How to write a bodyshop quote

Customers use the two words loosely. The law and the trade don't. A quote is a firm price for the work described. An estimate is a realistic guide to what the job will cost, which can come in higher or lower.

Trading Standards' guidance for repairers, on Business Companion, puts it the same way: a quoted price is exactly what the customer expects to pay, while an estimate is more flexible but should be realistic. Citizens Advice tells customers that with an estimate the garage may charge more “within reason”.

On insurance work the figure usually goes to the insurer as an estimate in its estimating system, built from the labour rate and parts and paint terms you agreed with it. Our guide to Audatex and CAPS covers that side. The rest of this guide is about the quote you give a private customer.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 puts four terms into every contract to supply a service to a consumer:

• Reasonable care and skill (section 49). A term that tries to exclude this doesn't bind the customer.
• What you say becomes a term (section 50). Anything you say or write about the service, including the price, the work and the finish date on your quote, is part of the contract if the customer relied on it.
• A reasonable price (section 51). If no price, and no way of working one out, was agreed, the customer pays a reasonable price and no more.
• A reasonable time (section 52). If no finish date was fixed, you must finish within a reasonable time.

If the work isn't up to standard, the customer can make you put it right within a reasonable time, at your cost and without significant inconvenience to them (section 55). Only if that's impossible, or isn't done properly, can they claim a price reduction, up to the full price back. Refunds are due within 14 days, by the same payment method and without a fee. Finishing late can also earn a price reduction.

The Act's Part 2 strikes out unfair terms in consumer contracts. A term is unfair if, contrary to good faith, it tips the balance significantly against the customer. Written terms must be transparent, and an ambiguous one is read the way that suits the customer.

Its “grey list” of terms that may be unfair includes:

• Letting you decide the price after the customer is bound, with no price or method agreed.
• Letting you raise the price without giving the customer a right to cancel.
• Charging disproportionate sums if the customer cancels or defaults.

The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance (CMA37) is blunt about price variation terms. A term that lets you pass on any increase in your own costs, or leaves the customer unable to work out the cost in advance, is likely to be unfair. A term that says clearly when and how the price can change is more likely to be fair.

The Consumer Contracts Regulations list what you must tell a customer before they're bound, even on a job agreed across your counter. Add The Motor Ombudsman's points and a sound car body repair quote shows:

• Your business name, address and phone number.
• The customer, the car and its registration, and the damage you recorded when it came in.
• The work: each repair or replacement, with parts and labour on their own lines.
• Whether each part is genuine or non-genuine, agreed before you start.
• The total price including VAT, or how it will be worked out if it can't be fixed in advance.
• The word Quotation or Estimate, clearly.
• When you'll do the work, and how and when payment is due.
• Any storage fees or other extra charges, disclosed before work starts.
• Your guarantee on the repair, and how to complain.
• How long the price holds.

The Motor Ombudsman's code adds a few rules for accredited garages that are worth following anyway: no deposit unless the parts are bespoke, payment due at handover, keep records for six years, and an itemised invoice that shows the labour rate and hours. For what goes into the parts and paint lines, see our guide to pricing parts and paint.

Strip-down often finds damage nobody could see at the counter. The rule is the same whether you gave a quote or an estimate: stop, tell the customer, and get their agreement before doing more.

Citizens Advice tells customers that if a garage went beyond what they asked for, they can ask for the extra work to be undone, or pay only for what they agreed. If they said “do whatever is needed”, they pay for the necessary work at a reasonable price.

Fewer surprises means fewer of these calls. Where you can, look behind the bumper or trim before you price, quote the parts you can see may need replacing as an option, and tell the customer up front that strip-down can find more.

The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 sort contracts into three kinds, and two of them carry a cancellation right:

For distance and off-premises contracts you must give more information before the customer is bound, including the cancellation conditions and the model cancellation form. If you don't, the cancellation period runs on for up to 12 months. You mustn't start inside the 14 days unless the customer expressly asks you to, and on an off-premises contract that request has to be on paper or another durable medium. If they then cancel, they pay a proportionate amount for the work done.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 sets the pricing rules. When you invite a customer to buy, you must show the total price including any extra charges, or explain how it's worked out. Prices shown to consumers must include VAT and any compulsory charges. Business Companion's guidance for repairers says the same: prices must include VAT unless the customer is in business.

Misleading a customer is a criminal offence under the same Act. Business Companion's examples for repairers are saying a part needs replacing when it doesn't, and not telling the customer a part could be repaired more cheaply than replaced.

We found no law that sets how long a repair quote stays valid, and no published norm for bodyshops. It's your own term, so state it on the quote in plain words, for example that the price holds for 30 days. Because written terms must be transparent, a validity line buried in small print is worth less than one next to the total.

Once the customer accepts inside that period, the price on the quote is the price, subject only to extra work they authorise. Keep the version they accepted: it's the document you'll point to if the bill is ever questioned.

Citizens Advice's Scotland pages give customers the same advice on repairs. Business Companion covers England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland businesses should check nibusinessinfo.