Can mechanics charge for an estimate?

KingCong · 04-10-2013 2:54pm #1

So the girlfriend's car broke down on the motorway yesterday, her insurance had breakdown assist so they towed it to the nearest garage. Garage came back with a very high quote to fix the car today, so she's getting it towed to her local mechanic.

The problem is the garage with the high quote now wants to charge her 30 euro just for giving the quote/estimate, and won't give back the keys without that being paid. Can they do this? No charge was mentioned up front, and anyway if people were charged for getting quotes they'd never be able to shop around.

Mech1 · 04-10-2013 2:58pm

If the car stayed there overnight he's intitled to charge "storage fee's" also.

mitosis · 04-10-2013 3:00pm

It may seem like sharp practice, but it takes time and expertise to assess and quote for crash repairs. €30 seems cheap enough

Mech1 · 04-10-2013 3:02pm

A lot depends on your attitude also, if upon hearing the quote you tell him to stick it where the sun dont shine, your probably gonna get charged.

If you apologise for not being able to afford his quote then get the car towed, most likley free to go.

seamus · 04-10-2013 3:16pm

This is a complicated one because in general a mechanic is able to exercise a lien over a vehicle on which he has repaired and may refuse to release it until he is paid.
Similarly a towing service could reasonably refuse to release a vehicle until their towing charges are paid.

Can a garage refuse to release a vehicle until a quotation fee is paid? Iffy. I doubt it, that's pretty tenuous.

However, yes they can charge quotation fees. And it's relatively common, especially in businesses where a lot of the work is diagnostic, precisely because people shop around. Quotation fees are usually waived if you accept the quote.
From the business's point of view, you're effectively asking them how to fix the car, i.e. what needs to be done. If you then go off and engage someone else, you've just gotten the benefit of their expertise for free. Hence the quotation charge.

bucketybuck · 04-10-2013 3:20pm

We used to get a serious amount of time wasters coming into our workshop looking for estimates. We would spend an hour stripping parts off for a proper assessment, give them their quote and they would never be seen again, it was a real waste of time.

They would want the quote so they could engage in some good old fashioned insurance fraud, or would simply take the detailed quote and get some back street yahoo who didn't know his arse from his elbow to work through the list on the cheap, now that he had been shown what was needed.

Now we charge €70 up front for any estimate, with the €70 refunded if we are then asked to carry out the work. A much better system.

tomdempsey200 · 04-10-2013 3:47pm

lol....big deal for the poor mechanics spending an hour stripping parts

an electrical contractor could spend a day on a quote and you'd never hear from the customer again

if you were charging for quotes you wouldn't get asked to price job in the first place

simple as that!

one law for the motor industry vultures....another law for the rest of us

bucketybuck · 04-10-2013 4:03pm

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

lol....big deal for the poor mechanics spending an hour stripping parts

an electrical contractor could spend a day on a quote and you'd never hear from the customer again

if you were charging for quotes you wouldn't get asked to price job in the first place

simple as that!

one law for the motor industry vultures....another law for the rest of us

More fool them.

What, just because the electricians get ripped off everybody else should too? You are very wise.

04-10-2013 4:06pm

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

one law for the motor industry vultures....another law for the rest of us

Not really the case though, is it.

If you're self employed you can do as you please regarding this. I would agree that free quotes are a sign of a more competitive outfit, but I wouldn't begrudge someone for charging for a quotation.

Personally I think free quotations are more hassle than they're worth in a lot of industries (mechanics being one of them). If you feel so hard done by it, why don't you start charging for quotes?

seamus · 04-10-2013 4:14pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Personally I think free quotations are more hassle than they're worth in a lot of industries (mechanics being one of them).

Indeed, where the act of quoting is itself labour-intensive, what happens when you do free quotes is that half of the customers will take the quote somewhere else and ask, "Can you beat this price?". Well that other place has just been saved half a day's work, so of course they can beat it!

tomdempsey200 · 04-10-2013 5:38pm

not too many of you guys familiar with how it works in the real world of sub-contracting then!...

never had a customer asking me to beat another guys quote lol!

everyone hands in their quote and the best man gets the job...charging for a quote is unheard of round here ime

this is real world experience talkin' here!

freedominacup · 04-10-2013 5:47pm

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

not too many of you guys familiar with how it works in the real world of sub-contracting then!...

never had a customer asking me to beat another guys quote lol!

everyone hands in their quote and the best man gets the job...charging for a quote is unheard of round here ime

this is real world experience talkin' here!

A relation works for a P&E contractor. A big part of her job is pre-qualification which often involves assembling certs and qualifications of workers and showing that her firm has the relevant experience and capacity to do the job into stacks of paperwork a couple of feet high.

This is just to get on the list to be allowed to tender a quote for the job. Charging for a quote:rolleyes: gimme a break.

bucketybuck · 04-10-2013 6:28pm

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

this is real world experience talkin' here!

I guess my several decades in the motor industry are irrelevant to this thread about mechanics then.

kc90 · 05-10-2013 3:19am

This is becoming fairly common, especially if the garage has looked at the car. They've probably put a fair amount of time into finding what needs to be done, so imo, it's not unreasonable to expect something for that.

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

not too many of you guys familiar with how it works in the real world of sub-contracting then!...

never had a customer asking me to beat another guys quote lol!

everyone hands in their quote and the best man gets the job...charging for a quote is unheard of round here ime

this is real world experience talkin' here!

I don't know what to say...

doublej · 05-10-2013 7:51am

The original post had a question and a problem that required assistance.

Neither the question( can they charge and insist upon payment for) nor the problem( the towing service/ garage are refusing to release the keys until payment is made) have been answered!

The service provided by the garage was a towing service, not a repair service. The insurance company had agreed to provide this benefit to their policyholder.

It is highly unlikely that the same garage would have taken upon themselves to carry out a detailed assessment of the car and then convert that assessment into a quotation without first seeking permission from the car owner to do so.

If they neglected to inform the car owner that this service entailed a fee( which may or may not be offset against the repair bill if their quote is given the ok), and/ or if they have failed to bring to the attention if owner of the towed car that she will be charged a storage charge unless she agrees to further costs such as repair work then they cannot withhold the keys or refuse to make available the car for removal from the garage.
The towing contract is seperate from any other work; they have been paid for it and the repair/ quote/ storage matters are all the subject of ADVISED new Teems and Conditions.
Was the owner informed that they charge for a quotation in advance of the assessment?
Was the owner made aware that unless she agreed to pay for the quotation she would be charged for storing the vehicle.
Did the owner have the option to have her car delivered to any other address aside from the garage?
Unless the owner gave consent for work to be carried out and was aware that she was incurring costs to herself in so doing, then I would say to her that she is entitled to remove the car and be provided with the keys.
If the garage refuses to give you the keys without payment then you get the Guards involved; it may be a civil matter but theft is a criminal offence, they have obtained your property by deception in the absence of an agreement from you and should not rely upon withholding keys as an illegal lever.

Guy:Incognito · 05-10-2013 11:16am

Theres been a thread full of examples of how they can charge to quote.

They can charge you to take your phone call if they like. It's their business.

doublej · 05-10-2013 11:37am

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Theres been a thread full of examples of how they can charge to quote.

They can charge you to take your phone call if they like. It's their business.

Not saying that they can't charge, what I'm saying is that they MUST advise you that their policy is to charge.

In the extreme case of charging to either take or make a phone call, once again they would have to advise you of this policy at the earliest possible juncture.

sandin · 05-10-2013 11:40am

Big difference between electrical contractor and car repair garage. Many people are looking for estimate so that they can claim on insurance for a full good as new repair after a small accident (which they are entitled to), but may be happy with a "will do the job" repair especially if car is a few years old and get that done by a local mechanic / friend.

Therefore a mechanic will spend an hour doing a proper estimate and never see any benefit. Jewellers are the same - they'll charge for valuations.

€30 is quite cheap imo for a proper quote - it will also probably make the job of the person now doing the work a lot easier, quicker and cheaper as the chances are you used the quote you are being charged for to get the cheaper quote anyway.

Or maybe you think people shouldn't be paid for their professional time?

Graham · 05-10-2013 11:43am

KingCong wrote: »

So the girlfriend's car broke down on the motorway yesterday, her insurance had breakdown assist so they towed it to the nearest garage.

Has your girlfriend spoken to the breakdown assist company? They may be able to help if it was them that nominated the garage the car was recovered to.

Did your girlfriend ask the garage in question to quote for the repairs?

Can mechanics charge for an estimate?

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