Dodgy car repair advice needed

mpython

You can only claim for actual costs incurred (or justifiable future costs), there's no such thing as punitive damages like in the american legal system. So you should be able to claim for the costs of putting right their mistakes, cost of writing to them, court fees, expert witness fees, ford garage fees, alternative transport fees (e.g. if your car was unusable or unsafe to drive & you had to take bus/ hire a car). Not sure you can claim all the costs of the original work as the garage did actually replace the cambelt (unless I have misunderstood?) but not with reasonable care & skill. Therefore I would argue some of this money is claimable also. The subsequent visits to fix the leak clearly did not solve the problem so these should be claimable, however, again, the garage did do some work, but again not with reasonable skill & care. I would argue the vast majority of these costs should be claimable but it will rely on expert views as to what element was done to a satisfactory standard and what wasn't. You can always start by claiming it all and see what their response is.

anewman

A rocker gasket seal for my car costs 99p and at least on my car it is easy enough to take off the rocker cover and change it. No more than a 5 minute job I would say.

vaio

theowl wrote: »

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 fix the leak?

Yep to both, I’d get a report from the ford garage of exactly what the problem was and then claim all your costs for trying to fix the leak.

theowl wrote: »

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

I would have thought you could certainly get all your out of pocket expenses taxi fare etc and I’d add on a small amount for hassle and general inconvenience