How is your job matched to a mechanic?
When a business joins, we record which jobs it takes on and which makes it works on regularly. A workshop that mostly does tyres and batteries isn't the one you want on a gearbox fault, and one that rarely sees a European car isn't the first choice for your Golf.
So your job goes to mechanics near the car who are matched to that job and that make. A local mechanic who specialises in your car.
What can you check before work starts?
- The state repairer licence (NSW, WA and the ACT). Search the state's own register for the name of the business that will do the work.
- An active ABN. Look it up on ABN Lookup, the public Australian Business Register, and see that it matches the business quoting you.
- Insurance. Ask the business for its current certificate of insurance.
- The trade qualification. Ask what qualification the person doing the work holds. A brake job and an electrical fault call for different training.
Which states license repairers?
New South Wales
NSW requires a licence to run a motor vehicle repair business, including a mobile one or part-time work, and tradespeople doing mechanical work need a tradesperson certificate. You can look a business up on Verify NSW, the government's licence register.
Western Australia
Every business in WA's motor repair and servicing industry needs a repair business licence, and its repairers hold a repairer's certificate. Consumer Protection WA has an online licence check and tells car owners to use it.
Australian Capital Territory
Repairers need a licence to operate in the ACT, and Access Canberra keeps a public register of them that anyone can search.
Everywhere else
As far as we can find, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have no general licence for mechanics. With no register to search, the ABN, the insurance certificate and the trade qualification are what to ask about.
What does that mean if you're in Victoria or Queensland?
You won't see us describe a mechanic there as licensed, because there's no such licence to hold. That doesn't mean anything goes: the consumer guarantees apply to repairs right across Australia.
Roadworthy inspections are a separate system with their own rules. In Victoria, a roadworthy certificate is a general safety check by a licensed vehicle tester, and in Queensland only approved inspection stations can issue a safety certificate. Roadworthy certificates in Victoria has more.
Who stands behind the repair?
We don't inspect a mechanic's work, sit in on the quote or drive the car afterwards.
The business that does the work stands behind it. Under the Australian Consumer Law, a repair must be carried out with due care and skill, be fit for any purpose you specified, and be done within a reasonable time if none was agreed. Those guarantees are with the business, not with us.
If something does go wrong, our complaints page sets out where to go and in what order.