Independent Tyre Garage Damaged Car

Diddleman

Hi, last Friday on my way home from work I got a puncture in one of my tyres, I immediately went to the nearest puncture repair garage to get it fixed as i was in a rush and was about to set off on a long trip for the weekend.

While the tyre fitter was jacking my car he jacked it in the wrong location causing the side skirt to come away and bend. as i was watching him do it and seeing the car being damaged i immediately pointed it out to him. He jacked the car down again and said "its ok" after seeing the side skirt pop back in to place, i knew it was far from ok... i kept calm and thought i would confront him about it once he had repaired the puncture.
Then after seeing him struggle to get the tyre back on the alloy after repairing the puncture i got a closer look at the wheel (expensive diamond cut alloy) to find several marks on the rear of the wheel and on the front face. I also saw him using excessive force at the air inlet which caused a ring mark imprinted into the alloy around the air inlet.
After a further 10-15 mins of him struggling to put the tyre back on I told him to stop to avoid further damage to the car/wheel and told him to put the spare on so i could take it else where.
with the spare fitted I took photos of the damage to the alloy and side skirt, i also took a video of the car on the premises while the fitter was messing around with the wheel.
I confronted him about the damages, he said the alloy was already damaged, it wasnt as its a brand new car at 2 month old, he wouldnt take blame for any of the damages but gave me his number and told me to ring back saying "call me when you think you know what the damage is".
I took the car to VW to get an estimate of the damages, which to replace the side skirt and wheel came to £1910. The VW tyre technician stated that the wheel was clamped incorrectly and he could see this from the damage. Also the side skirt damage was obvious from being jacked incorrectly.
I called the tyre fitter back who denied causing any damage and said he has no insurance details, I asked if he had a boss which he said "no and if I did i would be sacked. anyway i have left now so what are you going to do". He then hung up.
I called around and found out the owner of the coach travel business next door "sovereign travel" and he also said he owns the trade name "Odsal Tyre Centre" (the garage where the damage was caused) i asked him about insurance and he said its not his problem its the fitters as he rents the garage from him. But he said he has no insurance for that garage also.
I am meeting the owner of the garage tonight to discuss the damages where he said he wants to see if we can "sort something out"...

Im looking for advice what to do next?

If both refuse to pay up who do i take to court? The fitter, the garage owner/trade name owner?

Am I going about this the right way? i have tried to gather as much evidence as possible with photos from myself in the garage, photos from VW, a statement from the VW tyre technician and body shop manager. I am going to present this to the garage owner and see what he says.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance.

Alex

m0bov

Did you get a receipt? I would be claiming from the company named on the receipt. Do you have legal cover on your car insurance or breakdown?

maninthestreet

The OP will need to tread carefully here...

BJV

WWo not nice.!!!! I really can not give any practical advice except to echo the post that if it was me I would check if I had free legal cover with my motor insurance.


P.s Keep everything. Email yourself the videos and pictures etc.

arcon5

VW are taking the **ss if they think £2k for a plastic skirt and an alloy repair is reasonable!

Take it to a couple of other places for quotes! You'd be expected to mitigate your losses anyway.

I suspect he didn't check what side of the alloy the well was on before putting the tyre on and then struggled getting the tyre to seat properly.