Latest news with #garage
Sky News
18 hours ago
- Automotive
- Sky News
Money Problem: 'A used car dealer sold me a dud and won't refund it - what can I do?'
Every week, we answer your financial problems or consumer disputes - you can email moneyblog@ with yours. Our latest problem, available to newsletter subscribers first, is from cjenk, who asks... My partner bought a nearly new car from a garage three months ago, it has since become undrivable with both the garage and the finance company refusing to give a refund or repair the vehicle with a huge list of issues that couldn't have occurred since it was bought. What can we do? Buying a car is one of the biggest purchases we ever make, so we were sorry to hear about your experience. We asked Complaints Resolver Scott Dixon to look at this one - he's advised on hundreds of similar cases and has been through a similar dispute himself (of course, he won). Hopefully his advice can help you resolve this case - and others who find themselves in a similar situation. A car purchase creates more complaints than anything else. Standards, attitudes and the culture in the industry need to change radically. Although we have some of the best consumer laws in the world, so many traders flout them, leaving consumers vulnerable or ripped off without knowing their rights. First up, any faults found within the first six months are considered to have been there at the point of purchase. The burden of proof is on the retailer to show otherwise. You only need to give a trader one opportunity to enact a free repair. If that fails, you can reject it but that's easier said than done. If the car has a long list of faults that renders it undriveable, it clearly doesn't meet the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states goods sold must be: Fit for purpose As described Satisfactory quality Last a reasonable length of time In this case, the finance company has bought it from the dealership, so you can pursue a S75 claim under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (depending on the finance agreement - I have seen some deliberately sold as personal loans disguised as Personal Contract Purchases) so you would need to look at that closely. Although all faults within the first six months are considered to have been present at the point of sale, I would recommend an independent inspection report from a reputable garage or the AA or RAC to reinforce this under the circumstances. Keep all communications with the garage and finance company in writing, and get any verbal promises confirmed in writing. Amnesia is a common medical condition in the trade, where staff have sudden memory lapses and struggle to recall what was said and promised on such disputes. The next step would be to submit a formal rejection letter by email and recorded delivery to reject it under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Don't let the garage or finance company fob you off with excuses like "wear and tear" or "you accepted the car as seen" - this does not apply under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. S31 addresses this specifically. Final right to reject S24 of the Consumer Rights Act outlines the right to a price reduction or final right to reject, after one chance to repair. Offers made will be calculated on the anticipated lifespan of the goods - time of use and depreciation. Ask for any offers made to be evidenced with calculations to ascertain how the amount has been arrived at. Never accept the first offer unless you are happy with it. Car dealerships will often cite that they are entitled to deduct 45p a mile for use on refund calculations when you try to reject a faulty vehicle. This is false and a scam. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has ruled this as unfair on previous decisions and HMRC do not provide guidelines for car dealerships to use on fair use deductions. The FOS has ruled 25p a mile is fair and acceptable. Check to see if the garage is a member of the Motor Ombudsman scheme as well, as that may be another avenue to pursue, but I've found it to be a blind alley to be honest and one I wouldn't recommend. Don't fall for warranty 'fob off' Car dealerships will often offer a one to three-month warranty on used car sales and say "it's out of warranty/the warranty doesn't cover this" if any issues arise. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides you with an implied statutory warranty for up to six years in England and Wales and five years in Scotland - and gives you better cover for free. Nobody ever needs to buy an off-the-shelf warranty. Advice when you buy a second-hand car Keep copies or screenshots of adverts and all communications; Never pay by bank transfer or "friends and family" via PayPal; Take a friend or someone knowledgeable with you when buying and selling privately; Get an independent inspection from a reputable garage or mechanic; Run a vehicle check online to check if it's stolen or has outstanding finance; Never buy off Facebook Marketplace. This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.
CBS News
4 days ago
- CBS News
Fireworks explode in Modesto home's garage causing small fire
The Modesto Fire Department said fireworks exploded inside a home's garage, leading to a small fire on Saturday. The fire happened around 9:30 p.m. on the 2700 block of El Pasado Drive. Modesto Fire said they had initially received reports that a vehicle crashed into a home and caused a fire. However, they later learned that fireworks exploded in the garage and were the source of a small fire. The fireworks caused minor damage, and the fire did not spread to the home as crews quickly controlled the fire. Modesto Fire said one person was checked for smoke inhalation, but they declined treatment.
The Drive
7 days ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Ryobi Dual-Function Creeper and Seat Review: Handy Stool With Headlights
The latest car news, reviews, and features. If you spend any time tinkering with or detailing vehicles just a couple of feet off the ground, a rolling stool is a garage essential. And if you sometimes need to get under a car, a creeper can be critical too. This Ryobi 18V dual-function creeper/seat can transform between both, and has a few other helpful features as well. Review Contents: This thing's full name is the Ryobi 18V ONE+ Dual Function Lighted Creeper/Seat, and the model is PCL692B. You can buy it at The Home Depot for $159.00, and it comes with a three-year warranty. Headlights on a stool? More useful than you might think! Andrew P. Collins It's a rolling creeper you can slide around on your back on, but when you pull a lever, it splits upward and converts into a stool. Plug a sold-separately Ryobi battery into the back and you can use two little flexi-arm lamps to illuminate your work area. There's also a parts tray. Ryobi is sold exclusively at The Home Depot, but it is not really the retailer's 'house brand.' It's actually owned by Techtronic Industries (TTI), which is also the parent company of Milwaukee, Hart, AEG, and a handful of other tool and home maintenance brands. Running a signature highlighter green color, Ryobi is designed for homeowner and hobbyist-level work. I would not recommend it for daily commercial-grade abuse, but as a lower-cost option for around-the-house tinkering and repairs, it's fine. This feature-rich creeper is an interesting in-betweener, because it's much more money than a basic creeper, but still far cheaper than something similar from a fancier brand. Very Easy. Andrew P. Collins This creeper/seat comes with paper instructions and a QR code claiming to link to an assembly video. Unfortunately, that didn't work—it just took me to the product page. But you won't be annoyed by this for long, because even without a guide, the assembly is pretty much pet-money level work. All you need to do is tighten six caster wheels and insert six pins at the hinge points. Once you've got it together, well, you know how to roll around on a stool, right? The only other function to understand is the pair of lights on bendy mounts—just point them where you want light and hit the button. Well-equipped. Andrew P. Collins In just one Sunday of driveway wrenching, I learned to appreciate the versatility of this thing. I was doing brakes on my Polaris Ranger while my brother-in-law did brakes on his Bimmer, and we both made use of the Ryobi as a creeper and a seat. I ended up using the parts tray to hold my phone, which was handy because it's always falling out of my pocket when I'm climbing around cars. The pointable lights, which I initially thought looked silly, turned out to be quite helpful. Unlike a magnetic worklight, you can put these anywhere—I rolled the creeper under the BMW and shined a light up at my BIL's work area with great results. The only annoying thing about them is that they sag a little after being positioned. But brightness is great—even on a sunny day, they helped light up the dark corners of vehicle undersides. You just slide the green bit on the light a little to adjust the focus of the beam. Andrew P. Collins You can also focus the lights between a spot and wider spot beam, which is pretty cool. This device is also compatible with Ryobi's Link system (where you can attach trays for parts and things). Fine. There are no glaringly ugly welds or connection points; in fact the seams are all pretty clean. The plastic all feels reasonably robust without weird gaps, and the caster wheels spin and roll nicely. The lever that lets you raise the stool from the creeper is a little inelegant, as are the staples holding the cover on the seat pads. The bendy arms that the lights are mounted on don't stay in position as nicely as I'd like them to. The attachable parts tray is very dinky and can fall off. Great. Looking up torque specs, or scrolling Instagram, while Rick does actual work. The flip-up pad that you'd use to support your head in creeper mode is also handy when it's right behind your butt. That little extra bit of backside comfort really went a long way; my old stool is just flat-bottomed. The tall caster wheels make it really easy to scoot around on this thing, even over rougher pavement. Your body does tend to get in the way of the lights a little more when this thing's in stool mode, but you can still get utility out of them. The plastic area near the carry handle also has holsters for tools, like sockets and pliers, which is also pretty nice. Good. You need to lift a car quite high to get this thing to fit under a car—that's my only real complaint about its viability as a creeper. The headlamps are incredibly helpful in this mode; you can adjust them from spot to flood beams (relatively speaking) and light up your whole under-car work area rather nicely. But I personally still don't like creepers in general—I find them too bulky for quickly swinging in and out from under something. I'd still rather use something super-thin like the Husky Liners Garage Mat. The Ryobi creeper makes a great flashlight holder. My brohan Ricky here used the Husky garage mat for his knees and tools while the Ryobi lit up his work area from the other side. Andrew P. Collins And while I liked the wheels for how smoothly they rolled, they also picked up debris quite quickly. If you're lucky enough to have a glass-smooth concrete floor, must be nice, and you won't have this problem. For the rest of us working in old houses and driveways, beware of rocks and tree bits. Mid. If you live anywhere besides a big city, you can probably score a creeper at a yard sale for like $10 on any given summer weekend. If your grandpa's still alive, ask if you can have his old one. If you want a new convertible one with a stool mode, even those can be found for under $50 on Amazon. So, at $160 plus tax, it feels like you're paying a pretty big premium here for the lights. However—there is also the general niceness factor, which is tough to articulate, but I'll do my best. A $40 creeper/stool will perform the same function, but the form factor on this is considerably nicer than a bottom-end one. You also get a nice three-year warranty and the convenience of The Home Depot's customer service desk—if this thing breaks on you at 6 p.m. on a Sunday, you can probably whip over to your local HD and get it swapped out with the receipt. Decent. I just realized my gym shorts color-match this stool. Andrew P. Collins Broadly speaking, I like this thing. Personally, I think I'd rather buy a nice stool with a backrest. But if you like the idea of a convertible stool-and-creeper in one, give this thing a look. Headlights turned out to be surprisingly useful on a stool, and it's quite comfortable to sit or lie down on. Touchpoint quality was fine. You can get a basic stool/creeper combo for far less money, but even at full list price, this still isn't all that expensive. If you're already in the Ryobi battery ecosystem, it's not a bad pick-up. It would also make a good gift for somebody who likes to casually tinker, especially if they have other Ryobi tools in their arsenal (for battery compatibility). Because it's nice to have, and the lights are fun, but all the DIY'ers I know are cheapskates and would hesitate to buy anything for themselves that only serves comfort purposes. Super comfy, especially as a stool Surprisingly useful headlamps Nice rolly wheels Expensive for a creeper Requires a big battery A little cumbersome to store Weight Capacity: 400 pounds Light Brightness: 800 lumens max Per Light, Flood Mode High: 400 lumens Per Light, Flood Mode Low: 200 lumens Per Light, Spot Mode High: 200 lumens Per Light, Spot Mode Low: 100 lumens Caster Wheel Size: 3 inches Height (Stool Mode): 16.74 inches Height (Creeper Mode): 6.75 inches Min Battery Runtime: 3 hours on high brightness with a 2Ah battery Stool seat Creeper seat and frame All necessary assembly hardware Small assembly hex wrench Two lights (pre-wired and bulb-equipped) Caster wheels Printed instructions A battery is not included, but Ryobi runs 'free batteries with tools' deals all the time, so keep your eyes out for one of those. See It Our team's hard at work, testing tools, parts, and shop equipment. Let our trials and experience be your guide to mastering The Garage. 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The Sun
7 days ago
- Automotive
- The Sun
Popular garage for sale after shock closure – as major firm desperately tries to balance the books
A POPULAR garage has been listed for sale after its shock closure earlier this year - as a major firm desperately attempts to balance the books. ATS Euromaster ran the mechanic shop in Blackburn, but the company was forced to reduce its network of garages from 238 to 152 - as well as lay off staff. 2 2 Back in February, it was revealed that ATS Euromaster - a well established tyre service - had earmarked 86 service centres for possible closure. Just weeks later, all 86 service centres ceased trading and 248 employees were made redundant. The business, which was founded in 1965 and is owned by Michelin, claimed overcapacity, increased costs and sluggish growth as reasons for the closures. One of those 86 centres was the garage in Blackburn, based in Pendle Street. According to the Lancashire Telegraph, the garage has been listed for sale at a guide price of £700,000. The listing said: 'The property comprises a detached steel-framed industrial unit, configured as a seven-bay fitting workshop with ancillary storage, reception, office, staff and customer WCs with tyre storage above the offices. 'Externally, the unit has 12 marked car parking spaces with an additional two disabled spaces. 'The property is located on Pendle Street, which has visibility from Copy Nook (A678), which runs parallel and leads towards Blackburn town centre in the west and east towards J6 of the M65, one mile to the east. 'The site is in a mixed commercial/residential area approximately one mile east of Blackburn town centre.' Other sites in East Lancashire, located in Accrington and Burnley, remain open. Iconic 80s hatchback left to gather dust in a garage for two decades is uncovered... and is worth a lucrative sum ATS Euromaster's latest accounts for the year until December 2023 reported losses of £13.9 million, compared to a loss of £20.6 million in 2022. But their overall turnover for 2023 sat at £165.5million compared to £147.1million in 2022. Back in March, Sun Motors revealed outlets across the country were shutting their doors for good, with confirmed closures in Devon and Cornwall at centres in Plymouth, Exeter and Newton Abbot. Other closures across the UK have also been reported in Brecon, Macclesfield and Carlisle, as well as in Horsham, Worthing, Crawley, Poole and Lymington. What's more, Google lists retailers in Dartford and Bexleyheath as permanently closed, too. In a statement to Sun Motors at the time, a spokesperson for ATS said: "In a UK automotive aftermarket context of overcapacity, increasing costs and sluggish activity and growth, ATS Euromaster intends to review its current operating model and has put in place a proposal to close some non profitable service centres. "Employees impacted by this proposal are under consultation. "In the meantime, our priority is to provide them with the best level of support as possible. "This decision will not impact the high quality of services that we offer to our customers. "We intend that it enables us to concentrate our efforts on strategic levels for sustainable development, including services around ATS mobile capabilities and the shaping of a franchise model already successfully developed in several countries."
Times
23-07-2025
- Automotive
- Times
My garage won't give my car back. What are my rights?
Q. What do I do if the repair garage refuses to hand my car back? When I took it to them they said they would need to strip the brakes to give me an estimate for a seized brake. The estimate was more than £1,000 so I asked for the car back. The garage said I had to pay £355 for the cost of the estimate. It has threatened to sell the car if I don't pay. BR, PortsmouthA. The garage does not have title to your vehicle. It remains your property and cannot be sold without your consent. However, the garage could retain your vehicle under a lien — the right to hold property as security for a debt — until payment is made for authorised work. • Car Clinic: I've seen anti-speed camera covers for number plates. Are they legal? If the bill remains unpaid, they could attempt to obtain a court judgment or follow procedures under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, which would include proper notice and a reasonable attempt to recover the debt. Hence, the legal sale of your vehicle is extremely unlikely. Unfortunately, they did make it clear that to evaluate the cost of the repair, they would need to conduct a diagnostic check. They indicated that this would involve stripping the brakes. You should have inquired how much this would cost and whether these monies would be deducted from the overall cost of the repair. A fee of £355 for stripping the brakes doesn't sound unreasonable (I am a lawyer, not a mechanic) as this would involve approximately two to three hours work. • Car Clinic: Can I make a supermarket share CCTV of my car being damaged? In essence, you now have two choices; Firstly, try to negotiate a lesser price for the preliminary work as this price was not mutually agreed, and then take the vehicle elsewhere. Secondly, negotiate a goodwill price for the overall repair. Having had the fault diagnosed, obtain two legitimate quotes from local reputable garages, and if cheaper than the £1,000, use these to attempt to secure a better deal. • Car Clinic: My notice of intended prosecution was sent to the wrong address. What now? You are now legally committed to the initial repair cost, and the garage could sue you if it remains outstanding. Therefore, you need to make the best of an unsatisfactory situation. Remember, in future, never authorise work unless a price for every stage is agreed. I suspect that some discount will be available if handled correctly, ie being reasonable, calm and fair. Nick Freeman, motoring lawyer aka Mr Loophole Post your motoring questions below or send to carclinic@
