How to Complain About a Garage (And What the Motor Ombudsman Can Do)

Complain to the garage first, in writing, and give it the chance to put the work right. That is not politeness — it is the order the law works in, and skipping it can cost you the remedy you were entitled to.

The route, in order:

1. Complain to the garage in writing and ask for the work to be redone
2. Wait for a final response, or eight weeks, whichever comes first
3. Go to an ombudsman — but only if the garage is accredited to a code of practice
4. Small claims, for everything else

An MOT result is a separate matter with its own route and its own deadlines. That is further down, and the deadlines are short.

Two mistakes that lose the case before it starts

Do not have the work redone somewhere else first. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the primary remedy is repeat performance — the original garage putting it right at no cost to you. Take the car elsewhere, pay a second garage, then send the first the bill, and you may have forfeited that remedy by removing their opportunity to perform. You have also destroyed the evidence, because the faulty work no longer exists in the state it failed in. Your rights on parts and labour sets out the remedies in full.

Do not just take the car without paying. A garage generally has a lien — a right to keep the vehicle until the bill is settled — and it applies even while you dispute the amount. Driving off converts your complaint into their claim against you.

Where you need the car back and the bill is disputed, the accepted route is to pay under protest: write the words “paid under protest” on the garage’s copy of the invoice, keep a photograph of it, and pursue the money afterwards. Pay without that and the garage can reasonably argue you accepted the charge.

Step 1 — the letter to the garage

Email is fine and better than a phone call, because it dates itself. Keep it factual; a letter that reads as an accusation invites a defensive reply, and you want the work fixed rather than a row won.

Include:

• Registration, date of the work, invoice number
• What was supposed to be done, quoting the invoice wording
• What is actually wrong, described as a symptom rather than a diagnosis — “pulls left under braking since collection” beats “you fitted the wrong pads”
• What you want. Say it plainly: the work put right at no cost, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
• A reasonable deadline — fourteen days is normal. Where the complaint is that the car was kept far too long, typical turnaround for that job is what “reasonable” gets measured against
• That you will escalate if it is not resolved

Attach photographs, the quote, and anything you were told by text. Do not send originals of anything.

Most disputes end here, and they end here more often when the complaint is specific. “The work was rubbish” is not actionable; “the judder under braking that I brought it in for is unchanged, and the invoice says the discs were replaced” is.

Step 2 — eight weeks, or a final response

A business gets eight weeks to give its final answer. If you receive a final response you are unhappy with, you can escalate immediately — you do not have to wait out the rest of the eight weeks. If eight weeks pass with no resolution or no reply, you can escalate anyway.

A written refusal is sometimes called a letter of deadlock. It is useful to have but you do not need one if the time has simply run out.

Step 3 — The Motor Ombudsman, and its one big limitation

The Motor Ombudsman is the automotive sector’s ombudsman. It is a CTSI-approved alternative dispute resolution body and operates four codes of practice; the relevant one for repair work is the Service and Repair Code. It is free to consumers — funded by the businesses accredited to it.

Now the limitation, and it is the thing most people discover too late: it can only deal with businesses signed up to its codes. Accreditation is voluntary. A great many perfectly good independent garages are not accredited, and the ombudsman cannot compel a business that never agreed to be bound. Check before you build a plan around it — there is a business finder on their site, and it takes a minute.

What it can do:

• Investigate the dispute impartially, applying the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and its code
• Mediate, adjudicate, or issue a formal ombudsman decision
• Produce a decision that, if you accept it, is legally binding on both parties

What it cannot do:

• Deal with a non-accredited business
• Handle car finance, insurance or hire car disputes
• Act as a first port of call — the garage’s own complaints process comes first

Their consumer line is 0345 241 3008. Check their published scheme rules for the current time limits on bringing a case, because there are deadlines and they are not the same as the six-year limitation period for a court claim.

Worth remembering when choosing a garage in the first place: accreditation is a real signal, though as how to find a trustworthy garage argues, presence is evidence and absence is not.

An MOT result is a different route entirely

If your complaint is that the test was wrong — rather than that a repair was botched — you appeal to DVSA, not to an ombudsman. The deadlines are short and the first rule is unforgiving.

Do not have the vehicle repaired before the appeal is resolved. Any change to the car can affect the outcome, because the appeal is a re-inspection of the vehicle as tested.

Discuss the result with the test centre first, then complete DVSA’s complaint form — VT17 — and send it to the DVSA customer service centre inside the deadline. They will contact you within five days, and if they decide to re-inspect they will send you a report listing the defects found. Their number is 0300 123 9000.

One thing DVSA will not do is take action on your behalf against the test centre. That remains an ordinary consumer complaint, and it runs on the track above. What happens after a failed MOT and what an advisory actually means are worth reading first — a good many “wrong” MOT results turn out to be a misunderstood advisory rather than a mistaken failure.

Step 4 — small claims

For a non-accredited garage, or where the ombudsman route is exhausted, the small claims track is the realistic option. In England and Wales it covers claims up to £10,000, and it is designed for people without solicitors.

• Send a letter before action first. Courts expect it, and it settles a surprising number of cases on its own. Set out the facts, what you want, and a deadline
• Claims are issued online. The issue fee scales with the claim value, and there is a separate hearing fee
• The costs risk is low. On the small claims track you generally will not be ordered to pay the other side’s legal costs if you lose, which is the whole point of the track. You can usually recover your court fee if you win
• Mediation is normally offered before a hearing, and it is worth taking
• Hearings are informal. Evidence rules are relaxed and most people represent themselves

The evidence that wins these is an independent written report from a second garage or an engineer, saying what was wrong and what it should have been. That is worth paying for before you issue, not after.

Who else can help

Citizens Advice consumer service is the general first port of call and will point you at the right body. Trading Standards cannot take up your individual case — that is a common misunderstanding — but it can act against a business engaged in unfair or unlawful practice, and your report contributes to that picture.

If you paid by credit card and the job cost more than £100, you have a claim against the card provider as well, and it runs in parallel with everything above. Section 75 and chargeback explains which applies.

Keep everything

Quote, invoice, texts, emails, photographs, the old parts if you have them, and a dated note of every phone call including who you spoke to. Disputes are won on paperwork and lost on recollection.

Including about us

If we get something wrong, the same route applies and we would rather you used it than went quiet. Tell us in writing, give us the registration and the invoice, and give us the chance to put it right — that is what the first step exists for, and it is the one that resolves almost everything. We are open seven days a week.