Your Rights at a California Auto Repair Shop

Every shop has to be registered and post the sign

Any business that repairs or diagnoses cars for pay in California has to be registered with the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) as an Automotive Repair Dealer. The registration number, often shown as an ARD number, belongs on the shop's paperwork and invoices.

Registered shops must also post BAR's consumer-rights sign where customers can see it. The sign lists the three rights below. If you don't see it, that's worth noticing before you hand over your keys.

Right #1: a written estimate before any work starts

Under Business and Professions Code section 9884.9, a shop must give you a written estimated price for the specific job, covering parts and labor, before it starts work. Your authorization has to be recorded before the repair begins.

That estimate is the ceiling. The shop can't charge more than the estimate without getting your consent first.

Right #2: nobody raises the price without asking you

If a mechanic finds more work once the car is apart, the shop has to contact you, describe the added parts and labor, give you the new total and get your consent before doing it. That consent gets written on both the work order and the final invoice.

Approval by phone is allowed, but the shop must record the date, the time, the name of the person who approved it and the phone number it called. You can name someone else to approve on your behalf, but it can't be the shop itself or an insurer on the claim.

• Ask the shop to call before exceeding the estimate by any amount.
• Write down who you spoke to and what total you approved.
• Check that the approval shows up on your invoice.

Teardown estimates: when the shop has to take things apart first

Some problems can't be priced until part of the car is disassembled. California treats that as its own step. Before teardown, the shop must give you a written estimate that states what it will take apart, what teardown costs, what it costs to put it back together (including gaskets or seals that get destroyed), and the longest it will take to reassemble if you decline the repair.

If the car might not go back together in its original condition, the estimate has to say so. You can be charged for teardown even if you decide not to do the repair, which is why that number should be on paper first.

Right #3: your old parts back, if you ask up front

Section 9884.10 entitles you to the parts that were replaced, but only if you ask for them when you authorize the estimate. Ask at drop-off, not at pickup.

There are exceptions for parts that go back to a supplier as a core exchange or a warranty return. Even then you can ask to inspect them, a core charge may apply if you keep them, and the invoice must list any parts not returned to you.

What a legal California repair invoice includes

The final invoice (Business and Professions Code 9884.8) is your record if anything goes wrong later. It should include:

• The shop's ARD registration number and its name and address as registered with BAR.
• Each service performed, with its price, including diagnosis, warranty and no-charge work.
• Each part, identified as new, used, reconditioned or rebuilt. Crash parts must be marked OEM or non-OEM.
• Subtotals, sales tax and the total. A hazardous-waste fee, if charged, shows the shop's EPA number.
• No separate catch-all line for "shop supplies."

If a shop doesn't follow the rules

Start by talking to the shop with your estimate and invoice in hand. If that doesn't fix it, file a complaint with BAR online or by phone at (800) 952-5210. BAR says it contacts complainants within 7 to 10 business days and mediates disputes. Outcomes can include a refund, a bill adjustment or a repair redone at no charge.

Keep reading

• How to Check a California Auto Repair Shop's License
• Check Engine Light On? What to Do Before You Pay a Shop