Is he being ripped off, advice please

intranix

If they show you the old clutch, and there's nothing wrong with it, mention trading standards and vosa, or them paying the whole bill. See which one they choose

Bykerlass

david29dpo wrote: »

I did 135000 miles in my last car when i sold it, still on its original clutch. If its not slipping one day, it is not going to slip must the next.

That was what I thought. When he went to pick it up the mechnic said " you never told me there was a problem with the clutch" Son said he knew of no problem as it had been fine now all of a sudden it would not go into gear!

nullogik

It does sound a bit fishy that the clutch was fine when the car went in...when it came out the car wouldn't go into gear.

Dare I say it, but perhaps the garage was having a slow day and decided to make a problem by burning out the clutch to boost the bill a little. It wouldn't be the first time that a garage has invented or made a problem to boost a relatively low bill.

Bykerlass

intranix wrote: »

If they show you the old clutch, and there's nothing wrong with it, mention trading standards and vosa, or them paying the whole bill. See which one they choose

This is sound advice but I guess they won't have the old clutch now as this was last week. Yes I know we should have picked up on it before now but it was not until his brother who is more savvy heard the story that we became more suspicious.
His brother says he will mention trading standards etc but not sure without the old clutch whether this will be of use. But he is going to have a go anyway as it really does sound like he is being conned. :mad:

Bykerlass

nullogik wrote: »

It does sound a bit fishy that the clutch was fine when the car went in...when it came out the car wouldn't go into gear.

Dare I say it, but perhaps the garage was having a slow day and decided to make a problem by burning out the clutch to boost the bill a little. It wouldn't be the first time that a garage has invented or made a problem to boost a relatively low bill.

Yes I agree, it is a small business father and son by the look of it. We are fairly new to this area therefore had no recommendation to go by.

david29dpo

I,am afraid this is very common, you live and learn. Tell every one you will stand long enough about this garage and get them to vote with there feet.

tomstickland

A lot of jumping to conclusions here. The clutch might well have been on its way out. Without seeing the clutch we can't comment.

I did 135000 miles in my last car when i sold

I usually manage 2.5 years on a clutch, that's about 50K.

david29dpo

tomstickland wrote: »

A lot of jumping to conclusions here. The clutch might well have been on its way out. Without seeing the clutch we can't comment.


I usually manage 2.5 years on a clutch, that's about 50K.

Clutches do not work one day and not the next, cable, master or slave cylinders excluded.

Bykerlass

david29dpo wrote: »

Clutches do not work one day and not the next, cable, master or slave cylinders excluded.

Ooh now youv'e lost me, what are master or slave cylinders? Sounds a bit like dominatrix to me

epninety

It may be just a bad description of the fault, but usually when people say it 'won't go into gear', they mean the gearstick won't go to the 'gear selected' position...

If the clutch was 'worn out' then it would go into gear easily, but you wouldn't get any drive i.e. you let the clutch out and it wouldn't go anywhere.

'won't go into gear' suggests failed hydraulics (master cyl/slave cyl/pipework) or (less likely) sudden failure of the clutch, or release mechanism. If the latter, it will be obvious, the parts will be physically broken, not worn out.

Check with your son *exactly* what was the fault demonstrated.