Should we have to pay for this or should the garage?

room512

We took our car today to have a new tyre fitted. Whilst the mechanic was putting the locking wheel nut back on he snapped the key. So now we have a wheel with the nut in place with the key stuck over it (if that makes sense).
The mechanic told us what had happened and said I needed to take the car to the dealership to have the key removed as he didn't have the tools to do it and buy a new set of locking nuts as we no longer have a key as it is jammed on to the nut.
The mechanic said the key was obviously weak and worn out. The car is seven years old.
I am just annoyed that I now have to pay for the key to be removed and a new set of locking wheel nuts when we hadn't done anything. He managed to use the key to take the nut off in the first place. He said that he hadn't applied too much torque (was doing it by hand). So should I argue with the garage that replaced the wheel or is it just bad luck? Thanks for any help.

Apodemus

Sorry to hear of your problem. Locking wheel nuts do have a finite life and on an older car, unless you have fancy wheels or live in a high crime area, you are probably better replacing the locking nuts with normal ones.

I would have expected any decent tyre place to manage to get the lock nut and key back off for you, so that all you would need to do is order a replacement. If they have refused to do that, chalk it up to experience, tell all your friends and never darken their doorstep again.

flashg67

Difficult to say 00%. I fitted tyres for a living years ago and occasionally a lock nut would just 'fail'. Whether through through wear or heavy handedness is difficult to prove, If he was doing it by hand, I'd err on the side of wear/bad luck. especially on a year old car.
If it's a chain with a head office, worth a try to get them to cover some costs?
Many manufacturers provide the dealer with a master set of keys so they can easily remove and replace with a new set. Or if you have the key number, order a new set.
It shouldn't be too difficult to remove the one stuck key to get access

marlot

I swap my wife's wheels each year (winter tyres on the other set). All the locking wheel nuts on her 2013 car have gradually failed. Never used an airgun on them, and only ever done up to the right torque.

Just one of those things.

vikingaero

If every garage/tyre dealer had to pay for removing and replacing failed locking nuts then the cost would be added to all our bills. It happens sometimes.

I swapped the wheels on my car for the winter set and the locking nut failed. I don't have air tools and was doing it by hand. Luckily I was attempting to remove a wheel when it failed. Looking at the McGard style lock nut, it is a standard stainless steel nut with a flower design key lock that mates to the pattern on the bolt. The flower design key looked badly welded inside the nut and is made from a very soft metal. The metal pattern had detached and I could bend it with my fingers.

I drove to the dealer a few miles away and borrowed their master set to find the right key and remove the locking nuts on my car and purchased some standard bolts to replace them. The parts guy was very helpful and showed me some of the nuts in their master set that were broken.

Alloy theft does happen still but nowhere on the scale that it used to as most cars come fitted with alloys.

Nodding_Donkey

vikingaero wrote: »

If every garage/tyre dealer had to pay for removing and replacing failed locking nuts then the cost would be added to all our bills. It happens sometimes.

This.

But it seems to be the nature of the beast that everything that goes wrong on a car is blamed on 'the garage'

room512

Thanks for everyone's answers. I will take it to a dealer and get it sorted. Was just miffed yesterday that it had happened and now have to sort it ASAP in case I get a puncture. One of the joys of owning a car I suppose. I wasn't trying to blame the garage I had no idea that the key could fail and that they 'wore' out. It was a genuine query and I accept fully that I need to cover the cost. I didn't moan at the garage yesterday but when I got home I was thinking about it and not knowing much about locking wheel nuts decided to ask the question.

vikingaero

room512 wrote: »

Thanks for everyone's answers. I will take it to a dealer and get it sorted. Was just miffed yesterday that it had happened and now have to sort it ASAP in case I get a puncture. One of the joys of owning a car I suppose.

It's one of those unfortunate costs of motoring that we all have to bear once in a while - debris in road, nails/screws in tyres, chipped windscreens, door dings in car parks etc.

Hoof_Hearted

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

This.

But it seems to be the nature of the beast that everything that goes wrong on a car is blamed on 'the garage'

I thought the OP was being pretty fair minded about the whole thing, hence the question.

patman99

My old mechanic had a set of 12 keys for locking wheel nuts. They fitted every locking wheel nut in use and were purchased on ebay.

I did once help a Renualt owning workmate who's wheel nut key had snappedd. My Vauxhall one fitted perfectly.

rich13348

patman99 wrote: »

My old mechanic had a set of 12 keys for locking wheel nuts. They fitted every locking wheel nut in use and were purchased on ebay.

I did once help a Renualt owning workmate who's wheel nut key had snappedd. My Vauxhall one fitted perfectly.

Well that makes me feel better about having locking wheel nuts on my alloy wheels.