Your rights when a shop repairs your car in Ontario

1. A written estimate

The shop must offer you a written estimate unless you choose to authorize a maximum amount you are willing to pay. A shop may charge for an estimate, but only if it tells you the price before doing it, and that fee covers the time to examine the car, put it back together, and any parts damaged along the way. If you give the shop permission to do the repair before the car is reassembled, the estimate fee cannot be charged.

2. The ten percent rule

In the province's words: "The final cost charged cannot be more than 10% above the estimate or, if you declined an estimate, more than the maximum agreed amount."

3. Your permission

Never sign a blank work order. It lets a shop do any repair it decides is necessary and bill you for it. If you give permission by phone or in person rather than in writing, the shop must make a written record of it.

4. The warranty

Parts and labour carry a warranty of at least 90 days or 5,000 km, whichever comes first.

5. Your old parts

Replaced parts must be returned to you if you want them, with limited exceptions such as parts that have to go back to the manufacturer.

6. What the invoice must show

• Your name, and the shop's name, address and contact information.
• The make, model, VIN and licence plate of the car.
• The odometer reading when you dropped the car off and when you got it back.
• Each part installed, whether it is new, used or reconditioned, and whether it is an original-manufacturer part.
• The price of each part, the total labour, and how the labour was calculated.

7. The sign on the wall

Every repair shop must post a sign that says it must offer a written estimate unless you set a maximum, that replaced parts will be returned if you want them, how labour is charged (hourly, flat rate or both), whether estimates are charged for, and whether the mechanics are paid commission.

How Kam Auto does it

A written estimate before any work. A final bill within ten percent of it. The old part shown to you before you pay. An invoice that lists every part. If something new turns up once the car is apart, Kamal calls you with a price before touching it.

Quoted and summarized from the Government of Ontario page Car repair shops: your rights, read in September 2026. If you have a complaint about any repair shop, that page tells you how to file it.