When we take our luxury car for service at our local garage, we expect to be served in a polite manner and with exemplary service. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. What do you do when your Aston Martin comes back with burn marks on the passenger seat or a scratch on the door? What happens then?
Your Rights as a Consumer:
When you take your car to a garage for servicing or repairs, you are entering into a contract with the garage and the laws offering you protection are the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002. Both laws guarantee your statutory rights and you can demand that the work be carried out in accordance with the law.
Therefore, your garage must carry out the work with reasonable care and skill, in other words the garage should complete the job competently and to a standard expected of a garage of that type. The work must be carried out within a reasonable period of time. Unless a specific time was agreed beforehand, any delays must be discussed with you and agreed upon in writing. The work must be carried out at a reasonable price. Unless a fixed charge was agreed beforehand, the garage must stick to the original quote for the work.
If the garage fits a new part during the service or repair, you are entitled to expect that it be of satisfactory quality – this means that the part should be in working order and also be free from minor defects. It must be fit for its intended purpose, namely the part should perform as it is intended to do.
The part or work must be as described. This means that any description given prior to work commencing has to be correct. If a part was described as being made by a particular manufacturer in a specific country, that is what it should be – it should not be an inferior make made elsewhere.
If a fault or error has not been repaired properly or the garage failed to spot a fault, you should allow the garage the chance to put it right. If the garage refuses or fails to do so, you may be entitled to get the work done at another garage and recover the cost from the original garage. If you have paid for the servicing or repairs by credit card, and if the work cost more than £100, the consumer is protected by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. In section 75 of this Act you’ll see that it makes the credit card company as responsible as the garage for a breach of contract or a misrepresentation of the contract.
If you have reason to suspect that a garage is charging you for work it claims to have carried out but has not actually done, or if the garage has fitted inferior or used parts when you only agreed to have a particular manufacturer’s parts or new parts, a criminal offence may have been committed and you should report it to Consumer Direct.
Reference: Auto Transport > Garage > Luxury Car Service: Legal Support for Inappropriate Service
