Garage Repairs without permission

Strawbell_2

Hi,

After some advice please. My Dad took my car in our local garage as I had a knocking noise coming from the nearside front. The garage man told my Dad to leave it with him and he will look at it. He was definitely told to see if he could tell us what it is - nothing more.

My dad returned at 1pm and the man said I've sorted the problem because I never had a tel no I went ahead and sorted it. Bill £182! He had replaced the wheel bearing unit, brake pads and Anti roll bar bush. As he knows my dad he said take the car and let your daughter pay later.

Now my husband is a mechanic but as he doesn't work in a garage anymore couldn't find the problem himself but had already ruled out the wheel bearing - the brake pads were only replaced in the last 3 months and were completely irrelevant.

Obviously we are fuming, not only did he replace parts without our permission he replaced parts that were not faulty. My husband went to the garage complained about doing the work without permission and demanded to see the faulty parts, the anti roll bar bush and wheel bearing he admitted had broke getting them off and the brake pads were in no way worn. After a exchange of words the man said to bring the car back up and he would have his parts back and replace ours (hmm not sure how seeing ours have been broken).

Anyone no where we stand, he has no contact details for us. but can he track us through the DVLA, the last thing I want is creditors at the door. As much as he was breaking the law doing the work without permission I don't mind paying him something for mending the cause of the problem which was the anti roll bar bush.

Thanks for your time.

masterlumps

i wouldnt give him the car back for him to replace any parts - if he hasnt been paid i would leave it at that, doubt he would persue less than £200 when he knows he is in the wrong

Quentin

Pay him what you think is fair for the job he did "properly", and tell him why you don't intend to pay any more. Get a receipt. Then it's up to him what he wants to do.

(Don't let him have the car - don't take it with you when you go to pay)

(Maybe go in with your Dad as a witness)

LandyAndy

Has he cured the knocking noise?

Strawbell_2

Hi, thanks for your advice.

Yes he has repaired the knocking noise which was the anti-roll bar bush.

spiro

Strawbell wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your advice.

Yes he has repaired the knocking noise which was the anti-roll bar bush.

Thenm only pay for the bush and labour to fit it.

Strider590

An AR bush costs next to nothing and if a job happens to run into complications that take a bit longer than expected, it starts to cost him time (he could be doing other jobs) and the mechanic loses money, he also know's that you wouldn't like to see a bill that said:

AR bush £15
Labour x2 £80
VAT £16
Total £111

(I think i'd be pretty miffed at £111 to fit a £15 part)

So he's just thought "ah, I can add a little bit onto this, but just enough so it doesn't look like im taking the !!!!".

Hammyman

Indeed. Being a lover of old classic cars, I've had more than my fair share of times where getting the bolt undone on the ARB bush bracket has taken several hours.

hartcjhart

as he has fixed the fault,offer him a £100 as full settlement and get a receipt accordingly

Strider590

Hammyman wrote: »

Indeed. Being a lover of old classic cars, I've had more than my fair share of times where getting the bolt undone on the ARB bush bracket has taken several hours.

Yep, my step father had a classic Jag which he was having restored.... It took several weeks for his mechanic to remove a seized wheel bearing without damaging other parts.