Garages and car repair. Your workshop runs, your figures add up.
You have a mechanic on the payroll, or you are about to. Then the paperwork changes: an hourly rate that covers the workshop, extra work on the work order, the collective agreement and the MOT. Alvelion handles your figures, payroll and tax returns.
Request an introductory meetingJust started? Read this firstWhat matters for a growing garage?
A garage with 1 to 15 people handles servicing, repairs, tyres and MOTs side by side. For private customers, business customers and lease drivers, each with their own arrangements.
At the Chamber of Commerce (KVK), you are usually registered under SBI code 95311, general repair and maintenance of motor vehicles (SBI 2025). If you mainly do tyres or bodywork, other codes belong with it, such as 95313 or 95315.
The work is changing. According to BOVAG, servicing and repairs for an electric car cost €294 a year on average in 2025, against €779 for a car with a combustion engine. If you are growing, you need to look closely at your rate, your people and your skills. That is where we help.
We work from our offices in The Hague, Amsterdam, Gouda and Rotterdam, for automotive businesses throughout the Netherlands. You can meet us at the office, at your premises or online.
Where things go wrong for garages
Do you recognise one of these situations? Then your accounting needs attention.
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An hourly rate without a cost price
Rent, lifts, software and insurance keep running, even when the workshop is quiet. If you calculate with 40 invoiced hours a week, you quickly end up too low.
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Extra work without approval
If you gave an estimate, the bill may come out at most 10% higher, unless you warned the customer in time. Extra work too can only be charged after a timely warning.
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The car has gone, the bill is unpaid
As long as the car is with you, you may keep it until the repair is paid for. If you hand over the key with the promise of an invoice, you lose that right.
With your accounting in order, you know per work order what you earn on hours and parts, and what is still outstanding.
Hours and parts, two sources of margin
Labour
Does your hourly rate cover the workshop?
Work from your costs and the hours you really invoice. In our worked example for a new garage, the minimum is around €77 an hour excl. VAT, at 1,260 invoiced hours a year.
Parts
Do you know what you earn on parts?
Choose one system: your wholesaler's recommended retail price, or a fixed mark-up on the purchase price. Put it in your garage software, so every work order follows the same rule.
Every month we show what labour and parts bring in, so you can adjust in time.
How Alvelion handles the figures of your garage
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Getting to know you and setting up
We look at your types of work, your customers and your people. We set up your accounting and VAT codes accordingly.
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Keeping up to date
Invoices, purchases and bank are processed continuously. Labour and parts are kept apart, and you see straight away what is still outstanding.
Every month
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Payroll and tax returns
Payslips, payroll tax returns and VAT returns go out on time, with the collective agreement and the pension processed correctly.
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Looking ahead
A first mechanic, a second lift or equipment for electric cars? We work out in advance what it means.
You work with one dedicated contact who knows your business, not a changing team or a general helpdesk.
Where Alvelion helps your garage
From work order to figures
Your invoices, purchases and bank are processed continuously. Labour and parts kept apart, so you see what each part brings in.
Go to online bookkeepingYour first mechanic on the payroll
Payslips and payroll tax returns, with the cao Motorvoertuigenbedrijf and the PMT pension fund processed correctly.
Go to payroll administrationHourly rate and cost price
We work out what an hour in your workshop costs and what you need. After that, you follow the invoiced hours and the margin on parts every month.
Go to financial insightPaid faster
Payment on collection, reminders on time and a fixed approach for customers who don't pay.
Go to accounts receivable managementTerms and liability
Your own general terms and conditions, agreements on the work order and a customer who complains about a repair. Our own legal team helps you.
Go to legal adviceGrowing with figures
A second lift, equipment for electric cars or an MOT approval. We work out in advance whether it fits and what it brings in.
Go to SME advice and coachingEvery hour under the lift has to pay for the lift too.
Your garage and your figures with one team
Knows the rules in the automotive sector
The cao Motorvoertuigenbedrijf, PMT, extra work, the right of retention and the ban on cash from €3,000: we know the rules that apply to garages.
Wages straight into your figures
Payroll and bookkeeping run side by side. That way you see what a mechanic really costs per hour.
One contact
Bookkeeping, payroll and advice with the same dedicated team.
Client reviews
9,0
Average score on Trustoo, from 5 reviews (as of 17 October 2026).
All reviews on Trustoo“A pleasant accounting firm, always helped in a friendly way and everything is arranged neatly.”
Mike M., 4 October 2026, via Trustoo (translated from Dutch)
“Up and running quickly, and clear replies.”
Erik, 4 October 2026, via Trustoo (translated from Dutch)
Frequently asked questions
Start from your costs and the hours you really invoice, not from the garage down the road. Add up rent, lifts, software, insurance and your own income, and divide by your invoiced hours. In our worked example for a new garage, at 1,260 hours a year that comes to around €77 an hour excl. VAT. According to RAI Aftermarket, independent garages charge around €85 an hour excl. VAT (2025).
If you gave an estimate, the bill may come out at most 10% higher, unless you warned the customer in time. You can only charge extra work if you told the customer in time that the price would go up. So put what you agree on the work order, and call the customer before you carry on.
On servicing and repairs of cars, you charge 21%. There is no reduced rate here. If you also sell used cars, the margin scheme may apply to those cars. Never accept €3,000 or more in cash, not even for a large repair, but ask for a card payment or a payment request. You may not charge a surcharge for card payments.
The cao Motorvoertuigenbedrijf en Tweewielerbedrijf. It has been declared generally binding, until around 16 September 2027. So it also applies if you are not a member of a trade association. Your mechanic must build up a pension with PMT, the Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek. We process the collective agreement and the pension in your payroll (as of October 2026).
In 2026 you pay €715.80 at the start: the basic approval €44.55, the MOT approval €526.25 and the company visit €145. From the following January, you pay €329.55 a year. On top of that comes €4.60 for each MOT pass. You also need a qualified inspector. With an RDW approval, you record the odometer reading at every service, repair and tyre change.
Work on a car's high-voltage system is only allowed when it is de-energised, and by someone qualified for it. That also applies to you as a self-employed person. For work on air conditioning, you need a training certificate from 1 January 2027. According to a government estimate, a course costs around €500 to €750. Electric cars need less servicing. So work out in advance what training and equipment will bring you.
Yes. That is called the right of retention. As long as the car is with you, you may keep it until the repair is paid for. The right ends as soon as the customer has the car back. So only hand over the key after payment. If it concerns an old bill from an earlier repair, it is more complicated. Our lawyers look at that case by case.
Yes, if you carry out the servicing according to the manufacturer's instructions. That follows from European rules that apply until 31 May 2028. The manufacturer may refuse a claim if the defect comes from servicing that was not done properly, or from low-quality parts.
We mainly work for garages that are growing. Have you just started? Then Vakwerk Nº 04 is a good start: our guide for the independent garage for servicing and repairs. You buy it as a PDF in our web shop, for €149 excl. VAT.
Further reading
All articlesReady to grow your garage further?
Tell us how your business runs now. We deliberately work with a limited number of clients. That is why we first look together at whether we are a good fit. You'll hear back within one working day.
Request an introductory meeting