Payment and refunds

Nothing is done that you did not authorize

This is the whole policy in one line, and everything below is detail. No work is performed on your vehicle, and no charge is incurred, until you have authorized a written estimate for that work.

Florida requires a written estimate for repair work above $100. We write one regardless of the amount, because the threshold protects the shop’s paperwork rather than your understanding.

If a repair order needs to grow — something is found once the car is apart, a part is seized, a second fault appears — work stops and you get a second call. A revised estimate is authorized separately. There is no such thing here as a figure that quietly grew. See estimate and authorization.

What you are charged if you decline the repair

The diagnostic fee, and nothing else.

If we diagnose the vehicle and you decide not to go ahead — with us, or at all — you pay $149, take the written finding and the car, and owe nothing further. There is no charge for writing the estimate and no charge for reassembly of anything we opened in order to diagnose.

If you do authorize the repair with us, the diagnostic fee is credited against it in full.

Payment

Payment is due on collection, in the usual ways. A deposit may be requested where a repair requires a special-order or non-returnable part, and where that applies it is stated on the estimate before you authorize it, not afterwards.

The invoice matches the authorized estimate. If it does not, do not pay it — ask, because something has gone wrong on our side.

The warranty on our work

Repairs carry a warranty on parts and labor. The term is stated on your repair order in months and miles, whichever comes first, and it varies with the parts grade supplied — that is the actual trade-off between parts grades and it is set out on parts and warranty.

If a repair we performed fails inside its warranty, bring it back. A covered failure is corrected at no charge to you, including the labor.

A warranty covers the repair we performed. It does not cover a different fault that appears later, wear items consumed in normal use, or damage from an unrelated cause. We will tell you plainly which of those we think applies, and if it is genuinely ambiguous we will resolve it in your favour rather than argue about it.

If the repair did not fix the problem

Tell us, and bring it back.

If we diagnosed a fault, named an operation, performed it, and the symptom is still there, that is on us. We re-diagnose at no charge. If the original diagnosis was wrong, we credit the labor from the unnecessary repair against the correct one.

What we cannot do is refund a part that was genuinely worn and genuinely needed replacing, even if it turns out not to have been the cause of your particular symptom. Where that situation arises we will explain exactly what we found and why, in writing.

Parts returns

Unused parts we ordered for a job you subsequently declined are returned to the supplier wherever the supplier accepts returns, and you are not charged for them.

Special-order and electrical parts frequently cannot be returned by anybody. Where a part is non-returnable we say so on the estimate before you authorize it, and that is the point at which a deposit may be requested.

Your old parts

You are entitled to your replaced parts. Ask at write-up, before the work starts, because once a part has gone into the core return or the waste stream it cannot be retrieved.

Some parts cannot be returned to you: anything exchanged on a core charge, anything a warranty administrator requires back, and regulated waste such as used fluids. Where that applies we will tell you which and why.

Asking for your old parts is a reasonable thing to do and no shop should be uncomfortable about it. It is also the simplest way to satisfy yourself that a part really was worn.

Storage

A completed vehicle left beyond a reasonable period after repeated contact may incur a storage charge, and the terms are on the repair order.

In practice we would far rather telephone you again. A storage charge is a failure of communication somewhere, not a revenue line.

How to raise any of this

Telephone (904) 721-3000 during posted hours with your repair order or invoice number if you have it. If not, your name and roughly when the vehicle was in is enough to find it.