any mechanics offer opinion on this?

no-oneknowsme

Hi .

Before I start , let me just say that I dont know who is right or wrong in our scenario so im hoping to get advice from any mechanics on here on what THEY would personally do in such a case.....

Ok , so my Husbands vehicle was due its PSV and so last week he took it to a mechanic (he has used this particular mechanic before without problem) to have it looked over and checked for the test.

Hubby knew that the hand brake was a little too loose and so he mentioned it to the mechanic who assured Hubby that he would "sort it" .

Hubby picked the vehicle up and the mechanic said to him "thats you all good to go then" , Hubby paid the bill (£141 as other bits and pieces were done to the vehicle) and left thinking that at least now the vehicle was all set for the test....

This morning Hubby took it to the test centre and it has failed on the hand brake ! Apparently it needs to be a certain percentage on each side (is it 16%?) and it has failed on this .

Now , my opinion is that as we had already specifically asked the mechanic to sort the hand brake and it has now failed on this fault only , should the mechanic take some responsibility for this ?

This is just a discussion between myself and Hubby at this stage but our opinions differ hence why im asking for opinions for you clever lot lol.

If you had repaired a car for a customer and it then went on to fail on the particular job they had originally left the vehicle with you to have fixed what would you do if they phoned you up to inform you of the fail?

Thanks

Strider590

Go back.... Conversation flows like this.

"alright mate,you did some work for me last week.... Well it failed it's PSV on the handbrake, im guessing you were so busy you forgot to look at it, any chance you can sort this out in the next few days?"

Keep a friendly tone of voice, treat him as if it was an understandable over sight.... Bring out the guns if he turns arsey (but I doubt he will).

Posting this thread suggests to me that one of you was going to go in there guns blazing an make an even bigger mess of things

marksandsparx

It really depends if the mechanic has a brake tester (hand held) or rolling road brake tester. As a held held meter can't register an imbalance.

Do you mean PSV? or MOT?

Your right, it is 16% calculated from the vehicle weight, and tear weight. maybe the mechanic had the wrong figures etc.

no-oneknowsme

Strider590 wrote: »

Go back.... Conversation flows like this.

"alright mate,you did some work for me last week.... Well it failed it's PSV on the handbrake, im guessing you were so busy you forgot to look at it, any chance you can sort this out in the next few days?"

Keep a friendly tone of voice, treat him as if it was an understandable over sight.... Bring out the guns if he turns arsey (but I doubt he will).

Posting this thread suggests to me that one of you was going to go in there guns blazing an make an even bigger mess of things

Thanks Strider.

I phoned the mechanic up this afternoon (Hubby is too soft lol) and I very nicely said "My Husband brought his vehicle up to you to get sorted for the psv . He put it through the psv today and it has failed on the one thing Hubby asked you to look at. It is booked in for a retest next week , what way do we stand with this?"

To which he replied "well as I dont have a rolling road like the MOT tester has I have no way of knowing whether the vehicle will pass or fail the psv test on the brakes"

He went on to say that if we through the vehicle back up to him again he will fix it again. He has stated that we will have to pay for any parts needed for the repair but that he will fit them free of charge.

So , does this sound fair ?

no-oneknowsme

marksandsparx wrote: »

.
Do you mean PSV? or MOT?
.

I mean psv.

Gordon_Hose

Sounds fair enough to me tbh. At least he's offered you free labour on any parts that might be needed.

marksandsparx

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

Thanks Strider.

I phoned the mechanic up this afternoon (Hubby is too soft lol) and I very nicely said "My Husband brought his vehicle up to you to get sorted for the psv . He put it through the psv today and it has failed on the one thing Hubby asked you to look at. It is booked in for a retest next week , what way do we stand with this?"

To which he replied "well as I dont have a rolling road like the MOT tester has I have no way of knowing whether the vehicle will pass or fail the psv test on the brakes"

He went on to say that if we through the vehicle back up to him again he will fix it again. He has stated that we will have to pay for any parts needed for the repair but that he will fit them free of charge.

So , does this sound fair ?

This sounds very fair to me, I am a PSV mechanic, and without a rolling road brake tester, you are stuffed!

Wig

I think that's very fair of him. But he cannot guarantee a pass on the handbrake, so you should get it tested on a rolling road before going for the re-test.

no-oneknowsme

Ok...thank you to all of you who took the time to offer an opinion.

As I dont know much about how it all works I will now accept your advice that his offer of free labour to fit any parts needed is a fair offer.

Im not sure what it will take to fix the hand brake though , may not be that big a job as I know it has to be 16% or above and Hubbys was 14% so not massively out.

Thanks again . The advice is appreciated.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

could be something simpe such as worn brake shoes/drum (rear drums) or worn rear pads/discs (rear dics), or a drum hydrolic cylinder slighlty leaking or a handrake cable stretched to limit and a new cable needed.

pendulum

I bet he just tightened the handbrake cable adjustment and thought job done, to be fair to him he couldn't really have known there was another problem somewhere else which would cause it to fail a rolling road test. The offer of free labour to fix the problem seems a pretty good gesture of goodwill.