Advice on Compensation from Car Garage, should I go to small claims?

Welshdan

Hi,

I have recently been in a dispute with a car garage who I paid £580 for parts to be replaced but the car has had to go back for repair three times since due to these parts failing.

On the third occassion the car went for for repair I got a report from an independent garage and needed to hire a car at a cost of £120 for the two. I am a student on work placement and needed the hire car to travel up and down the M6

I have tried to claim these two costs from the garage by sending a letter with the threat of recovering the cost through the small claims court and have just received a reply offering excuses and cheque enclosed for £25! This is nowhere near the £120 I have had to fork out because of the problems.

I am going to reply to dispute some of his excuses, and am considering raising an online claim against the garage.

But can I bank the £25 cheque? (to help pay towards the court fees) or will this harm my chances in court?

also, if I do bank the cheque and the parts replaced are faulty again, will I be able to take the car back for repair or will the fact that I have received compensation mean the matter is closed?

I know £120 seems a small amount to go to court over, but It is a lot to me, and a matter of principle.

Any help would be much appreciated, and you'll get a big thank you too!

Thanks,

Dan

Wig

You have a point, I think you have to return the cheque as unnacceptable, but don't just take my word for it.

Tell us more about what the parts were, what went wrong, & were they then fixed? why did you feel the need to get an independant report? and what did this report say?

Welshdan

Wig wrote:

You have a point, I think you have to return the cheque as unnacceptable, but don't just take my word for it.

Tell us more about what the parts were, what went wrong, & were they then fixed? why did you feel the need to get an independant report? and what did this report say?

Sorry about being a bit vague, was being over-cautious, didn't want to be accused of slandering the garage or anything.

The part was a gearbox, I paid £580 for a complete gearbox overhaul at a gearbox specialist.

The gearbox has failed three times since the initial repair eight months ago.

I got the independent report because the car was making a loud noise which I thought was the wheel bearings, so I took it into a garage to be fixed only for them to tell me it was the gearbox (about 2 months after it had last been fixed!).

I asked for them to report the problem on the invoice, so the mechanic wrote that they had road tested the vehicle but the results proved inconclusive, then the vehicle was put on a ramp and it could be heard that the gearbox is at fault.

The gearbox specialist has put in his reply letter that he is not reimbursing me because the tests proved inconclusive. However, I read it as only the road test proved inconclusive. It became apparent the gearbox was at fault once the vehicle was put on the ramp.

This was the third time the gearbox had failed, the gearbox specialist repaired it within 3 days. At the moment it's ok, but I am still £120 out of pocket.

I have sent a letter detailing my out of pocket expenses but the reply from the garage has an unproffessional tone and makes petty excuses as to why I only deserve £25.

tomstickland

So the gearbox failed 3 times? What sort of failure?

In future, the cheapest option is to fit another gearbox from a scrapped car. Assuming it's a common car.

Welshdan

tomstickland wrote:

So the gearbox failed 3 times? What sort of failure?

In future, the cheapest option is to fit another gearbox from a scrapped car. Assuming it's a common car.

2 times motion shaft oil seal and one bearing. It's a seat ibiza, I spent a day trying to get one from a scrapyards, salvage etc. But there are quite a few different gearbox codes and non of them had mine in.

I needed the car so I was forced to get it refurbished by a gearbox 'specialist'.

Wig

Ok, so the garage still repaired the "inconclusive" (which I read the same way you read it and I'm sure any judge would too) fault, so that proves there was something to be repaired.

What amount was the invoice for with the 'inconclusive' statement? I ask because it sounds like they did no work on the car and so shouldn't have charged you anything.

I think you need to return the cheque and say unless they pay what you want you will have to file a claim with the smallclaims court and that will involve further costs that you will be also seeking to recover.

But this car hire that I suspect is most of your costs, could be dodgy, because the garage could argue that you did not bring this to their attention before you hired a car, and had you brought it to their attention they could have offered you a courtesy car. In other words you did not mitigate your losses.

Also, if it can be argued that public transport would have been cheaper, again you did not mitigate your losses. So the court may award a partial payment.

In light of this you might want to say to the garage that for a quick settlement and to avoid the extra costs/inconvienience of going to court, you are prepared to accept 90 pounds.

Cheers

Welshdan

car hire was £99 and half an hours labour to find the cause of the fault and report was £17.

I did advise him in writing and tell him over the phone that I would need to hire a car, I think his response was "well that's up to you". I think I will write a final letter disputing the reasons he has given for not reimbursing me and request a lesser amount one last time, in order to look reasonable and maybe even to just have the last word.

I need to weigh up wether it is worth the risk of possibly having to pay his costs, a judge might think that the offer of £25 was reasonable and I leave with nothing and have lost another £30 in fees.

It's just annoying because it has actually cost me a lot more that the £116. I had to take one and a half days annual leave and travel from staffordshire to North Wales by train to a dental appointment costing £11 in fayres, paying a friends petrol to follow me to the gearbox specialist and bring me back (approx 90 miles) (£25), in order to return the car

I thought I was being reasonable by asking for £116! But at least the car is fixed, touch wood, fingers crossed etc etc. And it's not a phenominal amount of money.

Wish I had a crystal ball........... :rolleyes: I could answer my own question...... I'll try and get one off ebay

Oh, and wig, heres the big fat THANK YOU I promised in my first post.
THANK YOU :T :beer: :T

ohreally

Wig wrote:

What amount was the invoice for with the 'inconclusive' statement? I ask because it sounds like they did no work on the car and so shouldn't have charged you anything.

The vehicle appears to have been road tested after the guys found there was no issue with the hub bearings (the job they were contracted to do), then got the car up on a ramp for further investigation and supplied a report on that basis. The garage are entiltled to invoice for that.

Wig

Big deal they put the car on a ramp and listened to the gearbox whine. All this amounts to is a quote for work that could be done in the future. Then they scribble some words on the invoice as if that qualifies as a report!

No garage worth their salt would charge for listening to a car to tell the owner what is wrong.

blue_haddock

Wig wrote:

Big deal they put the car on a ramp and listened to the gearbox whine. All this amounts to is a quote for work that could be done in the future. Then they scribble some words on the invoice as if that qualifies as a report!

No garage worth their salt would charge for listening to a car to tell the owner what is wrong.

They are charging for their time whilst undertaking the fault diagnosis, most small garages cannot afford to have mechanics spending all day doing work and not being paid for it. if they have diagnosed it as a gearbox fault and they know they will not be doing the repair work they are entitled to charge for the time taken to diagnose it.

Wig

They can charge, but I would then not go back to that garage. I have never been charged for a diagnosis in this way. I will always ask either,

"when can you look at it/do it?" i.e. I want them to do the work for me
or I would ask...

"Ok, Do I owe you anything for that? i.e. I will think about it some more.

And I have always been told "no that's ok" I have never been charged. I would not expect to be charged, and if I was charged, would certainly never go back there.