Airport Parking - Car Broken

sexki11en

It was a VW Polo. Old Preg - don't know much more than that i'm afraid, I don't drive!

Update tho - we contacted our car insurance and they are taking it up with the company concerned on our behalf. If they accept liability, we won't have to loose our no claims - if they don't accept liability then we do loose the no claims or we can walk away without a payout from the insurance. Fingers crossed they accept liability with the insurance company behind us!

SK x

maninthestreet

Even if you get the Car Park to admit liability, they may only agree to cough what the car was worth - and a P reg VW Polo isn't worth much, I'm afraid.

pinkshoes

There are three things I find really strange about this whole thing:

1) If the clutch went and the car got stuck in 3rd gear, so they had to push it into its parking space, any normal company would have immediately written a report detailing what happened, which would be awaiting the person on their return. It was a P reg car, so quite a feasible thing to happen.

2) The fact that they lied. Why say "it was like that when we got it", then change their story when you pointed out someone had driven it away when it was handed over.

3) Resetting the milage. Why would anyone do this? What's the milage got to do with the clutch going? Just seems a really odd thing to do, unless they'd driven it lots and needed to reset it to cover this up...

sexki11en

maninthestreet wrote: »

Even if you get the Car Park to admit liability, they may only agree to cough what the car was worth - and a P reg VW Polo isn't worth much, I'm afraid.

That's perfectly fine by us. We just resent being treated the way we have and having to fork out of our own pocket for all of this. They broke it, they should 1) have the decency to apologise and 2) accept responsibility instead of fobbing us off.

SK x

sexki11en

pinkshoes wrote: »

There are three things I find really strange about this whole thing:

1) If the clutch went and the car got stuck in 3rd gear, so they had to push it into its parking space, any normal company would have immediately written a report detailing what happened, which would be awaiting the person on their return. It was a P reg car, so quite a feasible thing to happen.

2) The fact that they lied. Why say "it was like that when we got it", then change their story when you pointed out someone had driven it away when it was handed over.

3) Resetting the milage. Why would anyone do this? What's the milage got to do with the clutch going? Just seems a really odd thing to do, unless they'd driven it lots and needed to reset it to cover this up...

Ok, OH has corrected me a bit here on technical terms as he's an engineer!

"There is a tab on the outide of the gear box that holds the linkage rod from the gear stick to the selector itself. This tab is cast as part of the gear box casing and if made from aluminium, would be impossible to re-weld without affecting the strength of the part as a whole."

It's definately possible that the part could have fatigued over time, knowing the age of the car, but the smell of the clutch, the trip reading, and the lies really point to something dodgy.

Since moving the car ourselves (from the back of the tow truck into the drive) it's blatantly obvious that the clutch has been "ridden" as the smell of burnt clutch comes around much more quickly. An unburnt clutch, when ridden takes a while to smell. A burnt clutch, when ridden, smells immediately.

SK x

dangeroussports

Its a bit odd isnt it.
Hmmm....take the car to a main dealer and have them examine the fault fully. It'll mean spending alot of money for a detailed examination to check whether it was thrashed etc or driven whilst in park mode etc... Now it will cost alot of money, perhaps £150 per hour and it'll usually take 3 days but you could always bill the parking companie if it transpires that it was their fault. But if it wasnt then your stuffed, but the experiment will at least put your mind at rest either way. Good luck Watson.

Brooker_Dave

sexki11en wrote: »

"There is a tab on the outide of the gear box that holds the linkage rod from the gear stick to the selector itself. This tab is cast as part of the gear box casing and if made from aluminium, would be impossible to re-weld without affecting the strength of the part as a whole."

Old car happens to fall to bits in the hands of the car park people, hardly their fault.

And how is this an insurance claim??

Brooker_Dave

sexki11en wrote: »

and £70 on taxis taking the cat to the vet

Asking for that must have made them laugh....

uktim29

sexki11en wrote: »

and £70 on taxis taking the cat to the vet

What??????

You live in a city where there will be vets very few miles but it cost you £70 by taxi?

sexki11en

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Asking for that must have made them laugh....

Can you tell me where in my posts i've said I've asked for it????

SK x