Mean garage wouldn’t even pay for petrol for replacement car
Irish News of the World
May, 2009
Diarmuid MacShane
Question
When I left my car in to be repaired in a garage in Kildare last week they gave me a replacement car that turned out to have no petrol in it whatsoever – the red light came on before I even got to the petrol station.
When I complained, they told me I was lucky to get a car at all because they normally charged for one, and they refused to pay for any petrol for the time I had the car.
Could they refuse to give me a replacement car like that, and not give me any petrol? Am I supposed to sit there for a full day waiting for them to fix the car?
Answer
A garage is not obliged to provide a replacement car to their customers – but in the past it has been a goodwill gesture that garages have shown.
Given that things are tougher these days and garages are making less money selling cars, I have noticed myself that many garages will now charge for car rental if they provide a replacement car instead of letting customers have one for free.
In these tougher times unfortunately, it looks like you’ve found a garage who have taken this stingy attitude an even cheaper level by not even providing the petrol.
While the garage might see this as being prudent in counting every penny, if you rightly avoid using the garage again in protest, they’ll soon find that every customer counts more than every penny.
