It has become common that unexpected extras added to your vehicle repair or service bills that you’d wonder if your mechanic is ripping you off.

Mechanics, officially called automotive service technicians, are often the “defendant” of complaints from customers who believe they’ve been overcharged or received subpar service.

A few pointers can help when dealing with a mechanic.

Don’t be scared of your mechanic

When he seriously throw you a line like, “It’s dangerous to drive away with your car in this condition.” You ask your mechanic why.

Make sure that the repair is completely necessary. They could be pressuring you to agree to an expensive service on the spot.

Shop around

If in doubt on a diagnosis for a repair, do the same thing – shop around for a second opinion and for the prices of the repairs. A third or fourth opinion wouldn’t hurt, either.

You could save hundreds, even thousands of dollars off your final bill with a bit of phone calls and enquiries to other mechanics.

Search online for forums and recommendations. You’ll definitely come across a similar situation to yours that could be valuable information.

Help to identify the problem

Identify when the problem started for a specific matter. Say, you hear a grinding noise when you turn. Does it happen when turning left or right? Or at certain speeds, or when going uphill, downhill?

This can ensure the problem gets solved as mechanics have a limited time to test your car before repairs.

Don’t skimp on cheap parts

You may be given cheaper options, but these will doesn’t match the capability of the original items. Cheap parts can easily cause an accident.

Schedule your service items

Your owner’s manual provides a list of routine service items against each service interval. Read the list beforehand and check for any surprise extras on the invoice as soon as you get it. Your mechanic should be able to explain and answer any question on the invoice.

There’s fine print on capped servicing

Many brands are starting to offer fixed-price or capped servicing. Read the fine print as these plans vary coverage and duration. Some will cover a fixed number of services, while others will cover the duration of your new-car warranty. There’s also capped-price servicers ‘upselling’ extras like higher grades of oil, adding to the final bill.

Some workshops are qualified to service your car without affecting your warranty. Ask for written proof they’re qualified to do a warranty-safe service.

No credit loans in Australia

Short on cash this month or in need of a financial boost — but you have a bad credit history or no credit history at all?

You can find yourself without a substantial credit history for all sorts of reasons.

At Cigno, you can apply online for loans — no credit via their quick application.

Cigno is a responsible lender and may ask you for other personal identification to ensure that you qualify. This may include:

Passport Number
Drivers Licence
Proof of Age card
Birth certificate, etc.

Note: Bank accounts must be in your name and cannot be for online savings accounts or online only accounts.

Employers have to give employees a summary of their income for the past year at the end of each financial year (EOFY). This is ‘payment summary’, also known as ‘group certificate’ or ‘pay as you go (PAYG) payment summary’.

Payment summaries are required by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for record-keeping.

Currently, payment summaries are required to be issued to employees by 14 July — covering earnings in the previous year to 30 June.

The employer should lodge the information with the Tax Office, which allows the release of electronic information to myTax for taxpayers who lodge their own tax return online.

Those without a tax agent have to lodge their tax returns on or before the 31 October. Otherwise, most registered tax agents have a special lodgment program and can lodge returns for their clients after the usual October 31 deadline.

Part-year payment summaries

Employee leaving before the end of the financial year (30 June) may request a part-year payment summary be issued before the deadline (14 July).

The request must be in writing and made before 9 June, 21 days before the EOFY.

Employer has to provide the payment summary within 14 days, unless the employee has received a reportable fringe benefit — calculated at the end of the fringe benefits tax (FBT) year (31 March).

New rules on payment summaries

The way you get your payment summary is changing. Depending on how your employer reports your income, tax, and super information to ATO, you will be provided with either:

Income statement — if employers report their employees’ income, tax, and super information through Single Touch Payroll (STP), they are no longer required to give payment summaries to employees. This information will be made available through ATO online services via myGov and finalised by 31 July.
Payment summary — employers will continue to provide payment summaries by 14 July if they haven’t adopted the STP reporting system yet.

Chase up your employer if you haven’t received your payment summary by the due date, as advised by the Tax Office.

New Rules On Your Payment Summary (Group Certificate)

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Single Touch Payroll

Single Touch Payroll works by sending tax and super information from the accounting or payroll software to the ATO. STP reporting is currently available through accounting, payroll, and business management software. STP-enabled products are now offered by most software providers.

Most employers are now required to report your income, tax, and super information directly to ATO each payday via STP — which will phase out payment summaries.

STP applies to employers who have:

at least 20 employees (required to adopt from 1 July 2018)
19 or less employees (required to adopt from 1 July 2019).

All employers will eventually adopt the STP reporting system, so all your relevant information can be found in one place. Tax agents will also have online access to this information.

No credit loans in Australia

Short on cash this month or in need of a financial boost — but you have a bad credit history or no credit history at all?

You can find yourself without a substantial credit history for all sorts of reasons.

At Cigno, you can apply online for loans — no credit or bad credit loans via their quick application.

Cigno is a responsible lender and may ask you for other personal identification to ensure that you qualify. This may include:

Passport Number
Drivers Licence
Proof of Age card
Birth certificate, etc.

Note: Bank Accounts must be in your name and cannot be for online savings accounts or online only accounts.