Mobile Mechanic Call Out Fee

JustAnotherSaver

Did someone put a gun to your head and tell you you had to use this guy without discussing fees up front?

If yes, blame them.
If not then blame yourself. 

Robbo66

thethinwhiteduke said:

Alter_ego said:

So did you ask about his charges? Perhaps you thought it was free?

There is no charge for this post, it's pro bono.

Thanks. At least you were upfront about it!
No I didn't ask his charges. The reviews on his Facebook page say that he's reasonable (unless that's family and friends posting), so I (maybe stupidly) assumed that he ask for a small charge for his time if he was only there for 5 minutes? Not £60.
Isn't the onus on him to tell me the charges prior to coming out?

£60 is reasonable, considering most garages/mobile mechanics have a set minimum of 1 hours labour
That £60 covers his travel, vehicle insurance, fuel cost, wear & Tear and not to mention his years of training and expertise.

burlingtonfl6

thethinwhiteduke said:

Alter_ego said:

So did you ask about his charges? Perhaps you thought it was free?

There is no charge for this post, it's pro bono.

Thanks. At least you were upfront about it!
No I didn't ask his charges. The reviews on his Facebook page say that he's reasonable (unless that's family and friends posting), so I (maybe stupidly) assumed that he ask for a small charge for his time if he was only there for 5 minutes? Not £60.
Isn't the onus on him to tell me the charges prior to coming out?

In your previous post you said you were surprised about the up front charge.....not the amount
If you were surprised about the up front charge it makes sense that you thought the service was free

David713

If no price had been agreed prior to the work being carried out, the trader is still legally entitled to charge you providing that what they charge is a reasonable fee. This is to try to stop traders from ripping people off by not giving a price they invoicing them for ridiculous amounts.
This is covered by S51 of the Consumer Rights act:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/51/enacted

51 Reasonable price to be paid for a service

(1) This section applies to a contract to supply a service if—

(a) the consumer has not paid a price or other consideration for the service,

(b) the contract does not expressly fix a price or other consideration, and does not say how it is to be fixed, and

(c) anything that is to be treated under section 50 as included in the contract does not fix a price or other consideration either.

(2) In that case the contract is to be treated as including a term that the consumer must pay a reasonable price for the service, and no more.

(3) What is a reasonable price is a question of fact.

And I agree with other posters that £60 is a reasonable fee for calling out a mechanic to start you car and confirm that the battery was knackered.

comeandgo

£60 is reasonable, your other option is to have a membership with Greenflag or AA or other breakdown services who will do call out at home.  

m0bov

£100 could be resonable, he has an hourly rate. Pay it and thank him for attending.

Belenus

thethinwhiteduke said:

Alter_ego said:

He was only with you 5mins, but how long getting there and back?

He lives around a 3 minute drive away.

Was he at home 3 minutes away when you called?

He could have been 30 minutes away from you when you called and had a 60 minute round trip to deal with you.

Regardless of how much travel was involved, £60 is very reasonable for his time, his knowledge and his experience.

Pay the man or buy the battery from him and pay him for that.

Herzlos

thethinwhiteduke said:

He told me the cost of the battery plus labour - which was fine - he then told me that if I didn't go ahead with installing a new battery that there would be a £60 call out fee regardless. He never mentioned that on Messenger or prior to jump starting the car. It's not mentioned anywhere on his business Facebook page either.
...
Am I being reasonable?

No. £60 is £50+VAT which is pretty normal for mechanics time (usually billed by the hour), and it sounds like he only charges it if you don't get the work done, to prevent exactly what you've done; dragged him out to give you a jump start and then go and get the work done by someone else. The odds are very few people actually pay the call out fee because they get work done.

It's exactly the same deal as any diagnostic fee you'd get from a static garage if you got them to do work but not fit anything.

What were you expecting him to charge you for the jump start, if you weren't going to get him to fit the battery?

justworriedabit

Hello OP
For future needs always find out what the charges are inc VAT. That way you know if its going to to be 60, 100 or 600 and you decide on that. Also ask what they will do when they come out and the min charge inc vat. You may feel akward asking those questions but it is easier to ask before rather than not be totally happy once they are there.
Some years ago we had some work done in our house and we asked many questions about how we paid them at what stages, the times they would start/finish and how many days it would take, etc etc. One said we asked "too many questions" but when my husband told him its best to ask them beforehand rather than fall out later he agreed. We actually took him on for the work and there was only one extra expense and he told us about it as they took down a wall and could not be seen beforehand and both sides were happy with the result.

My first car years ago took it to  back street garage they had the gift of the gab, etc and when i went to pay them for the brakes change, I think it was about 100 pounds the man said something like "thats a 100 pounds plus VAT." I challenged him and the checky man replied "but we don't get the vat its the government." that's the last time I used them.

So ask everything beforehand and many get caught out with emergency plumbers, car repairs and pay out hundreds when it should only be a fraction of that.

Put it down to experience and as you said he got the car going. Facebook etc we never use for services.

thethinwhiteduke

justworriedabit said:

Hello OP
For future needs always find out what the charges are inc VAT. That way you know if its going to to be 60, 100 or 600 and you decide on that. Also ask what they will do when they come out and the min charge inc vat. You may feel akward asking those questions but it is easier to ask before rather than not be totally happy once they are there.
Some years ago we had some work done in our house and we asked many questions about how we paid them at what stages, the times they would start/finish and how many days it would take, etc etc. One said we asked "too many questions" but when my husband told him its best to ask them beforehand rather than fall out later he agreed. We actually took him on for the work and there was only one extra expense and he told us about it as they took down a wall and could not be seen beforehand and both sides were happy with the result.

My first car years ago took it to  back street garage they had the gift of the gab, etc and when i went to pay them for the brakes change, I think it was about 100 pounds the man said something like "thats a 100 pounds plus VAT." I challenged him and the checky man replied "but we don't get the vat its the government." that's the last time I used them.

So ask everything beforehand and many get caught out with emergency plumbers, car repairs and pay out hundreds when it should only be a fraction of that.

Put it down to experience and as you said he got the car going. Facebook etc we never use for services.

Thanks. Yeah, you're probably right and, as I've never used a mobile mechanic before.
I still think he needed to be upfront with me rather than the other way round. He had several opportunities to say "the callout charge will be £60" beforehand and it's not mentioned anywhere else on his FB page.
Some of the responses have criticised me for wanting something for nothing, which is not the case. I just thought it was out of proportion with what he did and not to mention the charge before that was wrong, imo. Anyway, as you've said live and learn.