Court Upholds Ruling Against Car Agency in Maintenance Dispute

TDT | Manama

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The High Appeals Court has upheld a ruling rejecting a car agency's request to charge a client 4,700 Bahraini dinars for vehicle maintenance, instead ordering the agency to cover only the cost of spare parts after it was found to have made errors in the servicing.

According to lawyer Hameed Al Samak, his client purchased a vehicle from an exclusive car dealership and regularly visited the agency for routine maintenance, as it was the authorised service provider for that type of car in Bahrain.

After less than three years of operation, the vehicle experienced a minor malfunction, prompting the client to return to the agency's service centre for repairs. This issue recurred multiple times until the engine ultimately failed.

The client took the car back to the service center, where extensive repairs were conducted, including a complete engine replacement. However, the agency demanded a payment of 10,000 dinars for the repairs. The client refused to pay, arguing that this amount was equivalent to the price of a new car and that the engine failure was due to prior maintenance mistakes made by the agency.

In response, the agency reduced the repair cost to 4,798 dinars, which the car owner still refused to pay. Consequently, the agency filed a lawsuit in civil court, seeking to collect the repair costs and requesting a precautionary seizure of the vehicle, claiming it was in their possession during the maintenance process.

In turn, Al Samak filed a counterclaim against the agency, demanding full compensation for the repairs and appointing a vehicle engineering expert to prepare a technical report assessing the agency’s responsibility for the vehicle's malfunctions and any decrease in its market value.

The final technical report concluded that the agency was indeed responsible for the vehicle's issues due to incorrect diagnostics and poor maintenance during the previous repairs. As a result, the civil court rejected the agency's claim for repair costs and the request to seize the vehicle, instead ordering the client to pay only for the consumed spare parts, which amounted to 1,100 dinars.