Dodgy car repair advice needed

theowl_2

Hi,

Last year I paid over £500 to have my cam belt replaced.
Since about that time my car has been leaking oil and I have paid the same garage to replace the rocker gasket cover, which they said had caused the leak. This didn't stop the leak and twice since I've returned the car to the same garage, and twice they have failed to stop the leak.
Anyway, finally I decided to take the car to a Ford garage, and after removing the front engine timing cover they found several bolts were missing and the front camshaft seal was incorrectly aligned. They corrected this and now the oil leak has stopped. Seems it was caused by the Cambelt repair.
To fix this leak has cost me about £350 and taken up a great deal of my time. The original garage are extremely poor at communicating and I was looking for advice as to whether I should take further action. Ford had said that the oil could have been leaking over the brakes and had advised that until they fixed it I should not use it, which means the vehicle may have been in a dangerous condition for some time.

Thanks for your help

stamford

theowl wrote: »

Hi,

Last year I paid over £500 to have my cam belt replaced.
Since about that time my car has been leaking oil and I have paid the same garage to replace the rocker gasket cover, which they said had caused the leak. This didn't stop the leak and twice since I've returned the car to the same garage, and twice they have failed to stop the leak.
Anyway, finally I decided to take the car to a Ford garage, and after removing the front engine timing cover they found several bolts were missing and the front camshaft seal was incorrectly aligned. They corrected this and now the oil leak has stopped. Seems it was caused by the Cambelt repair.
To fix this leak has cost me about £350 and taken up a great deal of my time. The original garage are extremely poor at communicating and I was looking for advice as to whether I should take further action. Ford had said that the oil could have been leaking over the brakes and had advised that until they fixed it I should not use it, which means the vehicle may have been in a dangerous condition for some time.

Thanks for your help

Send them a recorded delivery letter giving them 7 days to pay up for the cost of rectification or you will take them to Small Claims Court

Dave_Brooker

stamford wrote: »

Send them a recorded delivery letter giving them 7 days to pay up for the cost of rectification or you will take them to Small Claims Court

Probebly best to give 28 days in a letter before action.

mpython

Getting money back of garages is a challenge, so best of luck with it.

As Stamford suggests, set out everything in a letter, what they've done, why the car has had to have further work because of their earlier work, what ford have said. Ask them to rectify the situation and refund extra money you have spent. Give them a reasonable time to respond, 7 days is fine. Don't threaten court action yet, do that in your next letter if they fail to respond, or refute the allegations. Unfortunately if it does go to court you will need to prove they are at fault which may cost you money in getting independent expert witness assessments. If you win however, you will be able to claim for these costs as well.

Fingers crossed, the polite, dispationate letter will work and they'll put things right for you. Best of luck.

Dave_Brooker

mpython wrote: »

Getting money back of garages is a challenge, so best of luck with it.

As Stamford suggests, set out everything in a letter, what they've done, why the car has had to have further work because of their earlier work, what ford have said. Ask them to rectify the situation and refund extra money you have spent. Give them a reasonable time to respond, 7 days is fine.

7 days isn't really long enough, as you have to show a court (if it ever comes to that) that you gave the other side reasonable notice to sort the problem out.

If you only give 7 days, someone may well be on holiday or off ill...

Crabman

28 days seems a bit more reasonable, that way it looks to the court like they've had more than enough time to cough up. Though I think, like mpython, that perhaps a letter explaining everything first without mentioning court action would be best. Sometimes these things are sorted out by taking a nicely nicely approach If that doesn't work then the court route would be the next step.

mrbadexample

I'd echo the "give them a bit longer" sentiment. After all, if it does eventually go to court, you can show that you have been more than generous and reasonable in giving them time to sort it out. 21-28 days IMHO.

waster_2

I think mpython's approach is reasonable. The issue of Court proceedings and the amount of time allowed to remedy the problem will not arise at this stage. If no response or unhelpful response to the initial letter then write again giving 28 days to remedy or else potential leagl action through small claims procedure.

stamford

Reading other posts I think my 7 day deadline was a bit on the short side ,however I think 28 days goes too far to the other extreme. Don't want to imply any lack of urgency to the Rogue Trader garage - I reckon 14 days

mpython

Just to clarify the 7 days suggestion. Courts & lawyers use the Recorded Delivery service to issue summons, notices etc. The reason they do this is because if its not delivered (or not collected if returned to sorting office) Royal Mail will return it after 7 days which is the length of notice the letter would contain and hence then, enforcement action can/ can't be taken.

The court will determine whether any time to comply is reasonable, whether that be 1, 7 or 28 days - all can be reasonable depending on the circumstances of the claim. If you start off with 28 days and they reply in 27 days saying it'll take them another 28 days to investigate and then you wait another 27 days at which point they write again and ask you the name of who you spoke to at Ford, etc etc, you end up with a very long time to resolve.

Theowl, I would suggest you don't get sidetracked into worrying about a debate of is it 7 or 28 days, you need to establish how you're going to prove your case, which I presume is "the work was not carried out with reasonable skill & care", if it goes to court. You might also want to consider suggesting going to a dispute resolution service to the garage as this will make you look very reasonable. If it eventually goes to court, it will also make you look good.

theowl_2

Thanks for all the advice. I'll crack on with a letter and let you know how it goes. Would it be reasonable for me to demand reimbursement of both the cost of Ford repairs, and also the money I paid the original garage to to fix the leak? Also, should I seek some form of extra reimbursement for the inconvenience caused i.e vehicle kept in garages overnight about three times etc?

Thanks