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Bureau of Automotive Repair Enforcement Fact Sheet
The California Legislature enacted the Automotive Repair Act in 1971 in response to consumer and industry concerns about unacceptable levels of fraud or incompetence in the auto repair market. The Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) was created to spearhead regulation of the auto repair industry, and today BAR is considered to be the foremost auto repair regulatory agency in the nation, if not the world.
BAR's enforcement team investigates general auto repair complaints and ensures that shops comply with Smog Check statutes. Last year BAR handled approximately 14,800 complaints relating to auto repair and/or Smog Check inspections. BAR staff checks out every complaint and negotiates with the shop on the consumer's behalf to achieve a mutually agreeable resolution. The bulk of complaints are resolved by complaint resolution. In the past year, BAR returned approximately $6.3 million to California consumers in the form of direct refunds, rework, or adjustments.
In some cases, however, consumer complaints reveal evidence of serious problems: false and misleading statements, fraud, gross negligence, or other serious violations of the Automotive Repair Act. Complaints with these serious allegations are investigated by BAR's enforcement field staff before settlements are negotiated. BAR acts aggressively to combat fraud. In 2007-2008, 522 BAR licensees received formal discipline, mostly for acts of fraud.
EDUCATION: Many of BAR's enforcement activities are geared toward case prevention and corrective education. BAR field agents spend a good deal of time educating repair dealers to foster voluntary compliance with auto repair laws. Station inspections, verbal warnings, office conferences, educational presentations and "Write It Right" invoice training are typical proactive education measures.
INVESTIGATION: BAR launches a formal investigation into a shop's practices when consumer complaints or other sources demonstrate allegations of fraud or a pattern of other violations of the Automotive Repair Act. Formal investigations can include vehicle reinspections, undercover operations, surveillance, record reviews, or an analysis of vehicle information data.
BAR also reviews the transaction to determine whether the shop provided a written estimate before starting the repairs, and got the customer's authorization for additional parts and service before doing repairs that exceeded the estimate. BAR conducts multiple undercover runs on each subject shop to substantiate the findings and demonstrate a pattern.
FRAUD: Fraud can occur in many forms. In auto body repairs, fraud may occur when the shop lists new replacement parts on the invoice and charges the customer for new parts, but actually installs used parts or simply repairs and reinstalls the damaged part. In transmission repair, consumers are sometimes defrauded when they are talked into unnecessary repairs or charged for parts that were not actually installed. This is one area where consumers are particularly vulnerable. That's because unless the transmission is torn down and inspected after repairs, the customer may have no way of knowing whether they actually needed or even got the parts or services for which they paid.
FALSE AND MISLEADING STATEMENTS: BAR can take administrative action against an auto repair dealer for making false or misleading statements to a customer. When a technician uses scare tactics to coerce a customer to authorize unnecessary repairs - a practice called "oversell" - he or she has violated the Automotive Repair Act. A twist on this scenario involves advertising a service at an incredibly low price. After the customer leaves their car for the low-priced special service, an unscrupulous shop may attempt to convince the customer that they need costly, additional - and often unnecessary - parts and service.
LEGAL ACTION: When a BAR investigation substantiates these significant violations of the Automotive Repair Act, the findings are documented and the resulting case is submitted to the local District Attorney (DA) and/or the state Attorney General (AG) for prosecution. The DA or AG reviews the case and, if appropriate, files a legal action for civil, criminal, or administrative prosecution.
Typical disciplinary actions that result from a formal investigation include revocation of the station's registration or license, suspension of operations for a specified period of time, probation, or any combination of these actions. A disciplinary decision issued by the Director of the Department of Consumer Affairs can order restitution to victims and reimbursement of prosecution and investigation costs. If shop owners or technicians are convicted of criminal charges brought by a DA, they can be required to serve time in jail.
The administrative disciplinary process provides the auto repair dealer, Smog Check station, or licensed Smog Check Technician, due process while giving BAR an avenue for shutting down unscrupulous repair shops - and protects consumers by putting bad operators out of business.
Many enforcement investigations begin with a consumer complaint. To go to our on-line complaint form click here.
