9:00am–5:00pm, Mon to Fri
No jargon, no upsell
Plain answers to the things people ring up and ask.
J & L is a VicRoads Licensed Vehicle Tester, which means roadworthy inspections and the certificates themselves are issued in-house at Ravenhall rather than referred elsewhere. If the inspection finds work, it is repaired in the same workshop on the same visit.
J & L works on far more than passenger cars: 4WDs, farm vehicles including tractors and ride-on mowers, trucks up to 4.5 tonne, school buses, box and car trailers, horse floats, caravans and motorhomes. The workshop has the hoist space and the room to take a whole rig, which is why customers tow in from well outside the local area. Most suburban workshops turn these vehicles away and most heavy-vehicle workshops charge heavy-vehicle rates for them.
A Victorian Certificate of Roadworthiness checks the items that affect safe road use: tyres and wheels, brakes, steering and suspension, seats and seatbelts, lights and reflectors, windscreen and windows, and the vehicle's structure and body. It is not a mechanical condition report and it is not a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection — a car can pass a roadworthy and still need work. A certificate is required when selling a registered vehicle, re-registering an unregistered one, or transferring a vehicle into Victoria from interstate.
Under Australian Consumer Law a manufacturer cannot void a new vehicle's warranty simply because it was serviced somewhere other than a dealership. As long as the servicing follows the manufacturer's schedule, is carried out by a qualified mechanic, uses parts of the correct specification, and the log book is stamped, the warranty stands. The ACCC has acted against manufacturers that implied otherwise. J & L stamps log books to the manufacturer's schedule.
Registered trailers, horse floats and caravans need a roadworthy certificate to be sold or re-registered, and their wheel bearings, brakes, couplings and lights wear whether or not the odometer moves — because there isn't one. A float that sits eleven months of the year and then carries a horse two hours up the highway is the classic bearing failure. J & L services and tests them alongside the cars.
J & L quotes per vehicle rather than advertising a flat price, because the two biggest costs in a service — oil and filters — differ enormously between vehicles. A modern European diesel may need seven litres of a specific low-ash synthetic; an older four-cylinder takes four litres of conventional oil. A single advertised price either overcharges the second car or won't cover the first.
A major service is recommended every 20,000 km or 24 months, whichever comes first. It covers everything in a minor service and adds the air filter, all spark plugs, the coolant, and on some models the fuel and cabin filters.
A minor service is recommended every 5,000 km or 6 months, whichever comes first. The price varies with the make, model, the parts required and the type of oil the engine takes — a modern low-viscosity synthetic costs considerably more than a conventional oil, which is why a flat advertised price is rarely the price you pay.
The workshop runs up-to-date scan tools and the equipment needed for commercial, 4X4, diesel and imported vehicles — the categories a smaller workshop commonly declines.
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Jason adds one here whenever someone asks the same thing twice. In the meantime, the notes below cover most of it.
Still not sure?
Ring and ask. You will get a straight answer, whether or not it means work for us.