|
All too often at the NABD office we receive letters or e-mails from people who have stumped up a lot of money to have a trike built and ended up with a pile of junk or the ‘so called engineer’ has shut up shop and disappeared.
The fact is that there are a lot of unscrupulous rip-off artists purporting to be trike builders. So how do you avoid falling foul of these low-life scumbag conmen?
The first thing to remember is that nowadays it is not practical to expect to have a trike built professionally for a couple of grand. If an engineer tells you they can build you a trike for two or three thousand quid you can almost guarantee that you will end up with either a pile of junk or nothing at all for your hard earned money.
It is also a good idea to avoid anybody who tells you they can complete the job in three weeks. Reputable builders are usually quite busy, which means you may have to wait awhile before they can get started on your project.
It is always worth visiting the workshop before paying any money. A workplace can tell you a lot about an engineer. If the workplace is a garden shed or domestic garage you should be very dubious of getting involved. Also if is used for any other business than engineering you should ask yourself “if this guy is such a good engineer why is he also selling carpets?”
Most trike builders will require a deposit (50% of the total cost is not uncommon), but the alarm bells should start ringing loudly if they then begin asking for further ‘up-front’ payments before the job is completed.
It is a must that you ask them to put you in touch with people who they have built trikes for previously. I would suggest that you speak to more than one of their previous clients to find out what they think of the finished product.
Get a written contract which specifies that they will be supplying you with a trike that is fully registered, has a MOT test certificate, and where applicable an SVA test certificate (this should always be the responsibility of the builder). It should also specify the total cost and amount of deposit they require and as much detail of the machine as possible. You should also get an official receipt for any money you hand over.
Ask around to see what reputation they have. If you contact the NABD we may know of them and be able to tell you if they are reputable. Find out how long they have been in business and how long they have been at their current business address. Are they VAT registered? Do they employ staff? All of these things can give you an idea of how well established the business is.
You are going to spend quite a lot of money to get a decent trike built so you should take some time to check out who you are dealing with. If you try to get a trike built on the cheap by some guy down the road, then you have to accept the risk that you may get ripped off. The NABD will help where possible but at the end of the day it’s your money that is at risk so it’s down to you to put in the research to ensure that you don’t become a victim of the scumbag rip-off artists.
|
