you choose. Anything quoted here is a guide figure taken from typical UK independent-garage pricing, not an offer.
How to choose a garage in Edinburgh
Check the garage is on the DVSA register if you need an MOT, ask whether the technicians are IMI or City & Guilds qualified, and look for recent reviews that mention the same kind of work you need doing.
Ask for a written quote before any work starts, ask whether old parts can be shown to you afterwards, and confirm that servicing will be recorded to the manufacturer schedule so a warranty stays intact. A garage that will not put a price in writing is not worth the risk.
Questions worth asking before you book
Is the quoted price inclusive of parts, labour and VAT? Will diagnostic time be credited against the repair if you go ahead? What happens if extra faults are found once the car is stripped? How long will the car be off the road?
On older vehicles it is also worth asking whether the garage will supply a photo or video of anything they say needs replacing. Some garages can provide this — it is worth asking.
Driving conditions around Edinburgh
Local roads shape what wears out first. Where you have a lot of stop-start traffic, brakes and clutches go early; on rough rural surfaces it is suspension and tyres; near the coast it is corrosion. Mention the kind of driving you do when you get a quote — it changes what a garage should be checking.
Bob's advice for Edinburgh drivers — from the Birnam workshop
Robert McMahon — Bob to customers — has been a mechanic for 32 years and runs Bob's Mechanical Repairs in Birnam, Perthshire. He cannot work on your car in Edinburgh, and this page never pretends otherwise. What follows is the advice he gives across the counter every week about car servicing: what the job involves, what it should cost, and where drivers get caught out. It applies the same whether the car is on his ramp or on someone else's.
Timing belts, chains and the job nobody should gamble on near Edinburgh
A timing belt is the one service item where being late is catastrophic. Typical independent pricing is £350–£650 with the water pump and tensioners done at the same time, and doing the pump separately later costs most of that labour twice. Check the interval by mileage and by age — most manufacturers specify both, and the age limit catches out low-mileage cars.
Chains are not maintenance-free either. A rattle for a second or two on a cold start usually means a stretched chain or a tired tensioner, and on some engines that is a £900–£1,600 job. If a garage in Edinburgh tells you a cold-start rattle is normal, get a second opinion before the chain jumps a tooth.
Buying a used car? The checks that matter more than the mileage
Read the MOT history on GOV.UK before you view anything. Repeated advisories for corrosion, brake imbalance or suspension mean deferred work you are about to inherit. Mileage that jumps around between tests means the clock is worth questioning.
Then check for outstanding finance, write-off markers and stolen records — that is a £19.99 check against a car costing thousands. A cold start, a test drive from properly cold, and a look under the oil cap tell you most of the rest. Bob does this every week on cars brought into the Birnam workshop before purchase, and the same routine works wherever you are buying in Edinburgh.
MOT failures that are cheap to avoid
Around a third of MOT failures nationally are for lighting, tyres and wipers — all things you can check on your own drive in ten minutes. Walk round with the lights on, check the number plate bulbs, top the washer bottle and look at the tread across the whole width of each tyre, not just the middle.
Also check for a screen chip in the driver's swept area, listen for a blowing exhaust, and make sure no warning lights stay on with the engine running, because several of them are a straight fail now. Fixing these first turns a fail plus retest into a straightforward pass.
The short version
The work has to be done where you are, but the judgement does not. Send Bob the symptoms, the codes or the estimate from your Edinburgh garage and you will get a straight written answer.
Frequently asked questions
Does Bob's Mechanical Repairs have a garage in Edinburgh?
No. Bob's workshop is in Birnam, Perthshire. This page is an independent guide for Edinburgh drivers. No Edinburgh garage is represented here unless a named, verified partner garage is listed on the page.
How much should car servicing cost in Edinburgh?
Use the guide prices on this page as a starting point only. Prices vary between independents and main dealers, and the final figure depends on the vehicle and the garage you choose. Compare like-for-like written quotes and always get the price in writing first.
Can I still get advice from Bob?
Yes — Bob can give written advice on a fault, a warning light or a quote you have been given, wherever you are in the UK. What he cannot do is carry out the work in Edinburgh.
Are there other garage guides near Edinburgh?
Yes — this site publishes guides for other towns in Edinburgh and across the UK. They follow the same format: typical prices, what to check, and how to choose a garage.
Garage owners in Edinburgh
How can a Edinburgh workshop get found for Car Servicing searches?
Ranking in Edinburgh comes down to answering the questions drivers actually type before they book — cost, timescale, what's included. Chains do that at scale; most independents never get the chance. This guide does it for car servicing, and one Edinburgh garage can apply to be the workshop named on it once the application has been reviewed.
Is there a way to list my Edinburgh garage here?
Yes — one garage per town. Apply through the garage partnership form and Bob reviews it personally. If approved and activated, your workshop name, contact details and website appear on this page, and eligible enquiries may be offered under the agreed partnership terms. No long contract, cancel any time.
What do partner garages in Edinburgh actually get?
Two things: the named listing on this page, and the software Bob's own garage runs on — job cards, MOT reminders, invoicing and customer records. Both start only once the application has been reviewed, approved and activated, and no volume of enquiries is promised before that.
Apply to list your Edinburgh garage
Questions drivers in Edinburgh ask most
- How much does a cambelt change cost?
- How often should brake fluid be changed?
- How often should the air filter be changed?
- How long do brake pads last?
- How much does an MOT cost?
- How long should a car battery last?