Garage Terms & Conditions of Business

1. Definitions

• Customer: a person or organisation requesting work from us.
• Consumer: an individual acting wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession.
• Business customer: a customer acting in the course of business rather than as a consumer.
• Vehicle: a vehicle entrusted to us for inspection, repairs, servicing, MOT arrangements or storage.

2. Estimates and prices

An estimate is an expected cost based on the information available, unless clearly stated to be a fixed quotation. A fixed quotation applies to the work it describes.

We confirm the agreed work and price, or how the charge will be calculated, before starting. Consumer prices include any applicable VAT and mandatory charges. Any VAT payable on a business quotation is clearly identified.

If additional work or a parts-price change affects an estimate, we explain the revised cost and obtain your agreement before proceeding. An agreed fixed price is not increased without your approval of a change to the work.

Any charge for diagnosis, inspection or dismantling is agreed before that work starts.

3. Authorisation of work

Signing a job card, accepting a quotation or instructing us to proceed authorises the agreed work. We record any agreed scope or spending limit.

We contact you for approval before extra work or charges outside that authorisation. If we cannot reach you, we pause the additional work. Safety-related repairs outside the agreed work also need your approval.

Work is carried out with reasonable care and skill. We agree a completion time where possible; otherwise, work is completed within a reasonable time. We keep you informed if parts availability or further faults affect completion.

4. Completion, collection, payment and storage

Completion and collection

We notify you when your vehicle is ready. Please collect it promptly or agree an alternative collection date with us.

Payment and release of the vehicle

Payment for properly completed, authorised work is due on completion and issue of the invoice, unless a different due date is agreed in writing. We allow a seven-day grace period after the due date before applying late-payment charges. Interest is not backdated to cover that grace period.

Where we have a lawful right to retain the vehicle for unpaid charges for work on that vehicle, we may keep it until those charges are paid, unless release is agreed in writing. This does not remove a consumer’s right to withhold a reasonable disputed amount or use other legal remedies.

Storage charges

Where the storage charge was explained and agreed before the booking, a vehicle left after it is ready for collection may incur a charge of £25 per day, including any applicable VAT, starting 48 hours after notification. A different collection or storage arrangement can be agreed in writing.

Storage charges must be reasonable and proportionate. We do not charge for delays caused by us or preventable by us, and do not recover the same loss twice.

Unpaid or uncollected vehicles

We first contact you to arrange payment and collection. A vehicle is not automatically abandoned because a bill is unpaid or collection is delayed.

Any sale of an uncollected vehicle to recover sums due must follow the applicable legal process, including required notices, time limits, ownership checks and safeguards for disputes under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. We account for the proceeds and any balance after lawful deductions. This clause does not give us an unrestricted right to sell or dispose of your vehicle.

Late payment — business customers

After the seven-day grace period ends, we may claim statutory interest on qualifying overdue commercial debts under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. The statutory annual rate is 8 percentage points above the Bank of England base rate, calculated daily under the Act. A different contractual interest arrangement applies where the law requires it.

Where the Act applies, the fixed compensation below may also be claimed once for each qualifying late payment:

Late payment — consumers

If these terms were provided before your agreement, we may charge simple annual interest on an overdue, undisputed amount at 4 percentage points above the Bank of England base rate. It is calculated daily from the day after the seven-day grace period ends until payment. Interest is not compounded.

Any consumer interest or recovery charge must be fair, reasonable and proportionate to our loss. We may recover only necessary, reasonable debt-recovery costs that the law permits. We do not apply the business fixed-compensation charges to consumers or recover the same loss twice.

If you dispute a charge, contact us so we can investigate it. We do not apply consumer late-payment interest to an amount reasonably disputed while we investigate.

5. Parts

We explain the relevant parts specification before the work. New, used, reconditioned or aftermarket parts may be supplied as agreed with you; we do not substitute a different specification without approval. Parts we supply must meet the applicable legal standards.

Please tell us when authorising the work if you want replaced parts returned. Unless agreed otherwise, we arrange their disposal or return them to the supplier where an exchange or warranty return is required. We explain any exchange requirement before agreement.

To the extent the law allows, parts we supply remain our property until paid for. This does not authorise us to enter your property or remove fitted parts unlawfully.

6. Warranty and workmanship

Manufacturer or supplier guarantees apply on their stated terms. We confirm any additional guarantee covering the parts or labour for your job, including its duration and conditions.

An additional guarantee may exclude fair wear and tear, damage caused by misuse or neglect, or damage caused by continuing to use a vehicle with a known defect. It may not cover parts you supplied yourself.

These conditions do not remove our responsibility for parts we supply or the quality of our work. Consumers retain their statutory remedies, including repeat performance or a price reduction where applicable. A guarantee expiry or exclusion does not itself decide whether we are responsible.

Warranty plans included with cars for sale are described separately in the individual advert and our vehicle warranty pages.

7. MOT testing

We arrange MOT testing through a third-party test centre for £40. Testing follows DVSA requirements. Repairs, retests, recovery or other additional work are quoted separately and require your agreement.

An MOT assesses the items covered by the test at the time it is carried out. It is not a full mechanical inspection or a guarantee that the vehicle has no other faults. A later fault does not by itself establish that the test or our work was defective; it also does not remove responsibility where a test or repair was carried out incorrectly.

We explain any relevant third-party arrangements. They do not remove our responsibility for services we contract to supply to you.

8. Customer-supplied parts

Fitting a part you supply is subject to our agreement. We do not provide a guarantee on the part’s quality or lifespan, and may decline a part that is unsuitable or unsafe.

Agreed labour charges remain payable for fitting carried out correctly, even if your part later fails. Further removal or replacement work is quoted separately and authorised before it starts.

We remain responsible for carrying out the fitting with reasonable care and skill. These terms do not exclude remedies for faulty fitting or damage we cause.

9. Care of your vehicle and liability

We take reasonable care of your vehicle while it is in our possession and remain responsible for loss or damage caused by our failure to meet our legal duties.

If an event outside our reasonable control delays the work, we tell you and take reasonable steps to reduce its effect. It does not remove our duty to take care of the vehicle or your applicable legal remedies.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

10. Test drives

Authorising the work includes necessary checks and reasonable road tests related to that work. Road tests take place only where the vehicle is safe to drive and the driver and vehicle meet the legal and insurance requirements.

11. Complaints

Contact Sam Clark as soon as reasonably possible if you have a concern, so we can investigate and seek to resolve it. You can call, email, write or visit the garage.

We aim to handle complaints fairly and promptly. Our complaints procedure explains the process. Asking you to raise a concern promptly does not shorten your legal time limits or remove your rights.

12. Data protection

Customer information is handled under UK data-protection law. We use information to arrange and carry out the work, manage payment and records, and deal with enquiries or complaints.

Relevant information may be shared with service providers, including an MOT test centre, or with advisers and authorities where there is a lawful reason. We share only what is needed. Our privacy notice explains our use of personal information and your rights.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. For business customers, disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

For consumers, this does not remove any mandatory protections under the law that applies where you live, or your right to bring proceedings in a court available to you under consumer law.