Garage has wrecked my car - and charged me for it

shaun_from_Africa

arcon5 wrote: »

But am confused why the engine was in bits if they was investigating an issue with the gearbox and ECU

It's possible that the engine strip down was carried out as a result of the OP's initial request to find out why they needed to use the accelerator when pulling away.
The garage may have carried out checks on the power output of the engine and then found something such as low compression in one or more of the cylinders and decided to investigate.
Low compression would cause low power and could easily cause the symptoms described.

Your best best might well to be to see if you can get an independent inspection carried out on the engine and take it from there.
If this report states that the damage was caused by something that the garage did then you may well have a good case for legal action against the garage and with the engine already out of the car, another inspection shouldn't bee too costly.

aaj123

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

It's possible that the engine strip down was carried out as a result of the OP's initial request to find out why they needed to use the accelerator when pulling away.

Not true. Phone call transcripts (if they produce those) will show that they called me and said RAC had asked for some tests that required engine stripdown. I said go ahead not suspecting that anything serious had occurred.

When I asked RAC why the asked for engine stripdown, they said they had been told that the engine had seized and needed investigation. So this means engine seizure purportedly occurred prior to asking me permission for engine stripdown. So why was this not mentioned on the phone call with me and why discuss this with RAC without telling me they had found the engine not working?

Mark_Mark

How far do you want to take this and how much money have you got to throw at it?

shaun_from_Africa

In that case, I definitely think you should commission an independent report and make sure that this is done by a reputable garage/mechanic and not someone such as your mechanic friend.
I'm not suggesting that your friend isn't a good & trustworthy mechanic, but if it came to legal action, the garage might claim that he was biased in your favour.

However, even if the report stated that the engine seized up whilst in the care of the garage, this wouldn't prove that they had done anything wrong as it could still have been a result of previous oil starvation.

kizkiz

Whereabouts in the country are you?
This sounds very familiar
http://news.sky.com/story/856179/police-raid-rip-off-garage-after-sky-probe

Mark_Mark

aaj123 wrote: »

Not true. Phone call transcripts (if they produce those) will show that they called me and said RAC had asked for some tests that required engine stripdown. I said go ahead not suspecting that anything serious had occurred.

When I asked RAC why the asked for engine stripdown, they said they had been told that the engine had seized and needed investigation. So this means engine seizure purportedly occurred prior to asking me permission for engine stripdown. So why was this not mentioned on the phone call with me and why discuss this with RAC without telling me they had found the engine not working?

Why would the garage record their calls to you and if they had who's going to pay for them to produce the transcripts?

Joe_Horner

An oil light flashing occasionally is extremely unlikely to cause damage leading to seizure without warning. It may damage bearings, but they will become noisy as a result LONG before they seize.

Seizures happen because you continue to run an engine with no oil despite the obvious knocking noises or from serious overheating.

In either case, a professional mechanic failing to see the signs on a test drive before a full seizure happens could very well be considered negligent, regardless of any past treatment of the engine, because at the first sign of bearing noise or overheating he should have stopped the test to investigate.

aaj123

Mark_Mark wrote: »

Why would the garage record their calls to you and if they had who's going to pay for them to produce the transcripts?

Well if they are going to produce phone call transcripts (if they have any) to prove that I said anything regarding oil light, then they would have to produce transcripts of calls that I point out to as well. Thats what I think.

In any case, it is not me who is going to ask for any phone call records. I am fine with them producing any if they think they can defend themselves by using any conversation. For example, what proof do they have apart from a 2 min phone call that I said anything about oil light?

Mark_Mark

aaj123 wrote: »

Well if they are going to produce phone call transcripts (if they have any) to prove that I said anything regarding oil light, then they would have to produce transcripts of calls that I point out to as well. Thats what I think.

In any case, it is not me who is going to ask for any phone call records. I am fine with them producing any if they think they can defend themselves by using any conversation. For example, what proof do they have apart from a 2 min phone call that I said anything about oil light?

Do you honestly think they record all their phone calls to produce a written records later?

Mark_Mark

How much is a scrap car worth theses days?

More than the £600 the OP paid to get it back?

Was anyone with you when the car was delivered back to you? You may need to prove continuity if you take this matter to court.