Terms of Trade

By booking your vehicle in with Romano's Automotive, and by authorising work, you agree to the following. These terms explain what we will do, what we charge for, what we stand behind, and what to do if you are not happy with something.

Authorising work

We only carry out work you have approved.

What you booked the vehicle in for is approved by the booking itself, whatever that is. A service, a repair, tyres, a fitment, an inspection, a diagnosis or anything else you have asked us to do. Anything beyond what you booked, of any kind, comes back to you for approval before we start it.

When you authorise a job you are confirming that:

• you have read the work described and the price quoted for it
• you are the owner of the vehicle, or you are authorised to approve work on it
• you accept that the price may change only if we find something further, and only with your approval before we continue

Your authorisation is recorded with the date, the time, the amount and the terms in force at that moment. We keep that record, and you can ask us for a copy at any time.

Estimates and pricing

Quotes and estimates are based on what we know at the time we give them. They can change, and the most common reasons are:

• a fault that could not be seen until the vehicle was opened up
• previous repairs, modifications or aftermarket accessories
• the condition of the vehicle, such as rusted, seized or previously damaged fasteners
• a part that is superseded, on back order, or has increased in price

If the price is going to change, we will contact you, explain why, and wait for your approval before we go any further. If you would rather stop there, we will charge only for the work already done and agreed.

Diagnostics and inspections

Diagnosis is work. Finding a fault takes time, equipment and training, and it is charged for whether or not you go ahead with the repair.

We will tell you the diagnostic charge before we start, and if the diagnosis takes longer than estimated we will contact you before exceeding it.

Parts

We supply parts from trade suppliers we can hold to account.

Special order parts. Parts we do not normally stock and order in specifically for your vehicle must be paid for in advance. Once ordered they cannot be returned or refunded, because our suppliers will not take them back.

Parts you supply. We do not fit parts supplied by customers.

This is our policy, not a legal requirement, and the reasons are practical:

• we cannot warrant a part we did not buy, so if it fails you are left holding a part warranty from someone else and a labour bill from us
• we cannot verify the specification, age, condition or origin of a part we did not source
• when a part fails and causes further damage, it becomes unclear who is responsible, and that is a bad position for you as much as for us

By supplying the parts ourselves, one warranty covers both the part and the work, and you have one place to come back to.

What we are responsible for

We are responsible for the work we carried out and the parts we supplied. We stand behind both, and the warranty below says how.

We are not the cause of every fault that appears afterwards. A vehicle has thousands of components, all ageing at their own rate. A part near the area we worked on can reach the end of its life on its own timeline, and sometimes that happens in the days or weeks after a service, purely because that is when it was due.

If a fault appears after we have worked on your vehicle, whether or not we think it is connected, bring it back to us. See "If something goes wrong" below. We would much rather look at it than have you wondering.

Pre-existing condition, and things we have to operate

Working on a vehicle means using it.

To test a handbrake we may need to lift or move an armrest, a console lid or a seat. To carry out a service we open bonnets, doors, fuel flaps, boot liners, covers and access panels. To road test we use the pedals, the gear selector, the switches and the controls. All of this is normal, necessary, and done carefully.

On a vehicle of any age, a component that is already worn, already damaged, or already obstructed by something lodged in it can fail at the moment it is next operated. Often that moment is ours, because we are the ones using it.

Where that happens we will stop, show you exactly what we found, and explain it. We will help you sort it out if you want us to. But a part failing in normal use, because of a condition that was already there, is not damage we have caused.

If there is anything on your vehicle that is fragile, already broken, or needs to be handled in a particular way, please tell us at drop off and we will note it on the job.

Our warranty

We warrant the parts we supply and install, and our labour in fitting them, for 12 months or 20,000 kilometres, whichever comes first. This warranty is in addition to your rights under the Australian Consumer Law and does not replace them.

Parts carrying a manufacturer or supplier warranty are also subject to that warranty. We will make the claim on your behalf and chase it up, though we cannot control whether a third party accepts it.

Our warranty does not extend to:

• normal wear and tear
• damage caused by misuse, neglect, accident or continued driving after a fault became apparent
• faults in parts or systems we did not supply or work on
• work subsequently carried out by someone else on the same component
• parts supplied by you, or fitted elsewhere

To keep the warranty valid, please follow the manufacturer's service schedule for your vehicle, tell us as soon as you notice a problem rather than waiting, and bring the vehicle back to us so we can inspect it. If returning it to us is not practical, call us and we will help arrange an inspection somewhere else.

If something goes wrong

If you are not happy with the work, or something has gone wrong afterwards, we want to hear about it early. Bring the vehicle back and we will look at it.

The first look is free. That is us checking the work we did and whether the fault is connected to it, and it is usually quick.

If finding the cause needs full diagnostic time beyond that, we will tell you what it will cost before we start, and you decide whether to go ahead. Then:

• If the fault came from our work, you pay nothing. Not for the diagnosis, and not for putting it right.
• If it is a separate fault, the diagnostic time is charged as quoted, and we will show you what we found and quote any repair. The decision is yours.

You are never charged for us checking our own work.

Payment

Payment is due on completion of the work, before the vehicle leaves us.

We accept EFTPOS, credit card, bank transfer and cash. Bank transfers must be cleared into our account before the vehicle is released.

Account customers pay to the terms agreed in writing with us.

If an invoice is not paid by its due date, we may charge our reasonable costs of recovering it. We will tell you what those are before they are applied.

Collecting your vehicle

We will contact you by SMS, phone or email when your vehicle is ready. That contact is what we mean by completion.

Please collect within 3 business days. After that, storage may be charged at $25 per day. We will let you know before storage starts, and we will not charge it where the delay is ours or where you have spoken to us and made arrangements.

Uncollected vehicles

If a vehicle is left with us and we cannot reach you after repeated attempts, we may deal with it as uncollected goods under the relevant Western Australian legislation, which sets out the notice we must give you and the process we must follow before anything can be sold or disposed of.

We will always try to contact you first, in writing, at the details you gave us. Any amount owing, including repairs, storage and recovery costs, remains payable.

Road testing and registration

We may road test your vehicle as part of diagnosing or checking our work, unless you tell us not to.

If your vehicle is unregistered, uninsured, or not safe to drive on the road, you must tell us at drop off. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume a vehicle with plates on it is registered and roadworthy.

Personal items

Please take valuables, cash, tools, paperwork and anything important out of the vehicle before you leave it with us. We cannot be responsible for personal items left in a vehicle, and some work requires trim, seats and panels to be moved.

Tell us about anything that must not be moved or must be handled carefully.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The version that applies to your job is the version you were shown when you authorised the work, and that version is stored with your authorisation. Changes we make later do not change what you agreed to.

Questions

If anything here is unclear, ask us before you authorise the work. We would rather explain it now than argue about it later.