Terms & Conditions - Retail

Background & Definitions

These Terms and Conditions are the standard terms which apply to the provision of any services by Great North Auto Services Ltd. In these Terms and Conditions, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings:

1. Estimates

When you request an estimate, you should give us the following information:

• Contact details including email and mobile phone, address and postcode
• Vehicle registration number, mileage and make/model of vehicle
• Nature and detail of work(s) required
• Preferred date of work

You should also provide us with any applicable information that may affect the Work estimate, or its economic viability, including but not limited to:

• Estimated vehicle value
• Past insurance claims
• Original manufacturer or any other warranties in force, and details
• Outstanding manufacturer recalls

Any estimate given by the Garage shall be considered an approximation of the likely work and cost, based upon information provided, and on such inspection as the Garage can carry out without carrying out diagnostic work.

In some situations, the Garage may have to carry out diagnostics in order to provide an estimate. The cost of the diagnostics will be at the prevailing hourly rate, which you will be notified of before any assessment is carried out.

All estimates are sent to you via email, along with the terms and conditions, and are valid for 28 days.

The Garage is not responsible for any errors or omissions in estimates that are a result of applicable information not being provided.

All price estimates include parts and labour and are exclusive of VAT and any other taxes, unless otherwise stated.

2. Quotations

Unless it is expressly stated in writing, anything referred to as a quote or quotation should be treated as an estimate, subject to section 1.

3. Insurance & Warranty Work

Our agreement for any work is with you, and you are wholly responsible for the cost of the work.

You should ensure that you are fully aware of the insurance or warranty company payment limits as they may be less than our rates, and you will be required to pay the difference.

You must tell us before work commences if the insurance or warranty company has placed any restrictions or limits on the work.

We shall not be responsible or liable for any failure to comply with any restrictions or limits, or any additional costs that arise as a result, where you have not told us of them before work commences.

All costs must be paid by the customer, per clause 6, before the vehicle is released to you.

4. Bookings

When you request a booking, you must give us the following information:

• Contact details including email and mobile phone, address and postcode
• Vehicle registration number, mileage and make/model of vehicle
• Nature and detail of work(s) required
• Preferred date of work

You must also provide us with any applicable information that may affect the Work estimate, or its economic viability, including but not limited to:

• Estimated vehicle value
• Past insurance claims
• Original manufacturer or any other warranties in force, and details
• Outstanding manufacturer recalls

You must notify us of any previous estimate from the Garage for the work, or any part of the work. If the estimate was given verbally only, it may be re-assessed by the Garage at the time of booking.

5. Work Approvals

Work that is on the booking is considered to be automatically approved and costs that are reasonable for the work are also automatically approved, so long as the costs are not, in our sole opinion, substantially different from the estimate given.

While carrying out approved work, the Garage may discover that in the interest of safety and/or the satisfactory completion of the approved work, additional work is necessary, highly recommended, or advised. In such cases, the Garage will promptly contact you to obtain approval for carrying out the additional work.

If we are able to contact you:

• You may decide whether to approve any additional work based on our advice and recommendations, and estimated costs.
• If you do not approve necessary additional work, the Garage may cancel any further work and provide you with an invoice for work completed so far, plus any work required to return the vehicle to the same operating condition as it arrived in, or reversing work already carried out.
• If you delay approval without adequate reason, we may charge you for our time lost during the delay, or for the time spent on a ramp, at our prevailing rates.

If we are unable to contact you:

• We may decide to proceed with additional work that is in our sole opinion necessary for safety and/or the satisfactory completion of the approved work, at reasonable additional costs.
• We will not proceed with additional work that is in our sole opinion only recommended or advisory.

6. Work Delivery

The Company reserves the right to sub-contract any of the work to suitably skilled third-party companies, without notifying you, so long as the work is approved by you and prices are reasonable for the work.

The Company will use its reasonable endeavours to carry out the work within the time specified, but time shall not be of the essence and no liability is accepted by the Garage for any delays, or the consequences of any delays, however they are caused.

7. Payment & Collection

From the point at which work commences up until the point at which you have paid all costs, we shall have a general lien on your vehicle (i.e. a right to possession of property until payment is made for work done to that property).

Following completion of our work, we will issue an invoice to you with summary details of the work, including all parts and labour costs. The invoice will also show the date of invoice and mileage of the vehicle for warranty period purposes, and any other relevant warranty information.

All sums due will be payable upon receipt of the relevant invoice.

If you are paying by bank transfer, payment will only be considered made if cleared funds are in our bank account. Evidence of transfer or payment instructions will not suffice.

On full payment, you have the right to take your vehicle.

8. Cancellations

You may cancel any booking before work has commenced at no cost, save for any costs for parts that cannot be recovered by the Garage.

You may cancel any booking after work has commenced, but you must pay us for all labour and all parts up to that point, plus any work required to return the vehicle to the same operating condition as it arrived in, or reversing work already carried out, if any is required.

You must collect (or arrange for the collection of) your vehicle within 24 hours of cancellation, or a storage fee may be charged.

All costs must be paid by the customer, per clause 7, before the vehicle is released to you.

9. Loan Cars

We may loan you a car but we will not be bound to do so and may decline due to non-availability or any other reason, which we do not need to explain to you.

If you request a courtesy car and we agree to provide one, it will be on condition that you first complete and accept the terms and conditions of our Loan Car Agreement.

Any costs that arise from your use of our loan car will be added to the work costs and must be paid before your vehicle is released.

Any costs that arise after you have returned the loan car (e.g. parking fines) will be sent to you for payment, and we may apply a £10 administration charge.

10. Garage Warranty

Unless otherwise stated on the invoice, We warrant our Work (labour and parts) from the date of invoice for a period of 3 months or a distance of 1,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

If a part’s manufacturer warranty differs from our own warranty, this will be stated on the invoice.

In the event of a defect arising following completion of the works which, in our sole opinion, is due to substandard workmanship or defective parts, we will carry out the necessary remedial work free of charge, provided that:

• The customer returns the vehicle to the Company promptly for examination and it is agreed that the defect was the result of substandard workmanship.
• No other alteration, work or repairs have been carried out that might, in our sole opinion, influence the defect.
• We are contacted as soon as is reasonably practicable after the alleged defect arises.

The remedial work covered by warranty is limited to the original work only (labour and parts). No other losses or liabilities, consequential or otherwise, and however caused, are covered by our warranty.

No warranty claims can be made without full payment of the original work having first been made.

Our warranty applies to your vehicle. If you sell or otherwise transfer ownership to another person, they will be entitled to the benefit of the warranty.

We will be entitled to void any warranty if the vehicle is used for anything other than normal purposes. This includes but is not limited to:

• Participating in racing or other competitions of any kind
• Participating in speed testing or time trials
• Use of the vehicle in a way which exceeds its design limitations (exceeding maximum towing weight, for example)
• Use of the vehicle in a way which does not conform with manufacturer’s recommendations
• Failure to service or otherwise maintain the vehicle in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations

11. No Waiver

No failure or delay by us or you in exercising any rights under these Terms and Conditions means that we or you have waived that right, and no waiver by us or you of a breach of any provision of these Terms and Conditions means that we or you will waive any subsequent breach of the same or any other provision.

12. Changes to Terms and Conditions

We may from time to time change these Terms and Conditions without giving you notice, but we will use our reasonable endeavours to inform you as soon as is reasonably possible of any such change.