Garage damaged my car but can I ask them to pay?

Smart_Sico

Hi!

I took my car to a local garage (one that I have used and recommended before) and told them my clutch was slipping they said I needed a new clutch, they couldn't source one (I have a smart roadster hard to find parts for apparently) so I managed to get hold of one for them.

They fitted the clutch after saying I needed a new release arm to even though the old one wasn't broken << this is normal so they told me.

It then went to Merc to program the clutch actuator with the new clutch this is when the problems started..

Problem 1
The clutch actuator was faulty and needed replacing by Merc ok I thought

Problem 2
I now had a engine management fault regarding the rpm sensor, this wasn't there before I took it to my local garage.

This second problem turned out to be a snapped wire which was so close to the plug the whole wiring loom needed replacing £500!!!


Upon picking my car up from Merc the bloke who was very reasonable to be fair to him told me the clutch might not of been at fault and it could of just been the actuator on top of this the snapped wire could of been damaged when local garage took the engine out to replace the clutch.

So my question is where do I stand with my local garage? As it sounds like all the work they did might not of been needed at all plus they could of broke this wire which ended up costing me £500

Thanks in advance

pitkin2020

Smart_Sico wrote: »

Hi!

I took my car to a local garage (one that I have used and recommended before) and told them my clutch was slipping they said I needed a new clutch, they couldn't source one (I have a smart roadster hard to find parts for apparently) so I managed to get hold of one for them.

They fitted the clutch after saying I needed a new release arm to even though the old one wasn't broken << this is normal so they told me.

It then went to Merc to program the clutch actuator with the new clutch this is when the problems started..

Problem 1
The clutch actuator was faulty and needed replacing by Merc ok I thought

Problem 2
I now had a engine management fault regarding the rpm sensor, this wasn't there before I took it to my local garage.

This second problem turned out to be a snapped wire which was so close to the plug the whole wiring loom needed replacing £500!!!


Upon picking my car up from Merc the bloke who was very reasonable to be fair to him told me the clutch might not of been at fault and it could of just been the actuator on top of this the snapped wire could of been damaged when local garage took the engine out to replace the clutch.

So my question is where do I stand with my local garage? As it sounds like all the work they did might not of been needed at all plus they could of broke this wire which ended up costing me £500

Thanks in advance

Could, not was. Unless you can prove it was broken by the garage I doubt you have a leg to stand on.

Smart_Sico

The only proof I have is the old wiring loom with the snapped wire, clutching at straws I guess no pun intended

pitkin2020

Thats the problem, it may or may not have been broken by your local garage, it may have even been broken by MB themselves or it could have been in a bad state before any mechanic got near it. Unless MB were willing to put it in writing that the other garage definitely broke it (which is highly unlikely) I don't think you will get very far with it. Sorry

Smart_Sico

Yer it's just hard to take when I have spent all this money £1600 to be precise when it might only of needed this actuator.

Strider590

Smart_Sico wrote: »

This second problem turned out to be a snapped wire which was so close to the plug the whole wiring loom needed replacing £500!!!

Im sorry but that a flying pile of BS..... It's not hard to solder the wires onto the stubs (from the broken wires) on the connector, insulate them with heatshrink and away you go. 15 mins work and costs less than a few pence. Harder if it snaps at the wiring loom, but still repairable.

I've done something very similar today in fact.....

s_b

i read it as speed sensor broken including the loom going into it
pretty common thing to do if youve never worked on a particular car before and trying to pull the box down and not seen it

no comments on whose to blame though