£99 Car Service Fixed Almost Nothing!
A Bedworth man who charged £99 for ‘mobile car servicing’, has been prosecuted after he did almost no work and left car parts in the glove compartment of his customers vehicles.
Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service brought the prosecution against Martyn Higgins, trading as Bedworth Tune Up and Service Specialists after receiving complaints from consumers.
At Nuneaton Magistrates Court on Thursday 31st March 2011 Martyn A Higgins, (Dob: 09/03/1967) trading as Bedworth Tune Up and Service Specialists Wheelwright Lane, Coventry, CV6 4HH was found guilty of five offences and ordered to pay a total of £5415 in fines, compensation and costs and given an 80 hour unpaid work Community Order.
Following consumer complaints, Trading Standards Officers carried out an undercover investigation and submitted their own vehicle for Mr Higgins to service.
Although the service cost £99, all Mr Higgins did was to fill up the windscreen wiper bottle and radiator. He also claimed to have fitted new spark plugs to the vehicle, but left them in the glove compartment instead. These turned out to be the wrong ones for the vehicle in any case!
Mr Higgins missed a total of 17 faults that had been placed on the vehicle. These included worn brake pads, lights not working and low tyre pressures. He also failed to change the air filter, the engine oil or the oil filter.
Some of the charges brought also related to another vehicle that Mr Higgins had serviced, owned by a consumer. When the consumer got his car back he became concerned that a proper service had not been conducted and contacted Trading Standards.
It was discovered that the consumers engine oil, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter and fuel filter were very old and had no been replaced recently. In addition, there was no fresh lubricant on door locks or hinges and no indication that the wheels had been taken off recently to check the condition of brake pads and shoes.
It was concluded that an adequate service had not been provided.
Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Protection said:
“Consumers rely on garages to do a proper job in order to help ensure their vehicles remain safe and roadworthy.
Warwickshire Trading Standards are working with garages across Warwickshire to help ensure that service standards are maintained.
However, as in this case, when garages fail to take their responsibilities seriously and deliver little or nothing for the money they ask, we will take action.”