The garage charged more than agreed? Price quotes, extra work and faulty repairs under the law

Service page: Class actions and consumer claims lawyer.

You brought the car in for service, and at the end you got a bill higher than agreed, with work you did not ask for. Or the fault came back a few days after you picked up the car. This guide explains what the law and regulations require of the garage before the work, during it and at the end, and what you can do when there is a dispute. For an importer’s warranty on a new car, see A defective new car and the “Lemon Law”: the buyer’s rights.

Which laws apply to a car repair at a garage?

Four main sources:

• The Licensing of Services and Professions in the Vehicle Industry Law, 5776-2016. Chapter H of the Law deals with garages. Vehicle repair, maintenance or inspection services are provided at a licensed garage, subject to exceptions set in regulations (section 128). The Law sets, among other things, duties regarding the price quote (sections 131–132), the invoice (tax invoice) (section 19) and the approval that the vehicle is in proper order before it is handed over (section 141).
• The regulations made under the Law, including the Licensing of Services and Professions in the Vehicle Industry (Garages) Regulations, 5782-2022 (תקנות רישוי שירותים ומקצועות בענף הרכב (מוסכים), התשפ״ב-2022) (the “Garages Regulations”), which set ethical rules for the garage’s professional manager (regulation 8), and the Garage Licensing Conditions Regulations from the same year, which set the details of the invoice (regulation 9).
• The Consumer Protection Law, 5741-1981, which prohibits misleading (section 2) and requires disclosure (section 4), and the Consumer Protection Regulations (Disclosure of a Material Detail Concerning an Asset by a Service Provider), 5753-1993 (תקנות הגנת הצרכן (גילוי פרט מהותי לגבי נכס בידי נותן שירות), התשנ״ג-1993), which deal with replaced parts. The Law protects a “consumer”, meaning someone who receives a service from a dealer (the business) for a use that is mainly personal, domestic or family (section 1). The Licensing Law does not derogate from the Consumer Protection Law (section 240 of the Licensing Law).
• The Contract for Work Law, 5734-1974. A contract to do work or provide a service for payment, when the contractor is not the customer’s employee, is a contract for work (section 1), and repairing a car at a garage for payment meets the definition. The Law sets what to do when the work is not as agreed (sections 3–4).

Older sources sometimes rely on the Supervision of Commodities and Services (Garages and Vehicle Plants) Order, 5730-1970 (צו הפיקוח על מצרכים ושירותים (מוסכים ומפעלים לכלי רכב), התש״ל-1970). Under section 247(a) of the Licensing Law, the order remained in force only for a transition period: until provisions replacing it came into force, and no later than the date set in the section. The rules in this guide follow the law and regulations in force today.

What must the price quote include?

Under section 132(a)(1) of the Licensing Law, the holder of a license to operate a garage gives the customer a price quote that includes:

• the work the garage proposes to carry out on the vehicle;
• the expected number of working hours;
• the proposed parts (in the wording of the Law: “transport products”);
• the scope of the warranty for the parts and for the work to be carried out;
• and a breakdown of the payments.

The first price quote is given in a printed document or by email. With the customer’s consent, the garage may update it by other electronic means as well, provided that it updates the first price quote as soon as possible (section 132(b)). The garage supplies the parts listed in the quote and agreed with the customer (section 132(c)), and keeps the price quotes, including the updated ones, for one year from the day they were given (section 132(e)). These duties also apply when an insurer or another party pays for the work, in whole or in part (section 132(a)(3)).

Before the price quote, the garage offers more than one type of part, meaning an original, an alternative or a refurbished part, and explains the differences between them, unless it could not obtain more than one type with reasonable effort (section 131(a)). The duty does not apply, for example, to work under a warranty as described in section 49(c) or as part of dealing with a serial safety fault (section 131(b)). The 1993 Consumer Protection Regulations add that a dealer who repairs or replaces a part in an asset at the consumer’s order informs the consumer, in writing and before the transaction, whether the part is original, alternative, used or refurbished, and of the part’s prices by type (regulation 1(a)–(b)).

Two more rules: the garage displays a sign that includes, among other things, the total price of an hour of work (section 130(a)(4)); and when the vehicle manufacturer’s instructions include the working hours needed for a task, they are treated as the maximum time for carrying it out (section 139(a)).

The garage did work you did not approve: what does the law say?

The ethical rules for the garage’s professional manager set two prohibitions (regulation 8 of the Garages Regulations):

• the manager will not carry out work on the vehicle that is not needed in their professional judgment, and will not instruct or allow an employee to carry it out (regulation 8(1));
• the manager will not carry out work that was not included in a first price quote or an updated price quote given to the customer, and will not instruct or allow an employee to carry it out (regulation 8(2)).

The price quote is updated with the customer’s consent (section 132(b) of the Licensing Law). When the need for further work is discovered during the job, the route that the Law and the regulations set is an updated price quote, before the work is done.

And what about payment? Under the Contract for Work Law, the customer must pay the price “as agreed between the parties” (section 2). So the main question is what was agreed: the first price quote, an update you approved, or something else. On the other hand, the garage has a right of lien over the car handed to it for repair, up to the amounts due to it from the contract for work (section 5). In other words, a dispute over the bill may also turn into a dispute over releasing the car. It is worth recording the dispute in writing, and asking the garage for the first price quote and all the updates.

A breach of the price quote rules also has an administrative side. The “Director” under the Licensing Law is the Deputy Director General for Traffic at the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety (section 2), and the Director may impose a monetary sanction on the holder of a license to operate a garage who did not give a price quote or an updated quote as required, or did not supply a part listed in the quote and agreed (section 202(10)(b)–(c)). The sanction is an enforcement tool of the Director, not compensation for the customer. In addition, a dealer may not do anything likely to mislead a consumer about a material matter in the transaction, including the quality, nature and type of the service, or a professional opinion and test results given about it (section 2(a)(1) and (14) of the Consumer Protection Law). A breach of this prohibition is treated as a tort under the Torts Ordinance [New Version] (section 31(a)).

Who keeps the part that was replaced?

Under regulation 1(c) of the Consumer Protection Regulations (Disclosure of a Material Detail Concerning an Asset by a Service Provider), “the replaced part shall be left by the dealer in the possession of the consumer”. The regulation applies to a dealer who repairs or replaces a part in an asset at the consumer’s order (regulation 1(a)). The old part can be evidence in a dispute: whether it needed replacing, and what was actually replaced. It is worth telling the garage in advance that you want to receive it.

What must appear on the invoice?

A license holder may not provide a service to a customer unless it has included on the invoice the details set by the Minister (section 19 of the Licensing Law). For a garage, the details were set in regulation 9 of the Garage Licensing Conditions Regulations:

• the garage’s name and license number;
• the vehicle’s license number, and the number of kilometers it had driven when it was received at the garage;
• the date the vehicle was received at the garage and the date the work was completed;
• a breakdown of the work carried out, including the labor, the parts installed (their type, price and catalog number, if any), the working hours and the total price;
• the warranty periods for the work carried out and for the parts installed, “if supplied by the garage”;
• if work was carried out through another garage, the warranty periods for it, separately.

Comparing the invoice with the first price quote and the updates you approved is the simple way to identify what was added, and when.

The fault came back after the repair: what do you do?

The Contract for Work Law sets an order of steps:

1. Notice. When the work or service is not in line with what was agreed (a “defect”), the customer notifies the contractor of the defect within a reasonable time after discovering it or after they should have discovered it. If the defect can be repaired, the customer gives the contractor a proper opportunity to repair it (section 3(a)).
2. If the garage did not repair it within a reasonable time, the customer may repair the defect and demand their reasonable expenses from the garage, or deduct from the payment, as long as the defect has not been repaired, the amount by which the value of the service fell because of the defect (section 4(a)).
3. A defect whose repair is urgent, to the point that the customer cannot be expected to wait for the contractor to repair it, can be repaired even without prior notice (section 4(b)). A defect that cannot be repaired entitles the customer to a deduction from the payment (section 4(c)).

Two qualifications: a customer who did not give notice and did not give an opportunity to repair may not rely on the defect, unless the contractor knew of it; nor when the defect arose from a cause for which the customer is responsible (section 3(b)). The Law does not derogate from any other remedy for breach of contract (section 7), such as damages under the Contracts (Remedies for Breach of Contract) Law, 5731-1970.

On the garage’s side: the professional manager is responsible for the proper performance of the work carried out on the vehicle and approves it before handover, and the garage may not hand a vehicle over to the customer without that approval (section 141 of the Licensing Law). And if a safety defect is found in the vehicle, meaning a defect in the steering, brakes, tires or electronic safety systems that could interfere with the proper functioning of that system, and it was not repaired before the vehicle was handed over, the professional manager reports it to the Licensing Authority (vehicles and drivers), and a copy of the report is given to the customer (section 142 of the Law; regulations 1 and 6 of the Garages Regulations).

How long is the garage responsible for the repair?

Chapter H of the Licensing Law, which deals with garages, does not set a minimum warranty period for the garage’s work. It requires the scope of the warranty for the parts and the work to be set out in the price quote (section 132(a)(1)), and the regulations require the warranty periods to be set out on the invoice (regulation 9(6) of the Garage Licensing Conditions Regulations). So the answer starts with the documents: what was written in the price quote and on the invoice.

For the parts themselves, the Law sets a separate rule: the holder of a license to trade in transport products may not sell a part without giving the buyer a warranty certificate for a period of no less than three months or 6,000 kilometers of driving from the day of installation in the vehicle, whichever comes first (section 119(a)). When a longer period has been set by law, it applies, and the warranty the seller gives may not be less than the one given by the part’s manufacturer (section 119(b)(1)–(2)). The Minister may change the period and the number of kilometers (section 119(a)), and may exclude products or types of products by order (section 96(3)). Whether the rule applies to a particular part depends on the license of whoever sold it and on the type of part.

And regardless of the warranty period: if the repair was not done as agreed, this is a “defect” under the Contract for Work Law, and the arrangement in sections 3 and 4 of that Law applies to it.

What do the law and regulations say, topic by topic?

Where do you turn when there is a dispute with a garage?

• To the garage, in writing. Describe what was agreed, what was done and what you are asking for: repair of the defect, cancellation of a charge for work you did not approve, or a refund. A written notice is also the notice that section 3(a) of the Contract for Work Law requires. On how to structure such a letter, see A warning letter before legal action: what it should include and what not.
• To the Director under the Licensing Law, at the Ministry of Transport. The Director investigates customers’ complaints about the activity of license holders under Chapter H, meaning garages and the professional managers of garages (section 144). The supervisory and enforcement powers of the Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority under the Consumer Protection Law are preserved for vehicles too (section 191(d) of the Licensing Law).
• To court. An individual can sue in the Small Claims Court up to the ceiling in section 60 of the Courts Law [Consolidated Version], 5744-1984: see The Small Claims Court: a practical guide.

What to keep: the first price quote and every update, correspondence and approvals, the invoice, the replaced part and photos. On your general rights against a dealer, see What Israel’s Consumer Protection Law gives you, and on consumer proceedings, the page Class actions and consumer claims.

Do you want to check your case? Arrange a first call to look at your case.

Frequently asked questions

Must the garage give a written price quote?

Yes. The holder of a license to operate a garage gives the customer a price quote that includes the proposed work, the expected working hours, the parts, the scope of the warranty and a breakdown of the payments (section 132(a) of the Licensing of Services and Professions in the Vehicle Industry Law). The first price quote is given in a printed document or by email, and it is updated with the customer’s consent (section 132(b)).

The garage added work without asking. Do I have to pay for it?

The law does not give an automatic answer. The garage’s professional manager may not carry out work that was not included in a first or updated price quote (regulation 8(2) of the Garages Regulations), and the quote is updated with the customer’s consent (section 132(b) of the Law). The price is paid as agreed (section 2 of the Contract for Work Law), so the dispute is over what was agreed. The garage has a right of lien over the car up to the amounts due to it (section 5).

Am I entitled to get the old part that was replaced?

Yes, when the repair was ordered by a “consumer” (section 1 of the Consumer Protection Law). Under regulation 1(c) of the Consumer Protection Regulations (Disclosure of a Material Detail Concerning an Asset by a Service Provider), 5753-1993, the replaced part shall be left by the dealer in the consumer’s possession. Under the same regulation, before the transaction the consumer is informed in writing whether the part is original, alternative, used or refurbished, and of the part’s prices by type.

How long is the warranty on a garage repair?

Chapter H of the Licensing of Services and Professions in the Vehicle Industry Law does not set a minimum warranty period for the garage’s work. It requires the scope of the warranty to be set out in the price quote (section 132(a)(1)), and the warranty periods on the invoice (regulation 9(6) of the Garage Licensing Conditions Regulations). For a part sold by the holder of a license to trade in transport products, a warranty of at least three months or 6,000 kilometers from installation, whichever comes first, has been set (section 119(a)).

Who do you turn to when there is a dispute with a garage?

First to the garage itself, in writing: when the repair is not as agreed, you give notice of the defect within a reasonable time and give an opportunity to repair it (section 3(a) of the Contract for Work Law). The Director under the Licensing of Services and Professions in the Vehicle Industry Law, at the Ministry of Transport, investigates customers’ complaints about garages (section 144). An individual can sue in the Small Claims Court up to the ceiling in section 60 of the Courts Law.