What do you do when your car will not start, or the muffler falls off, or you start hearing a strange noise from the engine?

If the car is still under a warranty – manufacturer’s new car warranty, the dealer’s used car warranty, or an extended service plan you purchased – contact the dealer or the warranty company as soon as possible to arrange for service.

Even if you are out of town when the car needs repair, call the manufacturer, dealer or warranty company and find out how to get repairs.

Basic Auto Repair Rights
The Attorney General’s Auto Sales and Repair Regulations (940 Code of Massachusetts Regulations 5.00) give you basic rights:

To a written estimate before repairs are made, unless you sign a specific waiver stating a maximum cost;
To know if there will be any charge for diagnosing your car problem;
To be contacted before any work is done if the repair cost cannot be determined immediately;
To be asked to authorize any additional repairs that are found to be necessary as the work progresses;
Not to be charged more than $10 over the estimate, unless you are contacted and approve the higher amount;
To get back your old parts; 57 Chapter 6 Handling Repair Problems
To receive an itemized bill listing all parts and labor, unless work is done based on a flat rate posted in the shop;
Not to be charged for unnecessary repairs, or for repairs that were not made;
To expect that ads for repairs will include the total charge for the work;
To same-day repairs, unless you agree to a longer period;
To know in advance if there will be any storage charges;
To have shoddy repair work corrected at no charge.

Bring Your Car to the Garage
No matter whether you are bringing a car in for routine maintenance or for a specific problem, or whether the repair is covered by a warranty or you are paying for it out of your pocket, there are some tips to help make the repair transaction go smoothly.

Find a good, honest, competent mechanic.

The best referrals are from friends or family members who have been satisfied dealing with the shop. Contact your local consumer office, the Attorney General’s Consumer Complaint & Information Section, and the Better Business Bureau to check the complaint history of the garage. Also, look for the “ASE” symbol, which indicate that mechanics have been tested for competency to make certain types of repairs. Be sure that your mechanic is qualified to do the specific work you need.

Be aware that warranty work may have to be done by authorized repair shops.


Describe the problems you are noticing in as much detail as possible.

What does it sound like, or how does it feel? Do you see any smoke, leaks, or other visible signs of trouble? When does the problem occur — all the time, just when the car is hot or cold, intermittently, only when it rains? Make sure everything you ask to be checked is written down, or hand the mechanic a list.

Get a written estimate.

If the problem and the cost cannot be determined when you bring the car in, make sure that the mechanic has the telephone number where you can be reached to let you know what’s wrong and how much it will cost to fix before they begin making the repairs.

You must be told up-front if there will be any charge to diagnose your car’s problem, and repairs cannot be made without your specific authorization. You can, however, give the mechanic the OK to do any work necessary up to a certain dollar amount without being contacted first.

Find out the garage’s payment requirements before you leave the car.

Some will not take checks, others may not let you use credit cards. Mechanics have liens on the cars they have repaired and do not have to release them without first being paid.

If you question the diagnosis, get a second opinion. This may be difficult if your car will not run, although you can always pay to have it towed somewhere else if you want confirmation of what the mechanic is telling you. Mechanics may disagree about whether and what repairs are needed, but by getting a second opinion consumers are less likely to be sold work that was unnecessary.

Ask for the old parts back.

You are entitled to the old parts back if you request them, and often the only way that you can tell whether the repairs were necessary is by having another mechanic test the old parts. However there may be a fee for keeping certain parts that the garage could have turned in to a rebuild company for credit. Make the request to keep them before the repairs are made.

Assess the Repairs
When you pick your car up, do not leave the garage until you:

Look carefully at the work order or receipts.

All parts and labor must be itemized separately unless the garage charges a flat fee for that repair. Flat fees should be clearly posted in the shop. Be sure the work order is fully filled out including the date, mileage on your vehicle, the make and model and a description of what was done. Be aware that fees are often set using an industry guide book known as a flat-rate manual. These set estimated hours for repairs, which may not reflect the actual number of hours the vehicle is in the shop. For example one repair might make doing another repair take less time (for example, with the engine dropped, several repairs can be done at once.)

Ask questions about anything you do not understand before you pay!

If necessary, ask to speak with the service manager and/or mechanic who worked on your car. Make a thorough visual inspection of the work that was done if you can.

Give the car a good test drive, and return to the shop immediately if the problem still exists or you notice anything else wrong.

Save all repair receipts.

You must be given repair orders for any repairs made in Massachusetts. Documentation, including records of maintenance work such as oil changes, may be helpful if a mechanic is trying to diagnose a problem or you have to document the car’s repair history.

Do not forget that you may be able to get useful information about a car’s problems from the previous owner, the dealer or manufacturer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or the Center for Auto Safety (see Appendix A-6 & A-7).

Solve Auto Repair Problems
Even if you followed all of this advice, it is possible that you could have a dispute with the repair shop. Here are some examples of problems and strategies for solving them:

Problem #1
You receive an estimate of $200 for specific repair work, but when you return to pick up your car, the bill is $400 and additional work was done that you never authorized.

Solution
Try to discuss the problem with the manager of the repair shop. The auto regulations say that you should not have to pay more than $10.00 over an estimate and that you cannot be charged for unauthorized repairs. But a compromise may be the most practical solution if the extra work was clearly needed and the additional cost is not excessive.

If no agreement can be reached, you may have to pay the charges to get your car back and then contact your local consumer program or the Better Business Bureau for assistance in getting reimbursement.

If you pay the bill with a credit card, you can dispute the charges in writing with the card issuer.

Problem #2
You bring your car into the shop because the car stalls. After repairs are made, you discover the car still stalls.

Solution
Sometimes car problems are difficult to pinpoint, even for competent mechanics. The work may not be performed properly, the problem may be misdiagnosed, or a replacement part may be defective. Contact the shop immediately. Repairs which were not performed properly should be redone at no charge to you. And you cannot be charged for unnecessary repairs.

You cannot simply go elsewhere and then expect the first shop to reimburse you for the second bill — give the mechanic a chance to explain and to make good on the repairs.

Sometimes a repair shop refuses to do follow-up or corrective repairs, claiming that nothing is wrong or that the problem is unrelated to the previous work. This could be true, but since most consumers are not mechanics, it is hard to know for sure. You may need the opinion of another mechanic.

Problem #3
You buy a used engine at a junkyard and pay a mechanic to install it for you. After the work is done, you find that the engine has a serious problem. The engine is guaranteed and the junkyard will give you another one, but you need to pay for the labor to take the bad one out and put the new one in.

Solution
It is a gamble when you buy a part from one place and hire someone else to install it. You can try to make the argument that the junkyard should be liable for your additional labor costs resulting from the engine being bad, but it may be difficult to win. If you bought the engine from the installer, you would have a better chance of arguing that the shop should stand behind both the part and the labor.

Rebuilt parts are less risky than used ones, but they are generally more expensive.

Problem #4
You bring your car in for transmission repairs and while it is at the shop, someone backs into it. Now your car has a big dent.

Solution
Auto repair shops are responsible for any damage their employees may cause — for instance, if the upholstery is stained by grease or the dashboard is broken when the mechanic attempts to remove it. But in the case of the dent, the garage may not be liable, unless you can show that the garage was negligent by parking your car someplace where it was likely to be hit.

Ask the garage owner if there is insurance to cover the damage; if not, and if you believe that the shop is responsible, you can sue for any damage that your own insurance will not cover.