Sadly, the days of doing things “on a handshake” are behind us. These Terms and Conditions are to protect this small business; it’s employees and you, our customer.
Whether your vehicle is here for a quick fix, a run-of-the-mill service or a full-blown restoration, it is important you have read these conditions and having done so appreciate their purpose. We are members of the Federation of Small Businesses and follow the Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service & Repair.
By leaving your vehicle with us your agreement to these Terms & Conditions is assumed.
“The Workshop” = Westfalen RV Limited, at Unit 11 Chickney Hall Farm, Broxted CM6 2BY
“Owner” refers to that person who has brought us, the Workshop, the vehicle and agreed the work.
A standard series of processes follows the terms and conditions 1 through 12.
First this glossary of abbreviations and common phrases;
General Terms
1. Westfalen RV Limited, trading as Campervan Coachworks, operate in a transparent and honest manner and expect their customers to do likewise.
1.a. Any contract agreed is between the Owner and the Workshop – no other person shall have any rights to enforce its terms.
2. Communication
Both parties agree to communicate primarily by email as a record of agreeing work to be done or has been done and the associated costs.
3. Buying parts/ panels/ materials et cetera…
3.a. Once the work has been agreed the Workshop will invoice for the parts/ panels required. Stock is not held on site and a “just-in-time” process of ordering/ delivery & use is normal practice where such a wide variety of parts/ panels are required.
By doing so we endeavour to have the parts/ panels on site before work begins – this aides complete the work in the timescale agreed at the time of booking.
3.b. We do not accept “customer supplied parts”. There are multiple reasons for this and this short list is not exhaustive:
If it is wrong valuable time will be wasted while you arrange return from this site and we wait the correct part, generally resulting in lost money for either or both parties.
3.c. With all due respect you are not as ‘expert’ in this work as this garage, hence why you’ve employed us to do the job – therefore it should be us to choose the parts required. Your advice is welcome and appreciated as we enjoy involving you if you so wish.
3.d. Our buying parts/ panels/ materials/ paint allows a slight mark-up on the price. This is standard auto-industry process and actually covers the time taken to source, discuss and order the parts/ panels/ materials/ paint etc. from our trusted and known suppliers.
Without that we would have to charge for that time directly which would be a considerable extra cost to the customer.
4. Timeframes
We will always endeavor to complete the work to the agreed schedule / collection date.
If the Workshop needs to amend the delivery date/ period of works the Owner has the right to cancel the booking.
Please do not ring us up, have a good conversation about what you’d like doing to your vehicle, drive over on the agreed delivery date and then say it is needed back tomorrow/ “this Friday”.
Despite the number of delivery vans on the road of modern Britain we are often let down and parts do not arrive overnight as promised.
While we are all generally healthy occasionally staff get sick or other reasons mean a day off is required – it does not happen often but it can mean our agreed goal of a collection date may need to be postponed. We will give as much notice as possible of this.
Our working week is 0730 – 1600 Monday to Friday. Staff have a morning break at 10am and lunch at 1, both ½ hour. There is a toilet available and we’d be happy to make you a brew or coffee upon your arrival.
5. Diagonistics
If your vehicle allows diagnostic analysis there is a charge of £80. This is due to the necessary subscription to the software provider, retrieval of fault codes and provision of interpretation reporting.
6. Payment
We can take card payment on site, or over the phone. Every card bar AMEX & DINERS is welcome.
You can pay electronically before collection – banking detail is shared on the invoice.
Small businesses have bills to pay each month irrespective of whether they’ve been paid or not. Settling your invoice within 7 days of its date is appreciated.
Late payment can negatively affect the timetabling of work on related vehicles.
7. Warranty on parts supplies
We endeavor to use the best quality parts for all jobs and our suppliers are well known in the classic Volkswagen community. Their returns policies naturally dictate our own as returns initiate costs we do not wish to pass on.
Consequently, we do our utmost to avoid that and liaise with the supplier if necessary meaning the only cost to you may be in time while we await the delivery of the correct part.
The workshop has no control in how the vehicle and parts within it are used after leaving site – in the case of a breakdown due to a parts failure associated costs such as recovery will not be covered by the business.
8. Warranty on Repairs
Our work is under warranty for 3 months. This requires the vehicle returning to site for any remedial work – delivery of it must be notified and agreed with the Workshop beforehand. It is important to recognise the age of these vehicles means any subsequent failure/ breakdown may not be related to work undertaken previously.
9. Condemnation
The Workshop reserve the right to refuse to work on a vehicle if we consider it to be unsafe/ unroadworthy. If we classify it as such the responsibility for safe collection and removal from site and all costs associated rests with the Owner. Storage costs will apply.
10. Insured not SORN’d
By agreeing to allow the workshop to work on your vehicle you expressly allow staff of the workshop to drive your vehicle on the road and elsewhere for the purposes of testing and repair.
10.a. It is not the workshop’s responsibility to ensure your vehicle has fuel in it upon collection – if it arrives near empty or empty it will still be when you collect it.
11. Storage
Where possible your vehicle will always be kept inside, dry and secure. It is important that it remains on your own valid and current insurance while on our premises.
The workshop will take every care with contents left in the vehicle, though overall responsibility for the contents remains with the Owner. If the work involves the interior, it is highly recommended to remove personal items – including camping/ cooking equipment/ bedding and the like.
If, once work is completed, it remains on site for more than 2 weeks charging will commence at a rate of £5 per day or £40 per week.
Delivery or collection is not permitted on Sundays and only by arrangement outside of office hours Monday – Saturday. Keys will be left in a secure wall mounted lockbox. Instructions will be shared by email or WhatsApp once agreed.
12. Photography
The workshop reserves the right to use pictures of your vehicle on its website, social media and/ or marketing media. Registration plates will be blanked out. If you would rather your vehicle is not used, please let us know.
Initial inspection – Upon the vehicle’s arrival staff will go around, over and under it with a fine-tooth comb to create a report detailing its current state.
Before it has arrived, we can only offer likelihoods and suggestions having seen your photos/ video and/ or heard your description.
Delivery of vehicle remains the owner’s responsibility, even if you have contracted our recommended vehicle transit specialist. Your contract with him is separate and outside of that with us.
Report & Suggested works – Usually offering a choice of work depending on our understanding of your timeframes/ budget. There may be as many as 3 separate routes available, there may be only one, this is entirely dependent on the state of the vehicle at the time and what you want doing.
It is in your interest to be upfront about your available funds and timeframe – that will help clarify which route/s are best.
Arriving with greater than stated damage to vehicle:
It is not uncommon, in the course of our work, to find unforeseen issues that were covered up by past paint and bodywork, often unknown to you the Owner (depending on how long you’ve owned the vehicle).
We will report it, with pictures, and if your vehicle arrives with damage that increases the scope of the work required, the cost for the work we quoted you will increase. Sometimes, this increase can be dramatic, and occasionally, we may even refuse to work on a vehicle. Oftentimes, unfortunately there is nothing that either of us could have done to prevent this as the damage found was covered up to hide it by a previous owner or shop.
Clarity of Work Agreed
These vehicles are old. They have been subject, usually, to many owners as well as many miles. Their condition usually reflects that – while they may be shiny on the top-side from our point-of-view they are often dirty, rusty, worn-out, broken and not road-worthy.
All reputable vehicle workshops or garages have a duty to report such news to you the owner, and we will support it with photos, video or during one of your visits.
It is easy to keep adding work to the agreed list, by both parties (Owner & Workshop) – whether that is done by any of the following methods;
we will record it and refer to it in a later email, usually with a quote of likely cost before that work is undertaken.
The purpose of this is to help recognise the costs associated with that work and prove, if necessary, that it was agreed.
Once work begins:
You’ll be kept up-to-date, with pictures by either email or WhatsApp, on a semi-regular basis. We cannot send pictures/ updates every day as we’re busy with many projects at once and we’re not in the social media industry 😉 Any pictures taken will be kept for use later if appropriate/ required in a photo-book (for the bigger projects).
Common occurrences:
As we begin the required disassembly we will uncover greater quantities of holes/ rust/ poor work/ wrong parts…
You are welcome to visit, by appointment, to see the work in progress. Please note that arriving without appointment means you may be kept waiting as the team are busy and Greg is often off-site at the MOT station or collecting people, meeting suppliers etc.
Painting
What follows is a guide born of experience and is dependent on the type of vehicle involved & length of time since it was last painted.
To match new paint to old paint is a dark art. We are unlikely to know the type of paint used previously, whether original factory applied or later. Was it done in a professional bodyshop or on a driveway?
Either way it will have been subject to years of weathering and usually little if any care, e.g. regular polishing or protection.
A white chalky, faded appearance is common sometimes with a rough feel. The shades and tones will vary around the vehicle – where they are kept can have a significant effect on the paint, for example if one end (nose or tail) and one long side are in full sun every day while the other sides are under a damp tree/ hedge.
T2 Split/ Bay-window
Slab sided, square panels and doors with curved edges fore and aft, often two-tone top and bottom.
We strongly suggest avoiding painting single panels – much better to do one or more of the 4 sides at a time.
T25
These have so many horizontal swage lines blending and matching paint with neighbouring panels as the shadows and light caused by the lines help create a continuous look.
Our suppliers use state-of-the-art technology to match, from a part of the vehicle such as fuel cap or engine lid. We tend to use 2K Solid paint – an acrylic or polyurethan paint mixed with hardener it does not require a lacquer over the top. Benefits of it are:
> Highly durable & resistant to air/ pollutants/ alkali & acids helps protect metal
> cures quickly providing a bright and easy to maintain surface
> is thick yet flexible and resists shrinking
> looks great when waxed or polished
We do not paint in an anerobic booth though the air is filtered particles can pollute the process. All care is taken to ensure there are no silicon or oil pollutants used in the neighbouring workshop.
It is important to recognise that despite our best-efforts paint may not always match exactly neighbouring panels.
