Car mechanics-should we make a stand

spiritus

I took my car into a local garage asking them if they could look at it to identify a fault that was causing running problems with the car. I explained to them I only want to know what the problems is and how much it will cost to repair.

They had the car in all day (although I don't know how long they actually worked on it). When I came to collect it they told me they couldn't fix the car as they were unable to identify the cause of the problem. They had replaced some spark plugs for me thinking this might help cure the problem but admitted the spark plugs did not have any effect. As they claim to have worked on the car for 3 hours they billed me for £ 65.00.

Is this legal ? They didn't repair the car. They didn't even identify the problem. They replaced spark plugs that did not need replacing and by their own admission said the change had no effect on the car's problems and I get billed for it !

I wondered what my legal position is on this ?

Surely garages should only charge you if the fault has been rectified or if they tell you beforehand that you will be charged regardless of any fault being fixed or found ??

lil_me

Fault finding is usually about £30/£40 per hour even if they do not find the fault.

Astaroth

Have to say, £65 for 3 hours labour is exceptionally cheap - mechanical work is much more often closer to the £30-50 as mentioned by lil_me and can go to over £100 for certain branded garages.

Unless you specifically agreed with them to only pay if they find the fault then they are perfectly entitled to charge for the effort they have put in to trying to find the problem.

lily_the_pink

I think they should have been clear that they were going to charge you even if they couldnt find the fault. I also think that even in the case of the spark plugs they should have let you know that they were going to do this. So I would certainly not use them again

However, it is worthwhile finding a decent local garage/mechanic and building up a relationship with them.

northern_munky

I can understand you being miffed with this. Fault finding can be a long business so its no surprise they charged you for the labour IF they had found the fault. But to let you collect the car and and say they dont know what the problem is and to ask you to pay is a little bit cheeky really and shows up inability on their part, you have paid for a service and not recieved it. Did they say they needed the car for longer or give you any clues where the fault was?

What is the fault with the car and what year and make and model is it?

spiritus

Northern Monkey,

I'm from Bolton so maybe us northerner's are a little bit tighter with our cash

When I phoned them up intially I said I would like to know if someone can take a look at my car to see what the problem might be. I described the problem over the phone i.e. sluggish acceleration and a "burning rubber" smell coming from the exhaust area and was told to bring the car in. It's a '93 BMW 518.

When I eventually came to pick the car up the person who had "worked" on the car hadn't even been told by his colleagues about the burning smell. He asked me to bring it in again on Monday........I declined the offer.

Astaroth and Lil Me,

I see where you're coming from but I think as consumers we allow garages to get away with murder by accepting bad practices as standard. I don't mind paying if either a) the fault is rectified or b) the fault is identified. On this occasion they put new spark plugs (mistakenly thinking it might solve the problem) which it didn't need AND probably billed me for the time it took to install them. I took the car in asking for an opinion and was charged £ 65.00 for no repairs and no fault diagnosis.

Albertross,

There was no small print. I was asked to hand my car keys over and that was it. They phoned me up to tell me they had ALREADY installed the new spark plugs. They didn't ask if I was ok with it or not.


I just feel the whole thing is weighted in the garage's favour. How do I know they worked on it for 3 hours ? It could have been left standing for half that time for all I know.

Surely garages should inform the customer of their labour charges BEFORE commencing any type of work and also point out what is chargeable and what isn't. There was nothing to stop them from charging me £ 800 yesterday so where is my protection as a consumer ? With no pre-work agreement as to the costs then garages can feasibly charge whatever they want.

northern_munky

spiritus wrote:

I'm from Bolton so maybe us northerner's are a little bit tighter with our cash

Tight northern b**@~@*ds is the phrase I think :rotfl:

Did they say they would charge you again if you took it back? I dont think they know what they are doing though, what they are saying is they have been looking at your car for 3 hours and still dont know whats wrong. They might as well just say they dont have the skills or equipment to deal with these sorts of faults, which is fair enough, but they shouldnt charge for it.

If you took your car for a clutch to be fitted and then they turn round and say, 'we havent done it cos we didnt know how to do', they couldnt charge for that and this is the same thing in my book.

I would ask to speak to the owner or manager though and let them know you are unhappy and they may do something about it, but dont hold your breath.

hjb123

Can I just ask - did you expect them to look at if for free?

JoeyG

Thats hardly the point... The job that was initially agreed was only half done.

Imagine if you ordered a meal in a restaurant, only to be told the meal had been cooked but they were unable to prepare or serve it up... would you still be expected to pay?

hjb123

Yeah but the point I am trying to get across is that if you ask for someones professional opinion - ie to find out what the fault is etc - then you would surely accept that there will be a fee in doing this - one that may be refunded if you later take the work out with them.

For example, I took my car to a local dealership a couple of months since as there was a problem with a warning light - they fixed this - whether they had fixed it or not I was still going to be charged £30 which I knew about and expected as if everyone took their vehicles in for faults to be diagnosed and then take it elsewhere then they would hardly be running a good business.

spiritus

HJB123,

How did you know you were going to be charged for the work ? Did they tell you beforehand there would be a charge ? Also how did you know you would be charged £ 30 ? Did they tell you this in advance ?

The point I am making is that it sounds as if you had been forewarned as to what the costs would be whereas I received none. Do you think it fair that the consumer should pay for a garage to "experiment" on their car with different solutions i.e. the sparks plug replacement in my own car. What if the garage decided without my knowledge that other parts needed replacing in a clumsy attempt to fix the original problem........the sky is the limit as to how much they want to charge.

Garages seem to get away with this simply because so many people accept it. I'll give you another example. A friend of mine could smell petrol inside his car on some days. He took it to his local garage and he was told that his catalytic converter needed replacing and that this would be the cause of the fumes. He paid over £ 300 to have this replaced and after a few days of driving it around guess what.........he could smell the petrol again.

Now in all likelihood the catalytic converter probably DID need replacing however that's not the reason my friend went to the garage. So which side of the fence do we sit on ?

The garage were right to recommend the cat. needed replacing but my friend only agreed to this as he believed it would stop the smell of petrol fumes. Was the garage justified in charging him for the work.

I understand that garages may need to go through a process of elimination to fix a problem but there has to be a limit as to how liable a customer is for the garage's errors in diagnosing the fault. Otherwise the garage may keep recommending different repairs and replacements until they finally hit upon the solution whilst the consumer is out of pocket !

There should be some legislation to make garages be more open about their charges.