Taking a garage to court for money in England and Wales

Finish the steps before court first

The Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols says the court expects the parties, before proceedings start, to have exchanged enough information to understand each other's position, to try to settle the issues without proceedings and to consider a form of alternative dispute resolution. Sources: ^[13]

Where no specific pre-action protocol applies, that Practice Direction says the steps will usually include the claimant writing to the defendant with concise details of the claim, including the basis of the claim, a summary of the facts, what the claimant wants and, if money, how the amount is calculated. Sources: ^[13]

It says the defendant should reply within a reasonable time, described as 14 days in a straightforward case, and that the parties should disclose key documents relevant to the issues in dispute. Sources: ^[13]

It states that litigation should be a last resort, and that if proceedings are issued the parties may be required by the court to provide evidence that alternative dispute resolution has been considered. Sources: ^[13]

It says a party's silence in response to an invitation to take part in alternative dispute resolution, or a refusal to take part, might be considered unreasonable by the court and could lead to that party being ordered to pay additional court costs. Sources: ^[13]

GOV.UK says a mediation service could be quicker and cheaper than going to court. Sources: ^[1]

Litigation should be a last resort.

Checklist

• Send the garage a dated written complaint that says what went wrong, what you want and by when.
• Set out how you calculated the sum you are asking for, and keep the invoices and receipts behind it.
• Give the garage a reasonable period to reply before you escalate.
• Check whether the garage belongs to an alternative-dispute-resolution or ombudsman scheme, and record what happened if you used it or if it was refused.
• Keep every letter, email and text; the court can be asked to look at how each side behaved before the claim.
• Consider an independent inspection report if the disagreement is about whether the work was done properly.

The official claim route and what it covers

GOV.UK says you can apply to a county court to claim money you are owed by a person or business, that this is known as making a court claim, that it often used to be known as taking someone to a 'small claims court', and that you can apply online or by post. Sources: ^[1]

The official online route is the Money Claims service linked from GOV.UK; the guide is also published in Welsh. Sources: ^{[4] [1] [12]}

GOV.UK says you cannot use the online service if you do not know how much money you want to claim, if you are claiming on behalf of more than one person or organisation, if your claim is against three or more people or organisations, if you or the people or organisations you are claiming against do not have an address in England or Wales, or if your claim is against a government department; in those situations you claim by post using form N1. Sources: ^[4]

GOV.UK says you cannot make a claim if you are told that someone is temporarily protected from creditors through the 'Breathing Space' scheme. Sources: ^[4]

GOV.UK says you may need to get legal advice if your claim is complex. Sources: ^[4]

GOV.UK says you will be asked for the name, address and email address of the person you are claiming against, so a claim against a garage needs the correct legal name and address of the business you contracted with. Sources: ^[4]

GOV.UK — Make a court claim for money

What it costs to start

GOV.UK says you must pay a court fee when you make your claim, and that the fee is based on the amount you are claiming plus any interest, set out in bands on the official fee page. Sources: ^[2]

GOV.UK says the fee will be calculated for you if you make your claim online. Sources: ^[2]

HM Courts & Tribunals Service publishes the current civil court fees in the EX50 main fees guide, which is revised from time to time; the figures on the official pages are the ones that apply. Sources: ^{[10] [9]}

GOV.UK says you may be able to get help with fees if you have a low income or you are on certain benefits, and that you can apply online or by post. Sources: ^{[2] [11]}

GOV.UK says you may have to pay more fees later on, for example if there is a court hearing or you need to get a judgment enforced. Sources: ^[2]

GOV.UK says you may be able to claim the fees back if you win the case, which is not the same as being told you definitely will. Sources: ^[2]

GOV.UK says court and tribunal fees are different from legal costs, for example paying for a solicitor, and that Scotland and Northern Ireland have different systems of court fees. Sources: ^[9]

GOV.UK says you can claim interest on the money you are owed, that you need to work out the interest yourself if you are claiming a fixed ('specified') amount, and that for debts other than late commercial payments between businesses the rate is usually 8%. Sources: ^[3]

The court fee is based on the amount you’re claiming, plus any interest.

This page deliberately does not reproduce the fee bands. Read the amount off the GOV.UK fee page or EX50 on the day you claim.

What happens after you claim

GOV.UK says your claim, including your name and address, will be sent to the person or business owing you money, called the 'defendant', that they must respond, and that you will be sent a letter or email telling you the date they need to respond by. Sources: ^[5]

GOV.UK says that if you get no response, or the defendant refuses to pay what they owe, you can ask the court to order the defendant to pay by requesting a judgment. Sources: ^[5]

GOV.UK says you might have to go to a court hearing if the defendant says they do not owe you any money, if they disagree with the amount claimed, or if you do not agree with how they have offered to repay you, and that the court may send a questionnaire for which you will have to pay an extra court fee. Sources: ^[5]

GOV.UK says that if you are making a claim of £10,000 or less and the defendant disputes it, you will be told you must attend mediation, that the court organises it and that this service is free. Sources: ^[6]

GOV.UK describes court-organised mediation as a telephone appointment of up to one hour with a HM Courts and Tribunals Service mediator who speaks to each side separately. Sources: ^[6]

GOV.UK says an agreement reached at mediation is legally binding and is recorded in a settlement agreement, and that if either side breaks its terms the other can go to court to ask for a judgment or hearing. Sources: ^[6]

GOV.UK says that where you have been told you must attend mediation, the judge can sanction you if you do not attend or do not make an effort to reach an agreement, and that sanctions can include your case being struck out or having to pay all court costs even if you win. Sources: ^[6]

GOV.UK — Resolve your claim through mediation

The small claims track: informal, but not free of risk

Civil Procedure Rules Part 27 sets out the special procedure for claims allocated to the small claims track and limits the amount of costs that can be recovered in such a claim. Sources: ^[14]

Part 27 notes that, subject to specific exceptions for personal injury and housing disrepair claims, the small claims track is the normal track for a claim with a financial value of not more than £10,000. Sources: ^[14]

Rule 27.8 says hearings will be informal, the strict rules of evidence do not apply, the court need not take evidence on oath, the court may limit cross-examination, and the court must give reasons for its decision. Sources: ^[14]

Rule 27.5 says no expert may give evidence, written or oral, at a small claims hearing without the permission of the court, so an independent inspection report is not automatically admissible. Sources: ^[14]

Rule 27.14 says the court may not order one party to pay another party's costs except for a defined list, including the fixed costs of issuing the claim, court fees paid by the other party, reasonable travel expenses, capped sums for loss of earnings and expert's fees, and such further costs as the court may assess where a party has behaved unreasonably. Sources: ^[14]

Because of that unreasonable-behaviour exception, and because further court fees can arise for hearings and enforcement, the small claims track limits your exposure to the other side's legal bill but does not remove financial risk. Sources: ^{[14] [2]}

GOV.UK says that at a hearing you can represent yourself, pay for a barrister or solicitor, ask someone to advise you in court who does not have to be a lawyer, or ask someone to speak on your behalf, which might need the court's permission. Sources: ^[7]

GOV.UK says a hearing for a claim of less than £10,000 can be held in the judge's room or a courtroom in a county court, that you get a decision on the day, and that you can appeal within 21 days of getting the decision if you think the judge made a mistake during the hearing. Sources: ^[7]

Hearings will be informal.

There is a legal time limit, so do not drift

Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980, which extends to England and Wales, provides that an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. Sources: ^[15]

Working out when the cause of action accrued, and whether any exception applies, is fact-specific and can be difficult; this page does not tell you the deadline for your dispute and you should confirm it for your own case before relying on it. Sources: ^[15]

The Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct says pre-action steps do not alter the statutory time limits for starting court proceedings, and that if a claim is issued after the relevant limitation period has expired the defendant will be entitled to use that as a defence. Sources: ^[13]

It adds that if proceedings are started to meet the statutory time limit before the pre-action steps have been completed, the parties should apply to the court for a stay while they comply. Sources: ^[13]

Ordinary bilateral negotiation with the garage does not by itself pause or extend a limitation period and does not trigger section 33B: that section applies to ADR involving an ADR entity and treats ADR as starting only when the dispute is first sent or otherwise communicated to that entity in accordance with its rules for submitting complaints. Sources: ^{[13] [16]}

Section 33B provides a statutory extension where a time limit under the Act relates to all or part of a consumer contract dispute, qualifying ADR starts before the time limit expires, and without the section the limit would expire before the ADR ends or less than eight weeks after it ends; if those conditions are met, the time limit for initiating judicial proceedings expires at the end of eight weeks after the ADR ends, subject to the section's further provisions. Sources: ^[16]

Whether section 33B applies depends on its definitions and on how and when the ADR was submitted and ended; this page cannot determine that for an individual dispute, and you should not assume that a complaint to the garage, a preliminary scheme enquiry or ongoing negotiations has triggered the extension. Sources: ^[16]

An action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued.

What to do

• Do not use the six-year headline or the eight-week extension to calculate your own deadline. If any possible time limit is close, obtain independent legal advice promptly and do not wait for negotiations.
• Where necessary to protect the position, issue proceedings in time and ask the court for a stay while unfinished pre-action steps or ADR are completed.

Practical reading: there is a statutory deadline, negotiating with the garage does not pause it, and the earlier you act the fewer arguments you have to have about it.

Winning is not the same as being paid

GOV.UK says that if you win, the court will order the person or business who owes you money, the 'debtor', to pay you, and that there are ways the court can collect your payment if they ignore the court order. Sources: ^[7]

GOV.UK says you can ask the court to collect payment if the debtor does not pay after receiving the court order, and that you must pay a court fee when you ask the court to collect the payment. Sources: ^[8]

GOV.UK describes enforcement options including asking the court to order the debtor to attend court to give evidence of income or spending, sending bailiffs under a warrant of control, an attachment of earnings order against wages, a third-party debt order against a bank or business account, and a charging order against land or property. Sources: ^[8]

GOV.UK says you cannot enforce a judgment if you are told that the person who owes you money has a 'Breathing Space' and is temporarily protected from their creditors. Sources: ^[8]

None of these routes guarantees payment; they are applications you pay for, and what you recover depends on what the debtor actually has. Sources: ^[8]

GOV.UK — Enforce a judgment

If you are not in England or Wales

GOV.UK states that there is a different process to make a court claim in Scotland and to make a court claim in Northern Ireland, and links to mygov.scot and nidirect respectively. Sources: ^{[1] [17] [18]}

The county court money claim procedure, the fees, the forms and the small claims track described on this page are the England and Wales route; do not apply them to a Scottish or Northern Ireland dispute. Sources: ^{[1] [9]}

What to do

• In Scotland, start from the mygov.scot page on claiming money through the courts.
• In Northern Ireland, start from the nidirect page on recovering debts owed to you.
• Work out which country's courts apply by reference to where the garage and the contract sit, and get advice if that is unclear.

Important

OBDCode UK cannot tell you whether your claim will succeed, what it is worth, or which deadline applies to it.

Check fees, thresholds and forms on the official GOV.UK pages on the day you act; they change.

Do not drive an unsafe vehicle in order to gather evidence or return it to a garage; arrange recovery where the reviewed safety conclusion requires it.