Car or vehicle repairs

 
Rights over repair work or servicing your vehicle:

• Quality of work: The repair work or servicing should be carried out with reasonable skill and care.
• Time: Unless you agreed something different, work should be completed in a “reasonable” time
• Cost: Unless you agreed something different, the cost of the work should “reasonable”. One way of assessing what is reasonable is to find out what other garages in the area would charge for the same service.

Putting right problems with the repair work or servicing: 

• The customer is entitled to have the poor quality work redone by the garage properly at no additional charge. You should usually give the garage a chance to redo the work themselves within a reasonable time. 
• The customer can also claim the cost of putting right any damage caused or replacing damaged items
• If the first garage cannot do the repair work needed to put right a problem with their work within a reasonable time (or in more extreme cases where you have lost all faith and confidence in using the garage) you can go to another garage and you should be entitled to claim back the cost of someone else doing the work properly. However this means you will have the hassle of claiming the costs from the first garage. Before they carry out the repair work you should ask then to put in writing their assessment of the repair work of the first garage and what is now needed to fix the problem.
• The customer can also claim any other reasonable losses and expenses but generally not their inconvenience or time spent in bringing a claim.
• Some garages have terms & conditions that may seek to limit these rights and limit the remedies available – the court would need to decide if such terms were unfair.
• Road traffic accident: If you have an accident or crash due to a problem with your vehicle, it might be that responsibility rests with the garage if the incident was caused by a problem that should have been picked up at a recent service or was due to a faulty repair. An independent assessment of the defect with your car will be needed. If proved under the law of negligence the garage could be legally responsible for any injuries and damage to you, your passengers and any other people or vehicles involved. 

Rights over cost of work:

• Quotes: If a garage’s quote is agreed (and the vehicle is brought to the garage for the work to start at a time when the quote was still valid), the garage can’t charge more for carrying out the work agreed between you. This is true even if it costs the garage more than they expected to do the work. 
• Estimates: If a garage’s estimate is agreed then this is not a fixed price. An estimate is only a guide to the final price. However the final price should still be based on the estimate. If the final price is a lot higher than the estimate, then the customer will only be expected to pay a reasonable amount assessed on the basis of what the estimate said.
• Extra work: If a customer and garage agree that extra work should be carried out (or perhaps after investigation, do part of the repair work differently than originally agreed) the garage can charge extra for this (on top of the original quote or estimate). The extra cost should be agreed (with a note kept at the time).Otherwise it will be necessary to assess what extra charge is reasonable.
• Obvious mistake in a quote or estimate: If a garage makes a genuine mistake in a quote (perhaps in adding up the various aspects) then the garage usually has the right to be paid by their customer the amount that was really intended. 
• Dispute over bill: If you refuse to pay the garage can keep the vehicle until the dispute is resolved and their terms & conditions may even allow them to charge you a storage fee. To avoid this, if you complain before paying, it may be possible to reach a compromise agreement with the garage manager at the time. Otherwise you should pay and then claim back the amount you think is unreasonable. Ideally mark their copy of the bill “amount disputed”

The area of law is known as “breach of contract”. Customers are also given extra rights under Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Problems with a newly bought vehicle:

Bought from a car dealer: If the fault is found within 6 months the law assumes the problem was already present when you bought it. This means the dealer is responsible for the cost of fixing the problem and you should let them know as soon as possible. If the dealer disputes this, it is up to them to prove the fault was not present when they sold it. This is not just brand new cars but any car bought from a dealer and the protection comes from the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Bought car from a private seller: The description given by the seller must not be misleading but otherwise you cannot go back to the seller if the vehicle develops a fault. You buy “as seen”. That is why when buying privately it often makes sense to get an independent inspection/assessment of the vehicle – so you know if it is in good condition.

Trade Association

In addition to your legal rights, it is worth finding out if the garage or car dealership is a member of a trade association. This is a type of members group aiming to promote good codes of practice.  If the garage belongs to one are they will display a sign on their premises and on their paperwork. 

The garage will then have to work to the standards of that association. If you feel a garage has let you down, the Trade Association may be able to offer help in resolving your dispute with the garage.

1: What was agreed. 

Before a garage or repair shop start work, you will usually have reached an agreement as to what they were going to do and the cost. This agreement can be:

• A formal written contract that you are asked to sign (terms & conditions)
• An agreement and price reached in an email or text exchange or by phone after the garage have looked into the problem.
• A verbal agreement or understanding made when you dropped off your vehicle.
• A common-sense understanding as to what is “reasonable”

2: What you are unhappy about. This will be what the garage or their customer has done that has not followed the agreement. Examples include:

• Poor quality of visible repair work
• Problem still not fixed
• Work taking far longer than originally advised
• Charged more than was agreed to expected.
• Left the job unfinished.
• Customer of garage not paying the bill

1: Proof of what had been agreed between you. Perhaps a formal contract or an email or text exchange or notes you made at the time of a verbal agreement. 

However this is usually agreed verbally in person or by phone. As soon as you realise you are not happy you should make a written record of the conversations, whilst you still have a clear memory.

2: Proof that the agreement has been broken – 

• Photos of poor quality repair work (where this is visible). 
• You may decide to take the vehicle to another garage to look at the problem. They may be prepared to write a letter of report on the problem and what the first garage have done wrong as well as the cost of fixing this. There is likely to be a charge for this type of report.

3: Proof of the financial loss caused to you:
Examples such as a quote or bill  from another garage for fixing the poor quality work or bank statements showing that the customer has not paid what was agreed.

Financial compensation or repair work– to put you in the position you would be in if the agreement had been followed.

1: The work completed (if left unfinished)

2: The work re-done to a reasonable standard

3: The cost of any other losses and expenses caused by the broken agreement. 

But all must be reasonable and cannot be a loss you would have suffered anyway. Usually you will need receipts or other proof of these extra losses and expenses.

• Problem returns a short while after you’ve paid for it to be fixed
• Garage not finishing job
• Garage charging more than expected or reasonable in the circumstances.