550+ WOF and Service Leads for a Hamilton Auto Workshop

The Challenge

Our auto repair client ran a busy workshop in Hamilton offering WOF checks, car servicing, and general mechanical repairs, including specialist turbo and diesel work. Like many local workshops, they relied on word of mouth and passing trade, with no consistent system for filling the diary during quieter weeks.

They needed a reliable pipeline of bookings for:

• Warrant of Fitness (WOF) inspections
• General car servicing
• Mechanical repairs
• Turbo and diesel specialist work

The local market was competitive, with national chains and nearby independents all bidding for the same high-intent searches. The workshop needed to capture people actively looking for a mechanic in Hamilton and turn those searches into booked jobs at a cost that made sense against an average repair value.

Our Approach

We built a Google Ads strategy designed to capture high-intent local demand and convert it into booked WOF, service, and repair jobs, then layered Performance Max on top to win the lowest-cost bookings.

High-Intent Search for WOF, Service & Repair

We led with Google Search, targeting people already typing terms like “WOF Hamilton”, “car service near me”, and “mechanic Hamilton” into Google. These searches signal someone ready to book, not just browse.

• Generic-services search campaign covering WOF, servicing, and repairs
• Dedicated turbo and diesel services campaign to capture specialist work
• Tight, intent-based keyword grouping for relevance and quality
• Local radius targeting around the Hamilton workshop to avoid wasted spend on out-of-area clicks

Performance Max for WOF & Service

To complement Search, we ran a Performance Max campaign focused on WOF and car servicing. This let Google find additional booking-ready customers across Search, Maps, Display, and YouTube, and it became the most cost-efficient source of leads in the account.

• Asset groups themed around WOF and routine servicing
• Audience signals built from existing customer and high-intent search data
• Conversion-focused bidding to prioritise booked jobs over raw clicks

Online Booking & Fast Follow-Up

We made it easy for high-intent searchers to convert the moment they landed, with clear booking and call-to-action paths for WOF and service requests. We also worked with the workshop on fast follow-up so that enquiries were responded to quickly, before the customer called the next mechanic on the list.

WOF & Service Reminders and Database Reactivation

WOF and servicing are naturally recurring, which makes the existing customer base a valuable asset. We supported WOF and service reminder messaging and database reactivation so past customers were prompted to rebook, turning one-off jobs into repeat servicing relationships.

The Results

The combined Search and Performance Max approach delivered strong, consistent lead volume across all three core services:

• Generic-services search campaign: approximately 244 leads at around $20 per lead
• Turbo and diesel services search campaign: approximately 178 leads at around $21 per lead
• WOF and car service Performance Max campaign: approximately 127 leads at $11.58 per lead
• 550+ total WOF, service, and repair leads generated
• Strong search volume captured for WOF, car service, and repair terms

Performance Max delivered the standout efficiency, bringing WOF and service leads in at $11.58 each, well below the search campaigns while adding meaningful volume.

Lead Quality & Return on Investment

With an average repair value of around $450, the economics worked strongly in the workshop’s favour. Even at the higher search cost per lead of around $20 to $21, a single booked job covered the cost of acquiring roughly twenty leads, and the Performance Max leads at $11.58 were cheaper still.

The bigger upside was repeat custom. WOF inspections and servicing recur on a predictable cycle, so each new customer captured had the potential to return year after year. Combined with reminder messaging and database reactivation, the campaigns built a base of repeat servicing customers rather than just one-off bookings.

Key Takeaways

1. High-intent search captures ready-to-book customers - Targeting WOF, service, and repair searches reached people actively looking for a mechanic in Hamilton
2. Performance Max can be the cheapest lead source - The WOF and service Performance Max campaign delivered leads at $11.58, well below the search campaigns
3. Local radius targeting protects budget - Focusing spend around the Hamilton workshop avoided wasted clicks from out-of-area searchers
4. Specialist services deserve their own campaign - A dedicated turbo and diesel campaign captured higher-value work that generic targeting would have diluted
5. Recurring services make every lead more valuable - WOF and service reminders plus database reactivation turned one-off jobs into repeat servicing relationships

This campaign shows that local auto repair workshops can build a predictable pipeline of WOF, service, and repair bookings through a combination of high-intent Google Search and cost-efficient Performance Max, reducing reliance on word of mouth and passing trade alone.