Automobile complaints topped the list of customer gripes last year with 172 lodged at the Consumer Affairs Bureau.

And Government is bringing in new legislation to crack down on dodgy car dealers and mechanics.

Consumer Affairs CEO Karen Marshall said: "We are working with TCD and the different agencies to tighten this up.

"Cars are coming in rusty or with problems or defects. There are millions of things we are looking at."

Changes are in the pipeline with the The Supply of Services (Implied Terms) Act 2003 which has passed the Senate but is currently with the Governor's office.

It will ensure trades people, including mechanics, carry out work with reasonable skill and care at a reasonable price and in a reasonable time or face the wrath of the courts.

Ms Marshall said: "Anyone can hang a shingle up and say I am an electrician, plumber or mechanic.

"Now they will be judged against the norm in the industry.

"Before, people could just say they were mechanics when they didn't know diddly squat and charge the same rates.

"If it takes three days to do something that normally takes one day and you are charged seven times more than the industry norm you can have a case and could get compensation.

"It's up to the courts. It piggy-backs on to the Sales of Goods Act.

"We get a lot of complaints about people taking a car in and it comes back still not fixed and it breaks down two days later.

"Sometimes it's not the mechanic's fault but when you get the number of complaints we do get you have to stop and wonder but at the moment no one is doing anything illegal."

Currently the law stipulates that no fewer than one in three mechanics at a public garage has to be registered at TCD.

Training is a big issue for dealers.

One bike dealer said he had paid for mechanics to get training only to find they dropped out, or left the company or demanded a pay raise even before completing the course.

He said he was willing to fund books and tuition by reimbursing employees once they had passed the course.

However he said efforts by the National Training Board to promote training in Florida were not tempting because there was no mechanism to stop employees jumping ship once they had been trained.

Ms Marshall also said a paper had gone to Cabinet to close some loopholes over cars returned by the consumer by amending the Motor Car Act.

Government plans to allow garages to own up to five loaner cars, five loaner trucks and two loaner taxis to lend to people while their cars are off the road being fixed.

Transport Control Department Director Kevin Monkman said this was a big plus for taxi drivers who lost their livelihood when their vehicle was off the road. Once the loaner proposal is enacted TCD will no longer allow dealers to take back returned cars into stock.

Instead they must be repaired and sold to a new owner before the disgruntled customer car can be given a new car.

This was because of the fear that some returned cars were being sold as new. Ms Marshall said: "We get a lot of complaints from people who feel the car was owned by someone else even though it was sold as new.

"It's never been proven but there's been a lot of complaints concerning that."

But the main reason for the loaner proposal was to give customers a vehicle during long layoffs, said Mr. Monkman.