Do You Pay For Car Repair Before Or After?

So, you’ve taken your car in for a repair or service but you don’t know whether you should pay before or after the work has been completed. No worries – we’re covering this topic in our blog. Knowing when to pay for work on your car can help prevent disputes further down the road.

Know Your Rights

It’s best to get a written estimate before authorising any work.

You don’t need to pay for a car service or repair before any work has been completed. This is important. You should be wary of a garage that expects you to pay money upfront.

You also only need to pay for work that has been completed. This sounds obvious, but if you’re being charged for your original quote which includes work that hasn’t been completed, then you should query this with the garage and get the new quote to match the work that was actually done.

Be mindful that initial quotes can be subject to increase, however your garage should contact you first before going ahead with further repairs.

What about if your warranty or insurance provider is paying?

If you’re expecting a warranty or insurance provider to foot the repair bill, it’s important that you get any work authorised first BEFORE paying. If you pay without approval you may not be able to recover the costs if there’s a dispute. If there’s any doubt, you should refer to your terms of contract or contact your provider to see how to proceed with making a claim and getting repairs completed.

What if you’re not happy with the work?

Was the work not completed to a good standard? Did the garage not follow your instructions or work on repairs that you didn’t agree to? This can be frustrating but you can negotiate with the garage to fix their mistake. If the negotiations aren’t fruitful, you can take further action. From speaking to a trade association to taking the garage to court to recover the costs, you can see your options for dealing with car repair disputes on the Citizen’s Advice website.

Need a local Peterborough garage?

At Vital Vehicle Care we have 20 years’ experience with car services and diagnostics. Approved by Trust My Garage, we are a trusted, local Car Mechanic in Peterborough. Contact us today to get a quote.