Mis-sold car repairs?

carquery

Hi there,

I'm posting on behalf of my Mum. She sent her car in for an MOT this week and the first garage said it needed its indicator and hazard lights fixing, so she had to take it to a Vauxhall specific garage. The first garage had completed the MOT and said the only item it failed on was the indicator and hazards.

She took the car into the second garage today to get the indicator/lights repaired and told them she was going to a funeral today. The woman said she was sorry about that and that they'd do an "additional safety check" to make sure the car hadn't passed its MOT when it shouldn't have and potentially cause injury (seemed to be a scam, to me, to prey on the fact she was thinking about death due to the funeral). The result of this was that the front right suspension has apparently worn down and could cause a tyre blow-out. They said she should pay the £500 for the suspension repair or the car would be very dangerous.

The woman also said that their garage would not have let the car pass its MOT, and that the car was not safe to drive unless the suspension was repaired.

Of course, as she was due to go to a funeral and not in a logical frame of mind, she agreed to the extra work.

This all sounds suspicious to me. I have not heard of a garage deliberately ignoring a fault during an MOT when they only stand to make money from repairing it, so I don't believe that the first garage did the MOT incorrectly.

The car is in the garage now and she hasn't paid yet. Can anyone shed any light on this situation?

I would like to know:

1. If the car would've been unsafe without the repair (as the woman insisted) or how we would ascertain this impartially.
2. If the repair was unnecessary and the garage worker lied, do we have to pay for it?

Thanks.

ashleypride

Mums, eh gotta love em.

A bit too late to do much now sadly, your mum should have asked the garage to show her the problem, got them to fix the lights, and then gone back to the first garage to show them the 'problem'.
Unless you can prove that the work wasn't needed, or that no work wasn't done there isn't muchyou can do. This comes down to which garage do you trust more?

This all sounds suspicious to me. I have not heard of a garage deliberately ignoring a fault during an MOT when they only stand to make money from repairing it, so I don't believe that the first garage did the MOT incorrectly.

I find it very unlikely a garage would pass a MOT with a suspension problem that is about to impale the tyre. It would be obvious, so it's doubtful there were that incompetent.

carquery

ashleypride wrote: »

Mums, eh gotta love em.

A bit too late to do much now sadly, your mum should have asked the garage to show her the problem, got them to fix the lights, and then gone back to the first garage to show them the 'problem'.
Unless you can prove that the work wasn't needed, or that no work wasn't done there isn't muchyou can do. This comes down to which garage do you trust more?

I find it very unlikely a garage would pass a MOT with a suspension problem that is about to impale the tyre. It would be obvious, so it's doubtful there were that incompetent.

I did ask why she didn't request to see the problem and apparently it didn't occur to her (d'oh, trusting). Is there nothing we can do, even if she calls up the first garage and asks them to confirm they checked the suspension and nothing was wrong with it?

When I asked her about the specific language they used, it was "we would not have passed this car for an MOT because of the suspension. it will cause a blow out, and if that happens on the motorway at speed then you will have a serious accident" - so I don't really blame her for being scared into agreeing to it. I wouldn't have, personally, but I'm trying to go easy on her

I imagine it's illegal to lie to procure work (i.e. telling her it wasn't road legal and should've been failed on the suspension) but is it impossible to prove, and who would we even complain to?

agrinnall

Get the garage that has done the work to write a technical report detailing the fault, and also get the faulty parts back from them. Take those to the original garage and ask them why they didn't find the problem in the first place. If they disagree about the part being faulty then complain to the Vauxhall garage, if they accept it was faulty complain to them. One of them is wrong so a further complaint should be made to trading standards, and maybe to VOSA who regulate MoT stations.

pendulum

Done up like a kipper.
It's only ever going to be one garage's word against another's now so there's nothing to be done. I'd strongly suspect the second garage have invented or over-exaggerated the need for work, rather than the first garage missing the problem. Purely because they decided to do a "health check" in the first place - they only did that to try and find things wrong with it. You didn't need that health check, all you needed was the lights doing.

Hammyman

Second. The old "suspension knackered and it'll kill you" routine.

Worst part is that all it most likely needed was a new hazard warning light switch or a flasher unit as the hazard and indicator fault are linked.

If the car was as bad as Vauxhall were claiming then:

1) She seriously would have already noticed a problem
2) It would have failed the MOT.

Personally I cannot think of a single suspension problem that would cause a tyre blowout. Even a completely collapsed suspension wouldn't do that. You could have a steering arm or track control arm fail but if that does, a tyre blowout will be the last of your worries because you'd have lost control over steering long before that happened.

patman99

My dad's suspension failed on his Volvo and it shredded his tyre.

interstellaflyer

Hammyman wrote: »

Second. The old "suspension knackered and it'll kill you" routine.

Yep, I remember the massive government backed ad campaign back in the mid 90s on making sure your brakes and susspension were up to scratch, it gave carte blanche to every rip off garage to offer 'Free Safety Checks' I remember at the time places like Charlie Browns were the worst offenders. People need to understand, there is no such thing as a Free Health Check, Free brake Check, Free Aircon Check or Free or Discounted MOTs

Hammyman

patman99 wrote: »

My dad's suspension failed on his Volvo and it shredded his tyre.

Very good. There are several components. Which one did it happen to be? A track control arm failure could. A knackered spring wouldn't.

rs65

When she goes back to the first garage for the MOT, ask them if the other garage did do the work that she has paid for.

I doubt you will ever know whether it was necessary or not though.