Repair costs

chowells17

Can a garage increase the cost of repairs, once you have accepted the quote to repair the vehicle?

bazster

If it's a quote no, if it's an estimate, yes.

But even if it's a quote they might then quote extra on top for additional stuff that comes to light.

dannyrst

They shouldn't really do anything without asking you prior. Usually, exceptions are made for low value items (relative to the quote you were provided).

AdrianC

Once they start work, it's entirely possible - probable, even - that more work will come to light, perfectly legitimately. For that reason, you will VERY rarely be given an actual quote. An estimate, yes.

bazster

dannyrst wrote: »

They shouldn't really do anything without asking you prior. Usually, exceptions are made for low value items (relative to the quote you were provided).

Indeed. A good garage will know where to strike the balance. "We did this because it obviously had to be done, it's another £20 on top of the estimate" would seem reasonable. "We thought the engine was a bit grubby so we fitted a new one, that's another £2,000" would be slightly less so!

mrmot

Garages estimate on the cost of parts and labour. The labour times are often looked up on systems like Autodata, however these systems don't take into account the age of the vehicle and the associated complications that arise, such as seized fixings, threads that strip on removal of the fixing - these take extra labour time and in some cases parts to rectify, which all add to the costs.

For example replacing a water pump, a good garage will estimate for antifreeze renewal, however when they do the job they may find that the auxiliary belt is past its best and that the cooling system needs a flush and a clean.

If you hold them down hard and fast to a quote, then they may only do the work that they've quoted for, which is not much good if as in the example above your auxiliary belt breaks and takes the engine with it in a few months.