It seems that many, if not all garages are giving cars that go in for service or repair a sanitisation clean before being handed back to the customer.

My dealer states that the government has decreed that this clean has to be done, but other garages I've spoken to deny this, although they are doing the clean as a matter of course anyway.

Does anyone know if it's compulsory for garages to have to sanitise cars or not ??

No idea if compulsory but my dealer did clean / sanitize both before and after (so I am told). There was no charge however.

I believe that businesses are required to do their own risk assessment with regard to Covid-19, and then to implement whatever measures they see as necessary, to keep in with very general guidance.  Each business, in its activities, premises, numbers of staff and customers, etc, will  be different, so quite what each needs to do will be different.

 

It is perfectly possible for a dealer to say "we are legally required to follow the general guidance, and we've seen a need to sanitise, so it's legally necessary".  Others may say the law says follow the general guidance, and that doesn't mention cleaning a serviced car ...

 

I'd certainly expect that where someone has touched my car where I or my passengers may then touch it, they would wipe those parts over with sanitiser.

 

I help out at a motor-home hire place, and we'll sanitise the whole thing, and then not touch it.  We'll wear gloves to lay out the hire forms, pen and sanitised keys, the customer signs the forms (and keeps the pen), and they drop their own car keys into a plastic bag which we put, unopened, in the safe. Faffy, but necessary.

 

I'd be suspicious of any car dealer who can't be arsed to wipe at least the door handles, steering wheel and controls.

 

 

1 hour ago, DaveMiller said:

I believe that businesses are required to do their own risk assessment with regard to Covid-19, and then to implement whatever measures they see as necessary, to keep in with very general guidance.  Each business, in its activities, premises, numbers of staff and customers, etc, will  be different, so quite what each needs to do will be different.

 

It is perfectly possible for a dealer to say "we are legally required to follow the general guidance, and we've seen a need to sanitise, so it's legally necessary".  Others may say the law says follow the general guidance, and that doesn't mention cleaning a serviced car ...

 

I'd certainly expect that where someone has touched my car where I or my passengers may then touch it, they would wipe those parts over with sanitiser.

 

I help out at a motor-home hire place, and we'll sanitise the whole thing, and then not touch it.  We'll wear gloves to lay out the hire forms, pen and sanitised keys, the customer signs the forms (and keeps the pen), and they drop their own car keys into a plastic bag which we put, unopened, in the safe. Faffy, but necessary.

 

I'd be suspicious of any car dealer who can't be arsed to wipe at least the door handles, steering wheel and controls.

 

 

Do the products used to sanitise cause any short or long term damage to the parts of the car they're used on ?

1 hour ago, olderman1 said:

Do the products used to sanitise cause any short or long term damage to the parts of the car they're used on ?

 

I doubt anyone knows what products they use other than the business themselves.

 

Long term damage? Perhaps people are entering the realms of fantasy if they think a garage is going to use some magical spray. At the end of the day they're only valeting the interior. If they were to use some magical anti-virus spray then who's qualified to talk about long-term damage if it hasn't been used before? 

 

I have a couple of friends who own businesses up here in Scotland and yes there are guidlines to follow, but their businesses are regularly inspected by the local council. If council found anything wrong I doubt they'd close the business straight away rather advise the businesses on the breaches. Anyone found to be in constant breach of the guidlines will have their trading licence taken away. There's no warning that an inspector is about to call, they just turn up.  It's one big learning curve for businesses and authorities alike.

Edited 30 June, 20205 yr by Guest

My Kodiaq was serviced and mot’d last week at a main dealer ,all regulations and procedures were adhered to as far as I could see . I didn’t have eyes on the car during the work of course, I just had to take it on trust that adherence was enforced to our mutual benefit.

 

I feel lucky considering..................

 

My nephew has lost access to his BMW for the last ten days as the small independent (BMW specialist) garage has gone into lockdown with his car inside ! One of the mechanics came down with C-19 and they immediately shut up shop. 😬

 

 

 

Had an oil service, last week and the dealer provided a video of the work they’d done. Showed they’d used social distancing and PPE whilst working on the car. The service reception staff also sanitised all door handles, seats, steering wheel, dash, trims and door surrounds, plus the keys in front of me, when I collected it. Noticed they’d changed the air con filter on the report sheet as ‘no charge’. 

Edited 3 July, 20205 yr by Jfhuk

2 hours ago, Jfhuk said:

Had an oil service, last week and the dealer provided a video of the work they’d done. Showed they’d used social distancing and PPE whilst working on the car. The service reception staff also sanitised all door handles, seats, steering wheel, dash, trims and door surrounds, plus the keys in front of me, when I collected it. Noticed they’d changed the air con filter on the report sheet as ‘no charge’. 

No charge, as in £ or no charge as in empty air con system? 😉

Thanks for the replies guys 😁.

On 03/07/2020 at 21:08, Manc-Fletch said:

No charge, as in £ or no charge as in empty air con system? 😉

No charge as in no payment required for the changed filter. Air con was fine charge wise.

18 minutes ago, Jfhuk said:

No charge as in no payment required for the changed filter. Air con was fine charge wise.

Can’t say fairer than that, good result. 👍

I would say, based on my experience today, that my car was not covid-19 sanatised before it was handed back. That is unless you count the cling film they put on the steering wheel and the paper seat liner they used.