The Motor Industry Code of Practice
For some years garages have suffered from a bad reputation, which in some cases may be justified but in others not. It seems that this reputation has come from a series of stories of bad service and overcharging which has been perpetuated by the media. The result is that some customers feel that they no longer trust their garages and have started to avoid having work completed on their car. To overcome this problem The Motor Insurance industry has developed a code of practice, which it launched in August. The aim of this code was to provide a universal standard of practice, which garages could choose to adhere to in order that their customers would feel more secure about the level of service that they would be receiving. It is hoped that garages would want to adhere to the code and thus the general image of the motor industry would be enhanced. Those garages that increased their standards to meet the code could advertise this fact helping customers locate a recognised level of service.
The idea to create this code of practice came around following a report published by the National Consumer Council. This report highlighted that bad repair work was costing consumers billions of pounds each year, which can be considered very unethical. The National Consumer Council wanted the Motor Industry to be subject to full Office of Fair Trading approval or be governed by legislature. The result was that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders collaborated with a number of different bodies in the trade to develop this code of practice.
The scope of the code covers a number of important items from the repair work that is being carried out to the way that the garage advertises its services. Also covered is the way that complaints are resolved which should give customers a piece of mind. Garages that provide servicing and repair work can subscribe to the code for a small annual fee. They are then subject to regular compliance checks, which will ensure that they meet the standards of the code. So far a number of garages have already signed up to the code and are able to advertise this fact to their customers.
The official website for the code of practice also has a search facility which allows the customer to check if their garage has signed up or to find a garage which has. In other areas of the industry such as motor insurance there is already a code of conduct in place. This means that customers have piece of mind about the level of service that they are paying for. It is hoped that with this new code of conduct for garages customers will soon feel like they are getting better value for money and also that they have suitable channels to voice their concerns if they feel this is not the case. It is anticipated that more and more garages will start to sign themselves up to the code in the following months with a positive impact on the industry’s image beginning to take shape.
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