I know it's my own fault and I deserve a good kicking for doing it.
I had my cambelt changed by a 'back street' - though recommended - outfit
that resulted in me needing a new engine just 600 miles later.
It looks like my claim in the small claims court will be successful
but as the garage has few assets it will be a moral victory only.
At the risk of stating the obvious, here is my new years resolution list
in no particular order.
1 Never deal with a garage who isn't VAT registered
2 Never deal with a garage who isn't a registered company
3 Always pay by credit card
4 Always find out the full name of the proprietor before any work is done
5 Others I have yet to think about.
The cost of my new engine was about £3000 and had it been much more
then it would have been a toss up between fixing it and towing it to the
breakers.
Another thing, modern cars are complex and expensive to fix so before you
let a friend/relative/neighbour loose on it just consider what would happen
if the engine goes pop because of what they?ve done.
Happy motoring
Chris
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Never deal with a garage who isn't VAT registered
I wouldn't always expect the smaller outfits to be VAT registered but it isn't always a sign of quality. The guy I take my car to is a back street person but he is very careful and is properly insured against mistakes. Had your backstreet place had insurance then the insurance company would pay out for their mistake.
Do you know whether they used a belt which had some sort of guarantee? Fiat/lancia ones have a year's guarantee so if they snap (I am assuming yours broke) then they will inspect the engine and pay for the repairs if they can't prove that a mistake in fitting was the cause. Belts can snap because of a manufacturing fault so there is no guarantee that it was actually the garage's mistake. What is the make & model of the car?
You take this risk with bigger garages too. IMHO some of the larger garages are far more careless than than the smaller outfits as they have the manufacturers reputation to trade off where as independents have to go on recommendations alone.
I'd agree about modern cars being very complex and often expensive to fix. I suspect it is a deliberate ploy to make more money now that the original purchase prices have fallen.
teabelly
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Chris,
Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Me 'ol gran always said you buy cheap you buy twice! With anything motoring related she could have added "or worse".
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When you buy on price, you can never be sure. It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much you lose a little money - that is all. But when you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.
The Common Law of Business Balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can’t be done!
If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
John Ruskin
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Must disagree with a blanket ban on small garage repair and service stations. I use a local guy no more than 600 metres from our house, he will come and collect the car off the drive if you push the keys through his letter box first thing in the morning. He charged £140 today for fitting two front "wishbones" to the Mondewoe and sorting out the near side caliper and fitting a new handbrake cable to that side as part of its annual MOT fail. (I always have the MOT done elsewhere and take the cars to him for repair). Totally recommended, infact he also sold me the Panda we have thats been the cheapest motoring we have ever had.
For anyone in the Huddersfield area its Marsh Garage and ask for Steve.
Bill
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Bill.........what's a metre?
I'm easily confused........
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Bill.........what's a metre? I'm easily confused........
Paul. It's French nonesense.
Metrication will never catch on you know. If the kids are playing up how can you say, "You'll thrash them to within 25.4 millimetres of their lives". Now behave you lot and go and play in the back metre! It'll NEVER catch on.
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What vehicle was that, cabsmanuk?
Why did it need a complete engine?
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"Belts can snap because of a manufacturing fault so there is no guarantee that it was actually the garage's mistake"
In my experience Cam Belts only snap because of being:
1 damaged prior to, or during fitting (crimped)
2 fitted at incorrect tension
3 failure caused by another component eg: a pulley seizing or by contamination by oil, water etc.
In other words the failure is a sympton - not a cause.
Also it should be noted that timing Belts are manufactued in such a way that the belts are 'sliced off' a roll of up to 40 belts. So the likleyhood is that if one belt snaps then 39 others will do the same.
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