THE car repair industry has been threatened with a “supercomplaint” by the National Consumer Council over “shoddy service and rip-off charges”.
With its sister Scottish and Welsh councils, the council has written to the trade bodies representing the vehicle repair and service industry accusing them of failing to deal with customers’ problems.

The three consumer councils say that the industry is failing to regulate itself effectively despite 11 attempts to raise standards during the past 30 years. Deirdre Hutton, the NCC’s chairwoman, said the only way forward might be to issue a super-complaint, which is allowed under the 2002 Enterprise Act if consumers’ interests are being “significantly harmed”.

The council submitted its first super-complaint — on home credit — to the Office of Fair Trading in June 2004. The home credit industry is now being investigated by the Competition Commission.

Ms Hutton said: “Years of inaction defy the harm this sector inflicts on consumers. Unless the (car repair and servicing) industry rises to our challenge and gets serious about addressing the problems consumers suffer, a super-complaint may be the only way forward. Owning and running a car is expensive — the equivalent of about a third of the purchase price goes on servicing and repairs during its lifetime. Most consumers aren’t car mechanics. They don’t know what needs doing to their car, whether it’s been done properly or whether they’ve got value for money. What’s more, shoddy repairs can put consumers and their families at risk of serious injury or death.”

The council said every “mystery shopping” exercise on car repair and servicing businesses proved that people were getting a bad deal. Failures include missed faults, work done unnecessarily (and sometimes without approval), charges for work that had not been done, work done badly, poor customer care and industry standards not complied with. Women can be disadvantaged when it comes to assessing work on their cars, the council said.

The council has written to the industry demanding an urgent meeting and has copied the letter to Government ministers and Sir John Vickers, chairman of the Office of Fair Trading.

The industry bodies to which the council has written include the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and the Retail Motor Industry Federation.