Unlike criminal matters, where the power of the state is brought down like a sledgehammer on offending miscreants. In civil matters the Court is looking to achieve an outcome that is proportional, as well as reflecting what has actually happened. So claims that seek the Earth, the Moon and all the stars in between aren’t too likely to succeed.
A classic example of this is Ruxley Electronics v Forsyth [1996] AC 344. Here the Claimant had engaged the Defendant to build him a swimming pool. The Defendant did so, but made it two feet too shallow. The Claimant wanted the Defendant to pay for a brand new swimming pool, about £21,000.00. The Court asked the Claimant, ‘how much would it cost to just make your existing pool two feet deeper?’ About two grand was the response. Okay, said the Court. Here’s two grand payable by the Defendant.
The principle is simple: you’re only getting what you need to set you straight. Translate that into buying a vehicle and what you should see is a customer saying they need paying X for a refund, or Y for the cost of repairs. What you often see, though, is the customer saying they need X or Y but also Z for all the time they’ve lost and the inconvenience they’ve had to put up with. Or else they say they want all three.
It’s worth taking a step back at this point and considering the implications behind what you’re being told. If a customer is asking for the cost of repairs on top of a refund, that means they’ve had work done by a third party. In which case you can argue that any issues with the third party’s work are between them and the third party. Which may also mean there’s been an intervening act disrupting any chain of causation which the customer could otherwise link to liability on your part. As to time lost and inconvenience, it’s worth asking for a breakdown of any figure quoted if the customer doesn’t provide you with one up front.
This is not to say that some additional costs, beyond refunds or repairs, aren’t reasonable to claim. If the customer has been without a car for a while, and needs to hire a replacement so they can do things like go to work, pick the kids up from school or go shopping, the Court may well consider that reasonable. The same goes for public transport or taxi costs. To that end, if you’re doing work on a vehicle and it’ll take a while, consider offering the use of a courtesy vehicle for the duration of the work. That way it’s harder for the customer to argue they’ve incurred loss, or inconvenience.
As always, remember that emotion is likely to enter the mix when people are working out what they want in damages. For all that courts are likely to disregard any head of claim that’s come from blue-sky thinking on a customer’s part, it still needs to be dealt with. However frustrating it might be. Which is why it’s always nice to have Lawgistics just a call away on the helpline if you need support with a tricky claim or negotiation.
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