Belsyre Garage, Oxford

I've been using Belsyre garage for 13 years, covering two Saabs - both bought secondhand. They maintained the first a W reg petrol soft-top to 115,000 miles and then sold it on for me. The second - a 55 plate sportswagon is still going strong with 147,000 on the clock. No repairs have ever needed redoing. They've even helped me avoid the notorious catalytic converter clogging issue that is so prevalent with Saab diesels. If you have a Saab and want to keep it on the road, then I think you'd be nuts looking elsewhere.

They open early, which is really convenient, they are well-placed and good at communication. If they say the car will be fixed for a certain time it will be. Also honest - much more so than other garages. Most importantly, they don't try and "upsell" you and if they recommend an additional repair they explain why. I like them and have used them three times in the past few months to get a car my wife's just bought in good shape. Car is still work in progress!

While this garage definitely knows SAABs inside-out, I found their attitude to be a bit off. I've used them on 3 occasions now, and they are a bit over-priced. On the last occasion I used them I took the car in for a basic repair, and when it came back the front dash panel was scratched. They denied causing this damage, saying they "only use plastic screwdrivers" and therefore I must be mistaken. When I took it further they suddenly changed their mind and said they'd repair the damage - while still not accepting liability for it or apologising. I agreed to take the car in before I went away on business but my journey times changed and I couldn't take it in - when I spoke to them to rearrange the repair they kept referring to the fact the car hadn't been brought in when they were expecting it. Despite me apologising and explaining why, he kept raising this (moot) point. They have not apologised for the damage they caused, and the fact they outright denied it at first when clearly they must have spotted it, makes me very mistrustful of them.

Two brothers run this small Saab specialist garage on the Woodstock Rd, Oxford - the most central garage in the city. They have worked for and with Saab for more years than they'd care to mention and know their every foible (for both older and up-to-date models). Their prices are very competitive compared to franchise dealerships in the area and solved all my 9-3 Aero's issues at a better price and in a significantly faster time than the 'big boys' have.