A clutch master cylinder cannot be damaged by driver abuse, and failure after 10 months is not your fault. Friction material, flywheels and release bearings can easily be trashed by poor driving / abuse, and I could understand trepidation on the part of the garage if it had been one of these that had failed, but a master cylinder should be a very straightforward warranty claim. The only way you could prematurely wear out a master cylinder in 10 months by your own action would be to sit in the car 24 hours a day, 7 days a week pumping the clutch pedal, and even then you'd be going some. Most cars will go to the sc***yard on their original clutch master cylinders.
I think you've been treated quite unfairly. It's not up to you to subsidise the garage while they wait to recover the warranty costs. It's down to them. I also don't think I've ever come across a guarantee on a repair that didn't include both parts and labour. As Videodoctor says, a good garage proprietor will factor this "unpaid work" into their pricing model.
As a loyal customer, I would be very disappointed to have been charged anything for this work, and especially to have to pay for the new part until the garage recovers the cost for the old one.
Edited by DP on 07/04/2010 at 09:58
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