Garage dispute - advice needed

SteveABZ_2

Hi all,

I am involved in a long-running dispute over a garage bill, for work done to MOT my car. Here's the story.

The MOT on my 20-year old car was due, so I booked it into a garage I have used on many occasions in the past, and who I trusted. I was on very good terms with the owner personally.

We agreed a max limit of £700 for any work needed, due to the age and low market value of the car. I advised the garage that there was no rush, as I had use of another car, and the garage is usually very busy.

After nearly two weeks, I was called by the owner and advised that the car had passed it's MOT. I asked what the final bill was and he said that he hadn't worked it out yet, but that I could pick the car up and take it away.

When I collected the car, I again asked for the bill, and was told that it would be worked out and posted to my home address.

6 weeks later, I received a bill totalling nearly £1300. I phoned the owner of the garage, and to cut a long story short, he denied having agreed the £700 limit on repairs.

I have refused to pay the bill, and he is now using a collections company to get me to pay, and threatening legal action.

Where do I stand? I have offered £900 as a settlement, which has been turned down.

AlexisV

I would send a cheque for £700 in full and final settlement and then the ball is in his court.

If he did try court, you would admit a portion of the claim (£700) and then the onus would be on him to demonstrate he is owed the remainder.

If he carried out £1300 worth of work, that would imply you had an agreed to pay whatever it costs to get it through its MOT, which would be an additional hurdle he'd have to overcome.

note_2

did you get this £700 figure in writing, if you dont have any witnesses or evidence he could just lie.....

but yes, as alexis says 'the onus would be on him to demonstrate he is owed the remainder.'

fivetide

what's the car and what is it worth?

That could be your ace card. You say you instructed him not to spend more than the car's value so if your car really is worth just £800 then it will strengthen your argument.

5t.

s_b

A verbal agreement is just that and is unenforceable
With hindsight you should have got it in writing that maximum spend was to be £700 tops
You should have rung weekly asking how progress was going and reminded garage if you didnt have it in writing that maximum spend was £700
Personally i think garage has bent over for you by allowing you to take the car away
You wont win in court because garage owner will have an itemised bill and you have an mot'd car

rodenal

A verbal agreement is still a contract, so the above is not strictly true....but proving it can be incredibly difficult hence the much believed view above.

If you are certain that you only authorised £700 of repairs then I'd probably (depending on what was actually done, a list of the work completed may be useful) take this to small claims, or rather let the garage start proceedings - you've little to lose, especially if like suggested above the car is worth very little, backing up your claim r.e the limit.

Whilst the garage has issued an invoice for work carried out it does not have written authorisation to carry this work out, as much as you do not have written instruction r.e the £700. As the courts work on the balance of probability you should have a fair chance.

Foxy-Stoat_3

If the "verbal" agreement is worthless, ie the £700 limit, who in their right mind would hand over an £800 car and say, "fix it please, doesn't matter how much it costs"

Send him £700 and say thank you very much.

If I was the garage owner, I would of at least checked with the customer before carrying out £1300 worth of work and giving the car back to them without asking for payment until 6 weeks later.

s_b

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

If the "verbal" agreement is worthless, ie the £700 limit, who in their right mind would hand over an £800 car and say, "fix it please, doesn't matter how much it costs"

Send him £700 and say thank you very much.

If I was the garage owner, I would of at least checked with the customer before carrying out £1300 worth of work and giving the car back to them without asking for payment until 6 weeks later.

customers often say one thing then do another i can tell you 2 instances today
first one complained that a tyre had worn out since i sold him the car 12 months ago
i did a mileage check and hes done 10,300 miles since i last checked his car
custoomer no2 faithfully promised to pay for and collect a car at 10,00 am this morning,im still waiting
if OP left car in a lackadaisical attitude of theres no rush then they are responsible if they dont have a privce cap and trust me here if i was garage owner i would go to court and i would win

see youve had me mr nice now youve had me tell it as it is

its a tough world out there ship up to your responsibilities or be prepared for the consequences of your own inadequacies

to Foxy-Stoat your legal representative it appears:D

rodenal

s_b wrote: »

if OP left car in a lackadaisical attitude of theres no rush then they are responsible if they dont have a privce cap and trust me here if i was garage owner i would go to court and i would win

Not if you used the line "A verbal agreement is just that and is unenforceable" though.

Don't get me wrong, this could go both ways and it's very difficult to judge without being exposed to all the facts, as suggested things aren't always as they seem, it's easy to think you've relayed a message clearly but others pick it up a different way etc.

What's been put across in the thread so far would suggest (to me) that the op has quite a strong case against any action from the garage.....again that's without knowing the full story though.

AlexisV

All we know is that the garage is owed a minimum of £700, so I think that should be sorted as a priority.

Foxy-Stoat_3

sb, just giving advice, or what I would do, based on the facts detailed in OP's first post. Always had a good relationship with garage owners if I need any work doing, would always get a price first thou.

If you had a customer who said, "only spend upto £700 on this £800 car to get it through an MOT", what you do, do all the repairs necessary and hand the customer a bill for nearly double what you agreed knowing you could probably take him to court for the money if his doesn't pay? Very much doubt you will get repeat business that way. Maybe the garage owner forgot about the £700 limit, and forgot to invoice for work until 6 weeks later, so in their eyes they haven't done anything wrong and now using debt collectors to get their money.

Maybe they won't carry out 4 figure work for customers and let them have the car back without telling them the costs in the future after this, or maybe they do this all the time, who knows.

As far as the OP is concerned, he has his car back and not paid a penny for the work, so at very least he needs to pay the "agreed" price and tell him see me in court for the rest.

I doubt anyone WANTS to go to court to get paid for their work.

I would of thought, being a garage owner, you would how much repairs are likely to cost and maybe give the customer a call saying "its going to be a lot more than £700 to repair (nearly double), what would you want me to do?"

No not in the law profession.