Taking your car to workshop: things to watch-out for…

Whenever we take our car to workshop, we are always at unease thinking about things that can go wrong with the car. However, we can pre-empt most of them if we are vigilant at the time of taking delivery of the car.

Here’s the checklist…

1. Check your tyres. You should ideally make an identity mark on your tyres such as signing them with a permanent marker. It is also very important to note down the nos printed on the tyres for records and verification purposes. Don’t forget the spare tyre in the boot.
2. Check your battery. You should make an identity mark on the battery with permanent marker and also record necessary details on the battery for any future reference.
3. Ask your service advisor that you will like to oversee all or some specific work done on your car for your satisfaction. Most likely you will not be allowed to do so but if you insist you might be let-in.
4. Ask for empty cans of oils such as engine oil, gear oil, brake oil etc changed in your car. This is to make sure that the oils are actually changed in the car.
5. Ask for wrappers of all parts changed in your car. Also ask for old parts. This is to establish the genuineness of the part and also to make sure that the part was actually changed in the car.
6. Check odometer reading and match it against the previous recorded reading.
7. Check all lights such as head lamps, tail lamps, brake lamps, side indicators etc are working as before.
8. Check your car carefully for any new scratches and / or dents.

This is for sure not the cure for all ills and there are still possibilities of fraud but the checks mentioned above to a great extent helps in minimizing it.

I am sure these are not the only ones and there could be many more additions to the list and therefore I request consumers to append to this list in the comments section so that all of us can collectively benefit from it.

Sandeep Gupta

Panelist – Consumer Rights Mission

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Consumer Rights Mission is dedicated to empower and further the cause of consumers.