Garage wanting payment for non fix

halibut2209

This is why you should never hire a friend professionally.

deanos

Flyboy152 wrote: »

But the gearbox and engine use the same oil. There is no separate oil for the gearbox. Did the red oil light come on at all, before he "worked" on it?

Thought gearbox had separate oil

pendulum

lincsdan86 wrote: »

the gear box was bone dry, the sump still had some oil in there, sorry not explaining myself properly

Your doing fine, the problem is Flyboy who thinks gearbox and engine oil are the same thing

You do really need to give the garage a chance to put things right, he could be trying it on so be careful but it could be more innocent. It seems strange that the gearbox was empty, maybe that's where the leak is and not the sump? Have you done the cardboard under the car trick to see where the drips fall?

If you don't want a confrontation with him, how about going through your friend of your friend of a friend? (You know what I mean!)

Flyboy152

pendulum wrote: »

Your doing fine, the problem is Flyboy who thinks gearbox and engine oil are the same thing

Well, there's me told

After being around cars for many years, I never knew that. I always though that they were fed from the same oil. But having slept on it and thought about it logically, I seem to have been talking out my hiney.

I think it's because I have never had to put oil in a gearbox and the filler is not bleedin' obvious. :eek:

I shall now slink away in embarrassment and hide. :embarasse

lincsdan86

Thanks for all the replies,

My dad has put me in contact with a professional fiat mechanic (should have done this in the first place) and he has quoted the job at £260 to repalce the sump with the one that I managed to obtain from ebay, which is what I asked the original one to do. I do not want it to go back to him (the original) for him to "repair" it so will be using the professional.

I dont no if I should offer the original any money to cover the fact that he was "working on the car all day" or not?

Any ideas?

Flyboy152

lincsdan86 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies,

My dad has put me in contact with a professional fiat mechanic (should have done this in the first place) and he has quoted the job at £260 to repalce the sump with the one that I managed to obtain from ebay, which is what I asked the original one to do. I do not want it to go back to him (the original) for him to "repair" it so will be using the professional.

I dont no if I should offer the original any money to cover the fact that he was "working on the car all day" or not?

Any ideas?

Seeing as he didn't actually do the job you wanted, then no.

lincroft1710

pendulum wrote: »

the problem is Flyboy who thinks gearbox and engine oil are the same thing

In the old Mini the gearbox was in the sump, so the engine oil also lubricated the gearbox.

pendulum

lincsdan86 wrote: »

I dont no if I should offer the original any money to cover the fact that he was "working on the car all day" or not?

Any ideas?

Before going to another garage, I'd have contacted the other one first and asked what he did and why the car's still leaking. (I gather it is still not too late to do this?). If he did take you to court (unlikely) you would have been expected to return the car to him and offer him a chance to fix it before not paying/going elsewhere. I get the feeling this could all just be a misunderstanding.

Flyboy152

pendulum wrote: »

Before going to another garage, I'd have contacted the other one first and asked what he did and why the car's still leaking. (I gather it is still not too late to do this?). If he did take you to court (unlikely) you would have been expected to return the car to him and offer him a chance to fix it before not paying/going elsewhere. I get the feeling this could all just be a misunderstanding.

Not if you can demonstrate the loss of confidence.

pendulum

You'd need to show that he acted incompetently or didn't do the work, not just that you "lost confidence" in him. Different mechanics do things differently and he may have a good explanation for why its still leaking (perhaps his expertise lead him to a different theory for the leak - gearbox oil was mentioned earlier?) or it was just a tough job and something went wrong but he'd fix it for free given the chance, or he did the work the OP requested but something else is also leaking.

It's easier to show you've "lost confidence" in him and that he's incompetent if you hand the car back and he still fails to fix the problem.

One things for sure, you need to at least speak to him and hear his side before refusing to pay / claiming he's incompetent. If he sounds reasonable give him a chance to fix it.