Trying to claim costs from Garage (now dissolved)?

sp.73

First time poster.

Bear with me on this one, I've tried to give a detailed but concise series of events leading up to my question...

After it had broken down due to gearbox failure I had my car recovered to a garage, for convenience I'll call it GARAGE A LTD, so they could recondition the gearbox and fit new break discs and pads. When the car was repaired I paid the amount quoted and was handed a receipt with a different company name on, for convenience I'll call them GARAGE B LTD. At this point I was unaware that GARAGE B LTD even existed. I challenged the owner of the garage about the receipt and he said he ran two different LTD companies, GARAGE A LTD and GARAGE B LTD, from his premises and not to worry I had a guarantee with them if there were any future problems. He refused to amend the receipt. Alarm bells rang.

Within minutes of leaving the garage my car experienced drive failure and was recovered approx an hour later back to the garage premises. Reason for breakdown - snapped driveshaft. I challenged the owner as to exactly why the driveshaft had snapped (knowing exactly why) and the owner said it was just a coincidence. I begged to differ but got nowhere with the owner. The day after it was recovered back to the garage I had another conversation with the owner expressing my concern regarding the receipt supplied and he repeated that I had a guarantee and added that he ran the two LTD companies to keep VAT charges down. After a couple of days of claiming they could fix the driveshaft and that the parts were on order I got a call late on a Thursday afternoon from the garage saying "they were unable to source the parts" and "could I try and source them?". Alarm bells ringing much louder.

It took me minutes to source the particular part of the driveshaft, that they had claimed was broken, at a Nissan dealer 15 miles away. I then arranged to have my car recovered to the Nissan dealer the next day, Friday, purely on the basis that I needed my car for commuting to work urgently (GARAGE A/B LTD were fine with this). Nissan called me on the Friday afternoon saying that my car had arrived with damage to the tune of approx £750 (inc labour and VAT). I then got a DEKRA Independent Vehicle Inspection Report which confirmed that GARAGE A/B LTD had damaged my car severely.

Nissan repaired my car. I then contacted GARAGE A/B LTD asking for them to recompense me for the cost of the damage they had caused, some expenses I incurred by having to commute (via public transport) to work for two days and some compensation. I received what could be classed as a generic print out two weeks later saying that GARAGE B LTD had now been dissolved and sorry for any inconvenience!

GARAGE B LTD was dissolved by Companies House as they hadn't filed their accounts.

All in all I have spent nearly £1600 on repairing my car.

When my car initially broke down with gearbox failure my first choice was to get it recovered to a Nissan dealer in Bucks but they all had at least a two week waiting list in their respective service centres. Part of my insurers deal in getting the car recovered was that they would take it to a garage the next morning but within a 10 mile radius. I decided on GARAGE A LTD after recommendation by the rescue service driver.

My question is:

Having contacted GARAGE A LTD to undertake the repair of my gearbox and fit new break discs/pads (the owner also confirmed to me on my initial call that the garage was called GARAGE A LTD) and then being handed a receipt with the details of GARAGE B LTD on can I pursue GARAGE A LTD, or the Director (Owner) personally to recompense me for the damage to my car now that GARAGE B LTD has been dissolved by Companies House and the Director (Owner) is still trading from the same premises as GARAGE A LTD (who I approached to do the work)? Hope this makes sense?

I have collected as much information as I can from Companies House on this garage owner and have an appointment with CAB next week. I am realistic about the situation and what may or may not happen. Ideally I would like to get some or all of my money back, alternatively the garage owner being reprimanded somehow would suffice. I have also found out today that I can pursue the Visa Chargeback Scheme. Fingers crossed.

Any help or advice regarding my question/problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

sp.73

4743hudsonj

by the pure definition of a LTD (private limited (liability) company) you cannot sue the owner as they are protect from this by law.

i would get a solicitors opinion, this sound highly complicated by you asking garage A not garage b

otherwise it would be a case of get in line behind creditors etc.

as said get to a solicitor asap, you should get a free half hour but it will take much longer than this to ascertain your case fully.

not sure if CAB would be any help but worth a try, also trading standards is a definite port of call.

The only other thing i can offer is my sincere wishes that this works out well for you.