I want to strangle my mechanic!!!

Mrs_P_Pincher

The same back street garage has looked after my cars for the last 12 years with no complaints from me.

I put my car in for MoT on Monday and particularly asked for him to look at why it was using so much water when I couldn’t see a leak.

I had a call saying some work was needed for the MoT and I said to go ahead up to £250. He charged me £250 and I picked the car up last night with 12 months MoT after some chit chat about how he’d managed to keep it going for me for another year, only to find once I got out into the road that it was virtually undriveable!

My OH and SIL have had a look this morning and the head gasket is going – it’s not completely gone but is well on the way.

No way would I have spent the money on the MoT if the mechanic had done his job. The cost of a head gasket against the value of the car makes that a non-starter.

I need to speak to this mechanic – what on earth am I going to say to him? I feel that he has mislead me and basically I want my money back.

Doesn’t help that his wife is v good friend.

This has not been a good week.

Mrs P P

Quentin

The head gasket problem is a separate issue to the MOT.

When you were asked to authorise the MOT repairs, did you discuss the water loss problem?

espresso

So exactly what work was done to arrive at your maximum figure of £250? How convenient that he charged not a penny more or a penny less. You won't get your money back, as you authorised that amount of spend and he will say that your car now has a full MOT. Far too many people unfortunately think that an annual MOT is the same as an annual service when they are two totally different things!

Mrs_P_Pincher

I know the head gasket problem is separate from the MoT, and I know the difference between getting a car through an MoT and getting it serviced, but it seemed sensible to ask him to look at the two issues on the same visit. I didn't speak to him until I went to pick the car up. His wife(my friend) phoned me and said it needed some work and it would be £250 and as I've never had a problem in 12 years, I said to go ahead.

Work done was initial MoT test, some welding, replacement trailing arms and bushes and re-test.

I thought the fact that I had particularly asked him to look at the water/head gasket issue might give me some leverage...

Mrs P P

adouglasmhor

If you get someone else to do your head gasket - please make sure they use a properly adjusted torque wrench to tighten up after, otherwise it can be very expensive.

Premier_2

Mrs_P_Pincher wrote: »

...I had a call saying some work was needed for the MoT and I said to go ahead up to £250. He charged me £250 and I picked the car up last night with 12 months MoT after some chit chat about how he’d managed to keep it going for me for another year, only to find once I got out into the road that it was virtually undriveable!...

You presumably paid £250 for work necessary to ensure the vehicle passed it's MOT. At least that is what he quoted for.

How does the leaking head gasket make the car "virtually undriveable"? At least in any worse way than when you entered the car for it's MOT. Or are you suggesting repairs he has carried out has affect the driveability in some way?
When testing the vehicle, some stress is put on the vehicle and that may have worsened the faulty head gasket.

You can't expect an MOT tester to service your car unless you pay for a service. You appear to have asked for an MOT and that is what you got.

As your OH & SIL are apparently competent enough to identify a leaking head gasket, perhaps you should have asked them to check the vehicle before you took it for an MOT, since you hadn't planned for the MOT station to inspect it other than for MOT testing purposes.

bevanuk

Morally he should have told you the head gasket was going, especially as you have personal links.
Really though he hasn't done anything wrong, now you need the head gasket doing and will probably go to him.

Mrs_P_Pincher

For the avoidance of doubt the mechanic who did the work is not also the MoT tester. He took it somewhere else to get the actual MoT done.

It is virtually undriveable because it's over-revving and was up past the red on the temperature gauge after less than a mile. Oh and there's quite a lot of white smoke as well now. I had to nurse it the three miles home.

I will not have the head gasket done. I will scrap the car. This is my point. I asked him specifically to look at this issue and he did not and I did not know until I had accepted his quote, which I assumed included that work and collected the car. By his actions he has cost me £250. If he had had the decency to call me himself and say 'I can get it through an MoT but your head gasket's going' I would have said 'no'. End of.

Mrs P P (very stressed)

Inactive

Oh well, it is water under the bridge now, put it down to a breakdown in communications and move on.

Either forgive your mechanic for a human error or find a new one that you can trust.

Your mechanic has done the work, so will need to paid.

NickWarren_2

I think the crux of the problem here was that you assumed he was carrying out bot the work for the MOT and the water leak. Really you should have gotten a full breakdown of what parts were being used and what issues they would fix.

If you want rid of the car stick it on ebay, say it has the full MOT but needs new head gasket.

Not a rover by any chance?

Mrs_P_Pincher

Hi Nick - right in one! Rover 214.

Mrs P P