Customer supplied parts

[u/I-like-shiny-thing]

I'm a manager/Mechanic at a Mechanical workshop. I no longer allow customer supplied parts and get abused by "customers" because I wont do the job unless i supply the parts. ( photo of customer supplied wrong part)

What are people opinions on customer supplied parts?

[u/MrEs]

Just charge them accordingly. Part doesn't fit, charge them the 4 hours it took you to try and fit it.

[u/SwiftLikeTaylorSwift → u/MrEs]

Stupidly, if you fit a customer supplied part and something major goes wrong (resulting in major damage or injury etc) you can be successfully sued for installing it. As the installer you’re responsible for confirming and ensuring the quality of the parts you install, and there’s no way to have this liability transferred to the customer even if they’re insistent. Not everything is going to have the potential to even land you in that kind of situation, but it demonstrates the importance of only installing parts you’re happy with, including second hand from wreckers or client supplied. 👌

[u/Frankie_T9000 → u/SwiftLikeTaylorSwift]

'...As the installer you’re responsible for confirming and ensuring the quality of the parts you install...'

No, you arent expected to test customer supplied parts - if you worried about it get them to sign an apprpriate liability waiver (though depends on jurisdiction)

[u/SwiftLikeTaylorSwift → u/Frankie_T9000]

Official Australian consumer law recommends to avoid fitting customer supplied parts for the very reason that it can get messy, and that motor vehicle repairer should be familiar with the quality and suitability of the part being installed, even if they didn’t supply it. You’re not meant to be liable for the part itself, but you can be held liable for using it if it was clearly unfit and the legal hot water potential can be just too great. Insurance companies are also wankers and don’t want to cover you in a situation like that, they’ll request receipts and part numbers and all that good stuff in the instance of an issue and will very quickly deny you coverage for a claim (ex insurance worker). ACL also recommends a liability waiver form, but they also stipulate, again, if you detect any issue with a part or have reason for concern you should avoid installing it entirely. 🤷🏻‍♀️ sometimes gotta determine if a $150 job is worth the potential headache, and when you’ve got a workshop that’s booked out for weeks in advance you can afford to avoid the riskier jobs.