June 2021

are key workers. We continued to support them through being in lockdown. Some of my staff were furloughed, but we had emergency cover to cover their vehicles.” “We have fully reopened, obviously with COVID-19 measures in place. It is all about staying in position, key-drop boxes, sanitation of the vehicle. I have also purchased a sanitation unit which blasts high levels of ozone within the vehicle for 20 minutes. It kills all bacteria and germs, and obviously COVID-19 at the same time. If anybody is interested in that, we will do that as a service for a small charge. We going to do that on an air conditioning service as well. It does a universal spray into it to kill the bacteria in the evaporator. If you are trying to access it, you are doing the B ased on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Yeovil, home for SW Autotech is a 2,500 square foot workshop, with four bays, as well as a MOT bay, and a motorcycle MOT bay. “I’ve been trading from the site since 1992,” explained owner and founder Shayne Walters. “We started with one 12,000-foot unit, and then gone over to the other side as well which enabled me to put some extra ramps in and a different reception area. I’ve also got a mezzanine area upstairs for storage. It’s worked out okay with the size, to put the cars away, get them out of the way, allowing us to process cars in and out.” On what is keeping the garage most busy these days, Shayne 50 AFTERMARKET JUNE 2021 GARAGE VISIT www.aftermarketonline.net WEST BY SW AUTOTECH Aftermarket visits Yeovil-based independent garage SW Autotech to see how things are done out west observed: “We are a clutch specialist centre.” DPF cleaning is another growth area: “We are part of the Terraclean network, and we do a lot of DPF issues, and anything that is around the vehicle which causes a DPF fault. I am at present just looking to invest in a DPF cleaning machine.” Customers, contracts and COVID-19 On the customers, Shayne said: “We have a mixed base. We’ve even had TV celebrities who come the best part of 30 miles to get a service. It was an old Discovery, and we did possibly the first MOT on it and the last. On the other side of it, we do service contacts for the local authority. We drop everything to try and keep their vehicles on the road. Obviously, they