Twenty-four years, one toolbox at a time
Tulip Garage started in 2001 with a borrowed set of spanners and a Peugeot 504 that wouldn't start on the Brikama road. The owner had been quoted a tow, a week in a yard and a bill he couldn't cover — so a friend walked over with a toolbox instead. It turned out to be a fuel pump. It took forty minutes.
That's still the whole idea. Most of what goes wrong with a car in this country is small, and most of the cost people pay is for moving the car rather than fixing it. We took the workshop to the car instead, and we've been doing it that way since.
We work on what people actually drive here — Toyota Corollas and Hiluxes, Nissan Sunnys, Mercedes 190s and 124s that have been on the road longer than some of our customers, Peugeot 504s and 505s, Kia and Hyundai saloons, and the small 4x4s that do the Kombo runs.
"If we can't fix it at your gate, we'll tell you before we charge you for coming."
Two mechanics, one van, and a phone that gets answered. We don't run a yard, so we don't have a reason to keep your car. If a job genuinely needs a lift or a machine we don't carry, we say so on the phone and point you to someone who has one — and we don't charge for the call-out.
Parts come from the Serrekunda market and a couple of suppliers we've used for years. Where a genuine part is worth the money we'll say so; where a good aftermarket one is fine, we'll say that too. You get the old part back in a bag either way.
We take cash and mobile money. We'll give you a written figure before we start, and we stick to it unless we find something you need to know about — in which case we stop and call you first.