(Photo credit: greyman/SXC)
You get in a collision and chances are that you have a long road ahead of you. You might be recovering from injuries (or helping a family member heal), dealing with your insurance company, or becoming confident getting back in your car. The last thing you need is to be shortchanged by the auto shop that is fixing up damages to your vehicle.
Yet as inconvenient as this situation is, it’s something you have to look out for no matter how much is on your plate. Know your rights before you walk into that auto shop. Make sure you always go with a trustworthy set of mechanics. In Ontario, as a part of the Consumer Protection Act, there are set guidelines for auto shops that you should know about. For example, the person repairing your car has to give you a written estimate of the likely costs before they set out to fix the damages. If they are replacing any parts, you are allowed to ask for the old parts back. The auto shop has to state all of their costs so that you know ahead of time how labour fees will be calculated. This would include things like hour rates, flat rates and whether or not the mechanics get commission. No repairer is allowed to charge you if they have not first given you an estimate (unless you have asked not to be given one) and they aren’t allowed to charge you for work that you did not first agree to. There will be cases where the fees will be slightly above or below the estimate. (Hence the word “estimate”) When fees are above the estimate, the repairer cannot charge more than an additional ten percent of what was originally stated.
A study done by Northwestern University in Illinois found that people who seemed in-the-know about car repairs and price points got charged fairly every time. People who seemed to understand the repairs, but overestimated the charges, were usually charged even higher and people who seemed completely out of the loop got ripped off nearly every time. Sadly, this was especially true for women. The upside for women: apparently they are better negotiators. About 35 per cent of women who haggled got a lower price as opposed to only 25 per cent of men who tried to drop the price.
Now, what happens when you agree to a service and the auto shop charges you fairly, but their work is of a poor quality? You can actually cancel an agreement and get your money back in a lot of cases. If it’s within ten days of when the initial agreement was made and if the vendor was deceptive of the product or services offered, or if they did not provide you with required information, then you have grounds to ask for your money back. Sometimes if they are being uncooperative, you can take things a step further and file a complaint to the Ministry of Consumer Services. They will inform you about the small claims court process, if that applies to your situation, or they may add this business to the “Consumer Beware List” if they don’t respond. Sometimes, that business can even be fined up to $50,000.
The personal injury and accident lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers have been dealing with all accident related issues throughout Ontario for over 45 years. We know how to get you the compensation that you deserve and get your life back in order after being in a car accident. Call us at 416-920-4242, set up a free consultation, and come speak with us.
Greg Neinstein
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