Legal rights with garage

Boonsbabe

I'm hoping you can give me some advice.

My car recently broke down and was towed to a local garage. They replaced the brake servo hose but when I took my car out it still cut out, and the EMS warning light came on.

I replaced the battery because it was nearly dead and asked the garage to reset the EMS warning to make sure it wasn't the battery.

The car continued to cut out, and the EMS eventually came back on.

I took the car back to the garage, and they have had it all week. During that time they have 'replaced 3 coils, 3 spark plus, the MAP sensor, cleaned the throttle system and put a treatment in the engine'. The car left the garage on Friday at a cost of £300! It was picked up by my father, who said the car seemed to be ok and was not cutting out. I make the point that the car had been run and the engine was warm at this point.

When I used the car on Friday night, it cut out 4 times, and the EMS warning light reappeared.

I took the car to a different garage this morning, to be advised that only 2 coils were replaced and not 3 as charged for. The MAP sensor was coming up as faulty on the error report. The mechanic actually showed me the coils so I could see for myself. He also showed me the 'cleaned' throttle system, which was not particularly clean.

Where do I stand legally? Can I demand a full refund? Unfortunately my father paid cash, so we were unable to cancel the payment.

I am definitely demanding a refund on at least the coil, but as the car came out of the garage with exactly the same problem it went in with, even though they have charged me in total £400!, what are my rights to a total refund??

I would like to know the facts before I write my letter.

Thank you for your help.

used_car_manager

Boonsbabe wrote: »

I'm hoping you can give me some advice.

My car recently broke down and was towed to a local garage. They replaced the brake servo hose but when I took my car out it still cut out, and the EMS warning light came on.

I replaced the battery because it was nearly dead and asked the garage to reset the EMS warning to make sure it wasn't the battery.

The car continued to cut out, and the EMS eventually came back on.

I took the car back to the garage, and they have had it all week. During that time they have 'replaced 3 coils, 3 spark plus, the MAP sensor, cleaned the throttle system and put a treatment in the engine'. The car left the garage on Friday at a cost of £300! It was picked up by my father, who said the car seemed to be ok and was not cutting out. I make the point that the car had been run and the engine was warm at this point.

When I used the car on Friday night, it cut out 4 times, and the EMS warning light reappeared.

I took the car to a different garage this morning, to be advised that only 2 coils were replaced and not 3 as charged for. The MAP sensor was coming up as faulty on the error report. The mechanic actually showed me the coils so I could see for myself. He also showed me the 'cleaned' throttle system, which was not particularly clean.

Where do I stand legally? Can I demand a full refund? Unfortunately my father paid cash, so we were unable to cancel the payment.

I am definitely demanding a refund on at least the coil, but as the car came out of the garage with exactly the same problem it went in with, even though they have charged me in total £400!, what are my rights to a total refund??

I would like to know the facts before I write my letter.

Thank you for your help.

which dealer?

Boonsbabe

It's a local garage, not a dealership

used_car_manager

Boonsbabe wrote: »

It's a local garage, not a dealership

sorry i thought you meant dealer ...

hmm not sure on this as they may not know what the issue is and they are going through a process of elimination maybe..

but it sounds like a clio i once sold, ended up taking it back and sending to auction

Boonsbabe

I didn't buy it from there.

But thanks anyway.

barbiedoll

Have you got a receipt, with a breakdown showing the cost of the parts supplied and the labour costs?

Would your new mechanic be prepared to state in writing that only 2 coils have been replaced?

You should go back and complain, loudly if necessary. We had a similar problem when a garage said that they had replaced the brakes on our car as they were an MOT fail (it was there for the test). They had only tightened up the handbrake and had overcharged us by around £80. It was only because OH had replaced the brakes himself, that we knew that they were lying. It took us a almost a week to get the money back as the manager was "on holiday" :mad:

Boonsbabe

Yes, I have an itemised bill from the first garage.
And I'm sure the second garage would be more than happy to verify that only 2 coils had been fitted.
I should have taken a photo on my phone, but I didn't think about it until afterwards!
But thanks 'barbiedoll'. Glad to hear you got your money back.
I'll keep you posted about how I get on next week.

londonTiger

hmm i dont know if the second garage will be willing to spend the time to write a document stating that. Maybe if you approach them nicely and come with a prepared typed document stating that "owner brrough in the vehicle and on inspection found that there were 2 replaced coils and the throttle system was still dirty at the time of inspection".

Note: they can't say the other garage lied or missold to you. They can only state what they see in front of them.

Then approach the first garage and tell them you've got an inspection from anotehr garage who said that they work billed for was not carried out and you want a full refund on the parts and labour billed for the missold items. You may also want to invoice them for the cost of the inspection for the 2nd gaarge. Threaten to go to trading standard if they do not refund you.

That should give you some leverage and get refunded pronto.

Then just notify the trading standards anyway, tell TS you got a refund but just notify them of the incident so trading stadnards can build up a case if they need to.

most people will just shut up after they get refunded, but trading standards should be notified so they can build up a case for suspected rogue traders. Something like 9/10 people walk away after getting ripped off without complaining or taking any action.

Boonsbabe

Thanks.

The plot thickens further. The second garage have now advised what the actual faults are.

The timing valve is 'out'. The timing chain has been replaced at some point, and the valve has apparently been damaged at that time. Guess what! On checking an old invoice from last year, the first garage replaced my timing chain last year.

Also, No.1 cylinder is sticking. Apparently this is caused by incorrect oil being put into the engine. Strangely, my engine oil was done at the same time as the timing chain, by the same garage.

I don't know how long it would take to damage the engine, but I see a pattern emerging here.

I think a letter to the garage in the first instance, stating the facts and requesting a refund and advising that I will go to trading standards. If anyone knows where I stand legally on this I would be very grateful.

Thanks.

colino

Going back to the OP, how did a brake servo hose cause you to break down?

Boonsbabe

Because the brake hose was split, the pressure couldn't build up for the brakes. The 'intelligent' computer saw as having no brakes and went into 'shut down' - apparently!