About — the person doing the work
One mechanic, and his name is on the door
Erdi Metalia owns MB Auto, quotes every job, carries out every job, and answers the phone when it rings. That is the whole business, and it is deliberate.
The short answer
Erdi Metalia is a time-served mechanic with 15+ years on cars, vans, SUVs and 4x4s, running MB Auto Ltd from a workshop at Millbrook Depot near Shepton Mallet. He works across the range — from an oil and filter change through to cambelts, clutches, gearboxes and engine work.
There is no service adviser, no upsell script, and nobody working on commission. When you ring, you are talking to the person who will have the vehicle on the ramp.
Why a one-man workshop is the point
Most of what makes people distrust garages comes from the gap between the person on the phone and the person with the spanners. A service adviser relays a fault they have not seen, quotes from a screen, and passes the job to whichever technician is free. Things get lost. Work gets added because the system suggests it. Nobody in the chain is quite accountable for the bill.
Here there is no chain. Erdi looks at the car, works out what is wrong, tells you what it will cost, does it, and hands you the keys. If something is not right afterwards, you already have the number of the man who did it — and he knows you do. That is a stronger guarantee than most warranties.
The range of work
Plenty of independents have quietly narrowed down to servicing, brakes and tyres, and subcontract anything that needs an engine or a gearbox out. That is a reasonable business decision and it leaves customers with nowhere local to go when something serious happens.
Erdi kept the heavy work. Cambelts and timing chains, clutches and dual-mass flywheels, head gaskets, turbos, gearbox removal and rebuild — the jobs that take a bay out for a day or two and need someone who has done a lot of them. It is why other garages' customers end up here, and why the workshop has as many vans in it as cars.
Vans, because this is a working county
Somerset runs on vans. Builders, groundworkers, farmers, couriers, mobile trades — vehicles that are not a convenience but the means of earning. Erdi understands the difference between a car being inconvenient to lose for a day and a van being expensive to lose for a day, and commercial work is booked and communicated accordingly. More on vans and fleets.
How the pricing works
£60 an hour. A franchised dealer charges £120 to £180 for the same hour on the same car with the same parts. The difference is rent, a showroom, a service reception and a marketing budget — none of which put a bolt back in.
Guide prices are published openly on the pricing page, which is rarer among garages than it should be. Every job is confirmed in writing before it starts.
The standard
Four things you can hold him to
- A written quote before anything is touched. The price doesn’t move unless something new turns up and you say yes to it first.
- Your old parts, kept for you. Bagged up in the boot so you can see exactly what came off and why it needed to.
- Diagnostic time refunded against the repair. £45 to find the fault, knocked off the bill when Erdi fixes it. You never pay twice for the same problem.
- “It doesn’t need doing” is a normal answer here. Plenty of cars go home with a smaller bill than the owner expected.
Where to find him
The workshop is at Unit 1 Millbrook Depot, Yelling, Mill Lane, Shepton Mallet BA4 4JT — off the A37 between Shepton Mallet and Oakhill. Open 08:00 to 17:30 Monday to Friday and 08:00 to 13:00 on Saturday.
Or do not find him at all: Erdi will collect the vehicle from your door, free within 5 miles if it runs and drives, and priced per postcode further out. How that works.
Straight answers
Questions about how he works
How do I know I am not being overcharged?
Three things. You get a written quote before any work begins, and the price does not change unless something new is found and you agree to it first. Old parts are kept for you to see. And diagnostic time is charged at £45 and refunded against the repair, so you are never paying twice to find the same fault.
Will servicing here void my manufacturer warranty?
No. Under EU Block Exemption rules — retained in UK law — you can have a vehicle serviced at any competent independent garage without losing the manufacturer warranty, provided the correct schedule, correct-specification parts and correct oil are used and the work is recorded. All three are standard here, and your service book gets stamped.
Do you do MOTs?
MB Auto is not an MOT testing station, but Erdi will pre-check your vehicle, arrange the test at a local station, and take it there and back for you. Anything that needs putting right is quoted first — you will not get a phone call from a test centre with a list of work already started.
What makes of car do you work on?
All mainstream makes — Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Citroën, Renault, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Škoda, SEAT, Volvo, Land Rover, Mini, Fiat, Mazda, Suzuki and Dacia among them. Petrol and diesel, manual and automatic, cars, vans, SUVs and 4x4s.
Next step
Tell Erdi what it’s doing
Describe the noise, the light or the job. You’ll get an honest answer about what it needs, what it will cost, and when he can take it — before anything is booked in.
No VAT · free collection within 5 miles if it runs & drives · written quote first