| General
Comment - |
The motor
industry seems to provoke a lot of emotion as an enormous number of us complain
to the automotive industry. New car prices have been a bug bear of the Government
and rogue traders in the industry are becoming the focus of action by the
authorities. Do your bit and don't let the 'rogues' get away with it. Plenty
of links to further information have been given below
if you are unsure of the procedures outlined here. |
| Step
1 - |
Local resolution
1: Complain to the manager of the garage directly. We have included
links to some very useful information below on dealing with the car industry.
If you have
to pay a bill before making a complaint you can write a letter to the
manager detailing your complaint, saying you are not satisfied and that
payment is made without prejudice. This will protect you if you want to
escalate your complaint or need to go to court.
It is important that you make any complaint as swiftly as possible as
it may be hard to prove a problem if you have used your car extensively
since the problem arose.
If you are unable to resolve your complaint with the garage you can go
to step 2 or to step 3 if there is no higher level within the company
you can turn to.
|
| Step
2 - |
Local resolution
2: You should complain to the head office of the car company or of
the garage involved if applicable. You should also check if the company
is a member of a trade association such as the Society of Motor Manufacturers
and Traders or the Retail Motor Industry Federation and if so you can
often complain to them or establish the charters that they have for their
members. Many offer independent arbitration services which you may wish
to consider but you might want to take advice from step 3 first.
For problems specific
to the Systems Installation within a car the Regulatory Body is the Vehicle
Systems Installation Board who can deal with complaints of this nature.
|
| Step
3 - |
Authorities:
Being a very decentralised industry the world of car servicing can seem
a bit bewildering. In all cases, if the complaint is still unresolved
then you can seek advice from your local Trading
Standards Office or Citizens'
Advice Bureau. They will give you free advice and may take up your
complaint for you. Many local Trading Standards Services have 'Garage
approval' schemes and will be in a good position to give you on the spot
advice about problem traders in their area.
|
| Step
4 - |
Court: Failing
all else you can still go to court to resolve your dispute. Details of
small claims court and other procedures are given in the Legal Section
of this site. You can also contact the Community Legal Service (justask.org.uk)
that gives access to free advice. Otherwise your local Citizens' Advice
Bureau will give you advice and will sometimes organise free legal representation
for you.
|
 |
Advice
leaflet from the Trading Standards institute on car repairs and servicing
(England, Wales, NI). |
|
Advice
leaflet from the Trading Standards institute on car repairs and servicing
(Scotland). |
|
The Citizens'
Advice Bureaux Adviceguide site. |
|
The Office
of Fair Trading's guide to dealing with the automotive industry, includes
some great tips on getting your car serviced. |
|
The DTI's
Consumer Gateway gives information on your rights and advice on complaining. |
|
The BBC's
Watchdog site has some good advice regarding complaints procedures. |
|
The AA's
website which gives lots of general advice and details regarding vehicle
inspections etc. |
|
Vehicle
Systems Installation Board |
|
The Retail
Motor Industry Federation provide some useful tools include Tips and an
arbitration service |
|
The Motor
Vehicle Repairers Association can help customers who have complaints against
their members |
|
The Society
of Motor Manufacturers and Traders website of you have an issue involving
warranties. |
