TERMS AND CONDITIONS – REPAIR AND SERVICING WORK AND SALE OF PARTS

The following definition applies throughout: “John R Ford” refers to “John R Ford & Sons (Shefford) Ltd”, “Goods” refers to products and/or services as described on the order.   

1.   PRICE
Quotations/Estimates are valid for, and may be accepted by the customer within, 30 days.  If no price has been estimated / quoted (or an estimated / quoted price is no longer valid) the price of parts shall be listed at the manufactures’ recommended retail price. If requested, we will provide you a written estimate / quotation for the work to be carried out. All estimates / quotations will include a description of the work to be completed, a breakdown of the cost, the duration of the work, details of our guarantee and any parts warranty and a copy of our terms and conditions.  All estimates and quotes will be inclusive of parts, labour, VAT and any other additional charges.   
2.   SERVICING
Servicing as required by the new vehicle warranty will be performed according to the vehicle manufactures’ service specification and documentation detailing this will be provided, unless otherwise specifically agreed and authorised by signature.
3.   DIAGNOSTIC (Exploratory) WORK
For all diagnostic work we estimate a minimum charge of £75 plus VAT.  This allows one hour for a technician to explore the vehicle concern, at which point should we require any further time and additional cost we will contact you to gain your authorisation with an estimate of the charges. Should the time taken to investigate the concern be less than expected we will reflect this in our final charges.
4.   ADDITIONAL TIME, LABOUR OR PARTS
If while carrying out the work agreed with you we discover that in the interest of safety or satisfactory completion of the work requested additional repair work is necessary, we will contact you as soon as we become aware of this to discuss the work, any additional costs and any revised delivery times.  We will not start any additional work without your consent.  Whether your consent is provided verbally or in writing you are subject to these terms and conditions. 
5.   GUARANTEE
We undertake to guarantee all service and repair work against failure arising from manufacturing defect.  We will inform you where parts are provided with a manufacturers’ warranty.  We will tell you about the duration of the warranty or guarantee and how to exercise it.  The guarantee may be mitigated or removed if any defect is caused or worsened by any of the following: 1. Failure to notify John R Ford of the defect.   2. Failure to afford John R Ford the opportunity to rectify the problem.  3. Subjecting the goods to misuse, negligence or accident or using the vehicle for racing, rallying or similar sports.  4. Installation of a part into the goods not approved by either the manufacturer or John R Ford, or altering them in a way not approved by either the manufacturer or John R Ford. 5. Failure to adhere to maintenance instructions regarding the care, treatment or upkeep of the goods, or failing to service and carry out preventative maintenance as recommended by either the manufacturer or John R Ford.  
6.   TIME
Every endeavour will be made to carry out Repair and Servicing Work and supply parts by the time desired by the customer, but time shall not form part of the contract and John R Ford shall not be liable for any delay howsoever occasioned.
7.   PAYMENT
Payment for parts is required in advance for non-stock items.  Payment for service and repair including any parts used is due on completion of the service and repair work.
If you fail to take and pay for the goods within 14 days of notification that the goods are available for collection, we may treat the contract as cancelled and keep any deposit paid by you.  The goods shall remain our property until the price has been paid in full.  Payment methods include cash, credit / debit card, bankers draft / building society cheque or pre-approved credit terms.  Where payment is made by cheque the goods remain our property until the cheque has cleared.  The proceeds of any goods re-sold by you prior to the cheque having been cleared are to be held by you in trust for us.  The risk in the goods passes to you when you take delivery.  If payment is not received when due, then interest will accrue on John R Ford charges at 3% above the Base Rate of Natwest Bank  from time to time until payment is received.
8.   DRIVING OF VEHICLES
For the purpose of any inspection, repair or contemplated repair, testing of vehicles, taking the vehicle to sub-contractors, demonstrations, or other purposes for which the vehicle is accepted by John R Ford the customer hereby authorises the driving of the vehicle by John R Ford, its employees, agents and sub-contractors on the public highway and elsewhere.
9.   REMOVED PARTS
Any removed parts will be retained and made available for you to view and examine until collection of the vehicle unless otherwise agreed.  You should only ever remove these from the premises if you have the ability to dispose of them in an environmentally responsible manner. Where items are removed that attract a manufacture’s surcharge due to the replacement part being an exchange unit, we will charge you the surcharge amount in addition to the quotation should you wish to remove the part from our premises.
10.   RETURN OF PARTS
John R Ford will accept the return of stock items within 7 days assuming they are returned in a perfect condition and have not been fitted. John R Ford reserves the right to make a handling charge of 20% of the value of any parts returned. Returns are not accepted of non-stock items which have been specially ordered by John R Ford for the customer.
11.   STORAGE CHARGES
If a vehicle is not collected 24 hours after the time indicated or agreed for collection of the vehicle (or if no such time has been indicated or agreed, the time John R Ford notifies the customer that the vehicle is ready for collection), John R Ford shall be entitled to charge for storage of the vehicle at its usual rates until collection.
12.   SECURITY
John R Ford will exercise reasonable care in respect of the safety and security of customer’s vehicles and other property.  John R Ford shall have no liability for loss of or damage to Customers vehicles and other property howsoever caused, including damage caused by lack of reasonable care on the part of John R Ford, if it is not made aware at the time of damage or loss that the customer has entrusted or sought to entrust the vehicle or such other property to it.  John R Ford is not responsible, nor can offer any security, for any loss to a customer’s vehicle or property where the vehicle keys are posted through John R Ford’s letter box outside of business hours.
13.   LIEN
John R Ford shall have a general lien on any vehicle on which it has done service and repair work and on any other property in its possession belonging to the customer for all monies due and owing to John R Ford on any account or invoice whatsoever.  John R Ford shall be entitled to charge for garaging the vehicle at its usual rates during any period in which the vehicle is retained by John R Ford in exercise of any lien.    
14.   INSOLVENCY OF CUSTOMER
If the customer shall become bankrupt or insolvent or make any arrangements with creditors or allow a receiver of his effects to be appointed or being a body corporate enters into liquidation, John R Ford shall have a right to terminate any agreement with the customer subject to these conditions and thenceforth cease to have any further obligation under the contract and the price for all services rendered and goods supplied shall immediately become payable.
15.   CORRESPONDENCE
Any correspondence to you will be sent by normal post rather than registered delivery, to the address you have given.
16.   CANCELATION RIGHTS
You have a right to cancel the service and repair work at any time in writing, subject to your legal liability for any work done up until the time of cancellation, including diagnostic work, labour and parts ordered or used than cannot be cancelled, returned or resold.  We will however, seek to minimise these costs.
17.   COMPLAINTS
We will take effective, immediate action in order to ensure that you receive a just settlement of you complaint within 3 working hours.  In the event that a Servicing and Repair complaint remains unresolved, we will advise you of your right to refer your complaint to the Code Advisory and Conciliation Service under the Motor Industry Code of Practise.  For further information visit www.motorindustrycodes.co.uk or call the Code’s Consumer Line (CAL) on 0800 692 0825.   
18.   STATUTORY RIGHTS
The contract shall be governed by the laws of England and does not affect your statutory rights.
19.   USE OF INFORMATION
John R Ford will hold your information for sales, service and warranty purposes.  This information may be passed to other carefully selected third party organisations. We, or they, may contact you by email, telephone or letter to inform you of products and services which may be of interest to you, or you may be asked to participate in a customer survey by John R Ford, your vehicle manufacturer or a third party. If you do not wish your information to be used in this way, please notify us in writing for the attention of the General Manager at our registered address.
20.   ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Taking into account the ecological and legislative framework conditions, we minimise environmental pollution, as far as is reasonably practicable, both during and at the end of a material’s lifespan, so conserving valuable resources. We undertake to adhere to the advice of our local council, in respect of the Environmental Protection Act, at all times, and to continue to seek to utilise low impact materials, to recycle and to appropriately segregate and dispose of waste.  Due to this policy, charges for environmental disposal may be shown on your invoice.