Garage has done work without advising of costs

scheming_gypsy

mo786uk wrote: »

Under the Supply of Goods and Services Act it must be a reasonable cost if no price was agreed.

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how do they define reasonable cost? if your engine is kippered and you get charged £1500 then it might be a reasonable cost for a replacement engine but would it be a reasonable cost for them not to tell you in advance?

CapJ

Do you have a figure in your mind about reasonable cost? If they haven't rung you it is most likely the cost is low and they figured it was easier to just do it.

I think the first step is to find out the price.

If it is too high you will need to pay to get your car back. In this case either leave the car there or, better, pay under protest (noting this on receipt etc). Then consider next steps.

But I think the most likely is the bill won't be excessive. Unless you have a Ferrari, Garages don't generally carry out expensive work without asking first (not because of moral issues but because it reduces the chance of not being paid / hassle over surprisingly high bills).

bod1467

If it's a main dealer/franchise then expect £55+ per hour (+ VAT) labour. If it's an independent then reckon on £30+ per hour (+ VAT). Then add the cost of parts (+ VAT).

That should give a rough guide to whether the quoted price is reasonable.

devildog

I had a similar issue with ds' car. Took it in for pre MOT check.There was a few things that needed doing, garage would price up and get back to me (car left with them) few days later got a call saying car ready(gobsmacked cause they hadnt yet given me price) Spoke to them about this and they said that they thought someone had called me with price and they had proceeded with work but then the 'someone' said no they hadnt called me(by which time they had already started so they continued on)
I really wasn't very happy as work came to £500 (more than car worth ). Did pay it though(none too happily). If I had been told price in advance think would of just scrapped car, but would then have had to of found another car! As it happened, ran it for one last year and then scrapped!

texranger

I assume as its a van it a business vehicle, so the longer you hum and har about it and the longer it sits as an MOT failure you are losing money, so the garage fixed it as per your instructions "I told them I'd like the van to come back in for the work to be done" which means you pay and then you get back to work

Scrummymummy_2

I work in a garage.

If your car fails its MOT, you are not legally obliged to get any repairs done at the MOT testing centre (See council run MOT Centres).

Usually, if a car fails its MOT and you want to get repairs done elsewhere, the garage can use its discretion about how long you have to get a retest done free of charge.

Where I work its 7 days.

With regards to the work being done without a price. You booked it in to get the repairs done. These should have been clearly stated on the failure certificate and explained to you by the garage.

You didn't ask for a full price break down, and by booking it back in without stating you wanted this, they would naturally assume you wanted it doing, otherwise, what was the point?

CapJ

Scrummymummy wrote: »

You didn't ask for a full price break down, and by booking it back in without stating you wanted this, they would naturally assume you wanted it doing, otherwise, what was the point?

In fairness it seems he did ask for a price but was told to bring it in so they could see what needs doing. I would understand that to mean no work, other than determining the work necessary started until they called. At the same time if the cost was going to be minimal (i.e. not worth stopping and starting again) I wouldn't blame the garage for just going ahead.

Scrummymummy_2

The garage would know what repairs were needed after doing the MOT and these would be clearly stated on the red failure certificate.
Most customers would ask for and receive a price breakdown for extra work when the customer collected the vehicle.

The woman on the phone wouldn't know a price from a phone call booking the vehicle in, and again, unless the customer then asked for a price breakdown, then the garage would naturally assume the work was to be done, as it had been booked in for MOT repairs.

pnopine

texranger wrote: »

I assume as its a van it a business vehicle, so the longer you hum and har about it and the longer it sits as an MOT failure you are losing money, so the garage fixed it as per your instructions "I told them I'd like the van to come back in for the work to be done" which means you pay and then you get back to work

You assume wrong once again my friend.

And once more, you provide a less than helpful reply, thanks again :-)

It's actually a van converted into a campervan so it's not a work vehicle, and therefore I am not losing any money

I very clearly asked on the phone how much it would cost and was clearly told to bring it in before I could be told how much - if the amount was over the odds then I may well have tried to take it else where, or store it off the road until I decided where to take it, given that I have more time to do this now.

As it happens, when I returned today, the cost wasn't as bad as I thought they might have been, if still a bit steep.

The garage did apologise for 'forgetting' to phone me and let me know the costs so acknowledged their mistake.

fluffnutter

TBH, this just sounds like a misunderstanding. When the OP took the van back in whomever took receipt of the van probably assumed (not unreasonably) that it was being brought back for repairs. The message (if it was ever explicit) to estimate for the job and get back to the OP was probably lost and so the work just went ahead anyway. Sure a phone call would have been great but I doubt anyone's trying to deliberately mislead anyone else. Just a simple misunderstanding and let's hope the work's a reasonable price.