car bill

millit

Hi all hope this is correct board , my car conked out the other week was blowing smoke out bad, took it to a local mechanic who works from home he had the car a day and half returned with it running he had fitted a new coil pack and treated the oil with a oil treament charged £200 , 13 days later the same problem arose rang him but he gone on his hols , took the car to a local gargage they took 1 min to say the engine has gone and had gone two weeks ago :mad:, its costing us £600 for a new re con engine , would we be in our rights to ask the first mechanic for our money back and if he refuses should we take him to the small claims court .
Thanks in Advance

Optimist

Well you can certainly ask him for your money back pointing out what the garage said.. I assume the garage put it in writing that it was the same fault two weeks previously for evidence in court

AndysDad

I guess it would have been better to have taken it to your local garage in the 1st place unless the 1st mechanic was a friend/personal recommendation etc in which case you may be able to get at least some money back.In my experience all garages/mechanics will always charge for parts whether they fix the problem or not,they just have to go on their experience and hunches.I bet he won't have any of your money left when he comes back from holiday!

millit

Well the part was £76.00 but the bill was £200 i dont expect all the money back but at least half sounds fair to me .

daveboy

This is what happens when you drive a banger on the roads.

I wonder what else is wrong with it if the engine gave up.

For what you're going to spend (about £800), you could get something decent without all the problems.

It also helps to have some basic knowledge about cars too.

millit

Well from what im told its a common prob with Ztecs older ones i doubt youre right about getting something else for £800 that wont get you much these days and whos to say how long it would last ? at least with a re con engine i have a garrunte if you saw my car you would know why im having a new engine its an eye catcher 15 inch alloys etc and a lot of money has been spent on it even the Garage who is fixing it and sells cars said a new engine is the best thing .
Ohh and by the way my hubby as a basic knowledge about cars but thats why at times we need a mechanic coz its a basic knowledge we have, when it comes to a big job a mechanic is needed as in this case, the car is 1998 R reg show me an R reg auto with 15 inch alloys mot for 11 mths for £800 then fair enough .

l21ynz

why are you so bothered about 15 inch alloys? This seems to be the only reason you dont want to buy another car? Sorry if im wrong but thats the way it sounds to me

Crabman

I've moved this over to the Motoring Board

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

greenman7

Strangely enough I was thinking of posting on the board about more or less the same thing. My son's 1998 Fiesta 1.25 Zetec was having engine problems and he took it to the local mechanic and he put an engine cylinder head pressure tester on it. He diagnosed that there was no pressure in one cylinder and that a piston ring had probably gone. He seemed to think it was viable to repair the engine (the car has been converted to LPG so it is very cheap to run). I was wondering whther this was the best course of action?

millit

l21ynz wrote: »

why are you so bothered about 15 inch alloys? This seems to be the only reason you dont want to buy another car? Sorry if im wrong but thats the way it sounds to me

I was more bothered about you calling my car a banger its not, get real not everyone can afford a new or newish car there is a credit crunch in case you hadnt noticed .

jeannieblue

AndysDad wrote: »

I guess it would have been better to have taken it to your local garage in the 1st place unless the 1st mechanic was a friend/personal recommendation etc in which case you may be able to get at least some money back.In my experience all garages/mechanics will always charge for parts whether they fix the problem or not,they just have to go on their experience and hunches.I bet he won't have any of your money left when he comes back from holiday!

Cynic.............