Where does he stand with this- car repair related

alwaysskint96

A friend of mine owns a 2002 vauxhall astra

He took it to the main dealers for MOT about 3 weeks ago and while it was there they rang him and said it needed a new head gasket.

They kept the car for 4 days then told him gasket done at cost of £700. He collected the car and drove home- about 9 miles

Next morning started the car up to find it billlowing loads of white smoke. So rang them back again and they told him to bring it back]

10 days passed and they have phoned him this morning and said the car needs a new engine at 2.8k- claiming that there was another seperate problem that didnt show until the head gasket was fixed

So hes now coughed up £700 only to have a car thats no longer roadworthy- it didnt show any problems before this

Is there anything he can do?

Anihilator

I would refuse to repair on the grounds that the mechanic has not acted with due competence.

What has most likely happened is that they have repaired the Head gasket but not found out what caused it resulting in it dying again.

Any competent mechanic would have realised the fault needed found first.

I would put this argument to them and state that you expect them to repair the car and make it back to the condition it was before it was driven again. Tell them he is willing to pay only the cost of the underlying fault that caused the gasket to go and not the resulting further damage from their incompetence.

If they dont take this. Demand the car back and get another garage to prepare a report stating the damage, cause and that the mechanic is incompetent and then MCOL for the cost to sort it.

anewman

MOT has nothing to do with the headgasket. Sounds very much related to the headgasket to me, but I think you'd need an independent professional report to be able to get anywhere with this and it won't be free.

alwaysskint96

I know the MOT has nothing to do with the headgasket

However they are now denying that its the headgasket causing the problem- saying something about pressure- he isnt good on cars so Ive heard this secondhand

This is the kind of scenerio that you would expect from a dodgy back street garage- not a Vauxhall main dealer

Quinny_2

£700 for a frikkin head gasket? Are they havin a giraffe?

The wife had hers done on her 2000 Astra 2 years ago by an independent, and the cost including new timing belt and other bits?

£300.

And a new engine costing nearly £3k???? :eek:

Did they wear a mask and ride a black horse by any chance?