Garage Charging for Estimate

part-timer

Hi All,

Just wanted a little advice as I have not come across this situation before. My son took his motorbike into a garage we have used before this morning to ask for an estimate for some repair work, he needs the fairing and a couple of panels replaced.

The garage rang about an hour ago and said you can pick the bike up this afternoon, that will be £15 - I queried this as I thought clearly this can't be the price of the repairs and the guy said oh no thats for the estimate, which you will get back if we do the work, we haven't got the prices yet for the repairs.

My question is, is this common? I haven't had to repair many cars but when I have, I have never been asked to pay for an estimate.

Any advice on what to do/say would be appreciated as we are collecting the bike this afternoon.

hewhoisnotintheknow

not unheard of, i guess they need to work out how much its going to cost which takes time

although did you agree to paying for an estimate?

Lemonade_Pockets

I queried this as I thought clearly this can't be the price of the repairs and the guy said oh no thats for the estimate, which you will get back if we do the work, we haven't got the prices yet for the repairs.

If they haven't got the prices for the repair how can they charge for an estimate?

How about you tell them that you estimate you owe them Sweet FA and send them an invoice for said estimate.

I've heard of diagnostic charges etc if there is a problem which isn't obvious, but looking up a few part numbers is hardly a onerous task. Tell them to get on their bike

bungle4x4

15quid for probably an hours work. seems fair to me

atrixblue.-MFR-.

bungle4x4 wrote: »

15quid for probably an hours work. seems fair to me

if theyve had to take panels off to get serials e.t.c then 15 quid will be to cover the labour wich i think is fair and agree with bungle4x4. but if they aint touched the bike and only had it to ring suppliers then its inconveinienced your son as it was unescesary to leave it there just to look pretty while he rings suppliers he could of done that while you were there and given the estimate straight away, and doesnt warrent paying 15 quid.

i'd ask garage what theyve had to do to the bike in order to give estmate if the say nothing then tell them you wont pay 15 quid to do nothing.

goldspanners

i imagine when it comes to bikes, folk often take them for an estimate for repair work to be done, then they find out it costs too much and just scrap the bike and buy another one.
he could probably spend a few days of his week doing estimates that he never gets back to repair as the price for repair was too high.

as said if he has had to remove parts to get details or maybe even struggled to find the parts for it i don't think £15 is out of the question.

Wig

It's standard practice for motorbike repair quotes AFAIK, but they should have told you when you left the bike with them, if they didn't then you can argue that you did not consent to the fee. They will then withold the estimate until you are willing to pay which would be very reasonable. £15 doesn't sound like much in todays world. I had to pay £15 for a bike estimate back in 1992. The insurer wanted 2 estimates, when I phoned them up and said the repair estimates cost money they then accepted just the one estimate.

Wig

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

if theyve had to take panels off to get serials e.t.c then 15 quid will be to cover the labour wich i think is fair and agree with bungle4x4. but if they aint touched the bike and only had it to ring suppliers then its inconveinienced your son as it was unescesary to leave it there just to look pretty while he rings suppliers he could of done that while you were there and given the estimate straight away, and doesnt warrent paying 15 quid.

i'd ask garage what theyve had to do to the bike in order to give estmate if the say nothing then tell them you wont pay 15 quid to do nothing.

'thanked you in error' - sorry

Even the writing up of the estimate, as well as the authority that comes with it, they are lending you their expertise and the reputation that they know what they are talking about on a piece of paper which you give to the insurers....<<< that is worth something on it's own without even starting to take into account any labour involved.

Banks charge upwards of £20 for simple letters.

part-timer

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.

When we went to collect the bike, I did discuss the charge with them and apparently it is standard practice for most motorbike repairers to charge for estimates.

They did also have to take some of the panels of to assess the damage, there is quite a lot more than the superficial damage we first thought so they have given the bike a thorough going over and will provide a written quote in the next couple of days so in the end quite happy to pay.