Mechanic has damaged car

polkadot01

Hi There,

I'm hoping someone can give me some advice. My car's engine started making a rattling noise so I rang the mobile mechanic that I normally use (who's trading as a business) to investigate and fix the problem for me. On investigating he removed the injector's to replace the seal's, but this did not fix the rattling.

As he could not find the problem I asked him for the car back and how much I owed him for the job, but he dropped the car off, posted the key and did not reply to me about the price.

I then took it to another garage to said he had damaged the injector and they would not touch the car. They advised me to take it to my local delaer garage, who then confirmed that when the injector was removed it had been damaged and needed replacing, costing £695.

I have contacted the mobile mechanic who is saying he is not liable and that 'he doens't need the stress of this' and that he did the job free of charge. He refusing to accept that he has damaged it and won't pay to have his mistake corrected. He is no longer responding to my communications.

Can anyone help? I am a student and really can't afford to pay this much money for someone elses mistake :-(

Carpi09

This is going to sound harsh but you get what you pay for.

I don't know where you stand with this though, but clearly if he isn't charging you, he knows he has done wrong.

ThumbRemote

Carpi09 wrote: »

This is going to sound harsh but you get what you pay for.

So you're saying more expensive mechanics never make mistakes?

ThumbRemote

polkadot01 wrote: »

Can anyone help? I am a student and really can't afford to pay this much money for someone elses mistake :-(

Write to the mobile mechanic, and tell him what the garage has said. Writing is important as this has a good chance of ending up in court. Ask him to contact you to arrange him fixing the problem, probably worth specifying a deadline otherwise you'll have the work done elsewhere and seek to reclaim the costs from him.

At the same time get the dealers to put into writing what the problem is, and how it was caused.

If he still wont fix it your only real option is to get it done elsewhere and take him to court to get the money back.

polkadot01

I feel that I need to point out that I went to a recommended mobile mechanic who runs as a business. It's irrelevant how much he charges for the work.

I'm more concerned about where I stand now and how I can get my car fixed without having to pay £700 for someone else mistake.

Thanks

ILW

Are there reputable mobile mechanics?

mattyprice4004

Make / model / engine size / fuel?

polkadot01

It's a Peugeot 207, 1.6, Diesel.

Highlandlass28

Can you prove that it was him that caused the damage ? The rattling was there before you took the car to him and the rattling is still there now.

pinkshoes

You'll have to prove that the initial rattling was NOT due to the injector being damaged. Did the garage find the initial problem?

System

ThumbRemote wrote: »

So you're saying more expensive mechanics never make mistakes?

I would suspect more expensive mechanics own up to any mistake they make and then resolve it. I doubt they act like this joker did.