The ‘authorized’ car repair workshop is another name for ‘instant riches’ business. Yes, running an authorized car repair workshop today and tomorrow will guarantee handsome rewards for the owner and misery for the car owners who are forced to deal with them. Insurance companies are also at their mercy as they need the cars repaired for their clients to be back on the road.

A good friend recently was driving when he was hit by another motorist. His accident free 6-year old compact car had been hit from the side. The other driver’s insurance company was quick to respond after the accident report was filed and the repair took almost 2 months citing parts difficulty even though it was a local assemble car. Once completed, the car like all other accident repaired cars was returned to my friend still looking very bad……complaints after complaints and numerous trips back to the workshop has still left his car not driving right and with continued niggling problems. Now some 2 months later….nothing has been done to bring his car back to almost where it was the hour before the accident. Rattles, misaligned body panels and non-matching paint is what he has to deal with every single day when he drives and the worry that some day when he wants to sell his car, the term ‘accident free’ cannot be used and so his car value in the used car lot will be 15-20% less. Who covers this loss?

So what can be done to rectify this problem? Who can we seek justice from? Will the tribunal help? Questions we drivers need answers to every single day when we are on the road.