Over charged by garage. What are my rights?

IanP2015

Can we see a copy and paste of the email exchange - Minus personal details.

droopsnoot

apeshape wrote: »

But in plain english, how can I ask for a FULL price...And when I get a quote in response the cost will be xxx PLUS vat, am I wrong to assume what he/she means is excluding VAT.

VAT-registered businesses often quote prices as a basic price PLUS VAT, meaning that the VAT is charged on top of that at the prevailing rate. They do that because if you are also VAT-registered business customer, you will be more interested in the price before VAT, as the VAT you pay them may be offset against any VAT you charge your customers; if you're a registered charity you might be exempt from VAT.

Your comment above doesn't make sense though - you asked for a full price, you said you assumed it was excluding VAT, but then seemed to be surprised that the VAT was added on. That's what "excluding VAT" means, it doesn't mean that there won't be any VAT, but that there will be, and it's not included in the quoted price.

apeshape wrote: »

As for the extra work of swapping a tyre and replacing back on to the car, shouldn't this have been in the 'quote' as well (plus the umm, addtionally vat associated with this complex procedure)

Did you make it clear that they would need to remove the wheel from the car, or was that extra work that they weren't anticipating? If the former, then they should not have charged you. VAT isn't based on how complex the procedure is, there are rules on what VAT is charged on, and what it is not charged on, and they have to stick to it or risk a VAT inspection and all manner of HMRC-related trouble.

It is a bit off that they've seen there is extra work (removing and refitting the wheel) and not mentioned it beforehand, but a fiver isn't really that much for the time it's taken.

almillar

I'm not clear here. You were quoted £50 plus VAT. That's £60 you should have expected to pay. You say you were overcharged by £20 - that means you were charged £80, is that right?
If they quoted based on seeing what needed done, and hadn't asked for additional info, then they should have been back to you to authorise any variance, and that's when you should have been given a reason. Maybe there's a legitimate reason, maybe they can tell you it now. Not worth getting too annoyed over it but you're right about the principle if it's as above.