Car Repairers Sign Into A New Quality Standard

Thursday, 3. July 2008

A long overdue code is being introduced against which quality standards of vehicle repairers will be measured. Garages that sign up to the Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair commit to meeting certain standards, such as open and transparent pricing, invoices that match quoted prices and completing work as agreed. Whilst the code is not yet operational garages can already sign up to it. So far more than 5,500, about 25% of the market, has committed to it. The majority of businesses are franchised with an 80/20 split between franchised and non franchised garages. Alec Murray, chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation said, “It will be terrifying for people not to be compliant and whether they are franchised or independent it is the same.” Paul Everitt, chairman of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders commented, “Considerable effort has gone into developing their industry-wide code to make it affordable for businesses and accountable for consumers. The tough code will be enforced by a 4 stage process including 2 written warnings giving guidance on how to correct any problems and severe action such as a ‘consumer warning’ which will be published on the code’s website. Final stage is a referral to the compliance panel for possible exclusion. The site starts officially from August 2008 but you can view the site by visiting http://service.motorindustrycodes.co.uk/