Renault clio 172 - Spent £1200 wk later engine failed do I have a case

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Tue 17 Aug 2010 18:12
Renault clio 172 - Spent £1200 wk later engine failed do I have a case - cilo172owner

Hi,

I have a 52 Renualt Clio 172 which I took for a full service & Cam belt & auxillary belt change at a renualt specialists in Newcastle at a cost of £1200

I week later the belt failed causing £1500 worth of engine damage

spoken to quite a few main dealers and they said the following:

"why didn't they spot the broken alternator pulley when the car was apart, i do these day in day out, you'd notice that even if you were blind, i'm betting money they've damaged the pulley putting the aux belt on, i see it all the time when garages who don't have the tools/experience work on them, but i' still yet to see an alternator cause a belt failure

i bet they didn't get the aux belt seated properly and it has shreded itself"

I was followed by someone from my home, then when I stopped at the shops the garage took there courtesy car back! I though the car had been stolen.

So me & my 2yr old daughter were stranded, they have sunk to a all time low, especially when I'm being polite & profession to try and get the issue resolved.

There are even holding my daughters kids seat until I return the key.

Do you think it's worth taking legal action or cut my losses and pay another garage to fit a new engine?

The garage won't except liability even if I get a independent inspection.

Then today I have just had a invoice for £284 which was to find out the belt has shredded, and won't release the damaged car before I pay the invoice, as I plan to take somewhere else as I need my car to get to and from work.


The garage is called Centreville garage in Heaton has anyone else had a bad service from here?

What should I do?

Many thanks

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Tue 17 Aug 2010 18:40
Renault clio 172 - Spent £1200 wk later engine failed do I have a case - clewsy01

Well, I dont know much about renaults but £1200 seems an expensive price for such work. My local parts store have the timing kits for £78 inc VAT obviously a genuine renault kit would be more but not that much.

In much humble unqualified opinion if the belt was done as a regular interval change and was part of the normal service proceedure and the car prior was running fine then they should accept liability. But pound to a penny they wont.

You could try to seek some leagal advice, but i dont know if they have the right to keep your car. If they released it to you and then it failed surely there was a parts and labour warranty/guarentee provided by the garage when you paid for the work.for £1200 I would want a good warranty from them.

I am quite local to you and there are some good garages around, I do most of my work myself but things like timing belts go to a local garage i know well.

Which belt did they say had shredded? The timing belt? Aux? If its a shredded belt surely its a parts failure and they supplied the parts so are responsible.

As for a fitting new engine, it depends on what the damage ison the original. It can vary from not much if your lucky to catastophic. I am sure more professional users will be here soon to provide more info, but if you want to know the good local garage I use PM me and ill give you there details

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