Duty of care

Bettyenglish

Hi, first time posting but at my wits end and wondered if anyone had any tips. In nutshell, car faulted in January with engine light on and limp mode....took to garage immediately to specifically diagnose and fix fault. Garage is independent business but are member of trade assoc and make claims on website about having diagnostic software capabilities and ability to do full diagnosis etc. After six months of trying and failing to fix fault (they don't have the diagnostic software they claim to have it would seem and actually rely on mechanical investigation/trial and error) garage failed and told me to go elsewhere which I did and fault has now been diagnosed. I spent £1700 with first garage whilst they tried everything from changing sensors etc, timing belt, EGR valve, major service, engine flush etc. They said each time, this would fix fault. It didn't. I went to ombudsman to try and get some of money back as I can't afford to finish fixes now it needs to complete job but adjudicator says garage not at fault as they can't be held to same standard as dealership and car needed all that extra work.....but my argument is that car didn't need extra work and garage failed to diagnose and fix the fault which was the sole reason it went in to them in first place. The extra work didn't fix fault (just gave them more money from me) and I wasn't shown any of the parts that were allegedly broken and had to be replaced. Surely reasonable skill and care is needed and is same whether garage is independent or dealership? Has anyone else experienced this and what is my next step in process if ombudsman agrees with adjudicator and take side of garage....feeling have been treated so unfairly, am unsupported by process that I thought was independent and am so stressed so any tips would be great.

SomethingAboutMoney

If I had an engine fault I would either take it to the dealership or a trusted garage.

Maybe you could point out that they claimed to have software to diagnose faults which turned out to be false advertising.

ohreally

Did you go to ombudsman or trade association?

foxy-stoat

Some of the work you stated is normal servicing - so I wouldnt waste more time on getting your money back for the full £1700 - I would put it down to experience.

If its taken you 6 months to finally come on here then you probably have little hope anyway - I would of taken it to a main dealer after the first "fix" failed. Have you taken it to a main dealer for a diagnostic check?

What car is it and what is the fault?

System

Diagnostic software much of the time doesn't actually identify the problem, merely it reports what the engine management thinks is the problem and that can be a red herring quite often. One of the reasons for the rise in complaints is that mechanics today rely too much on what the computer says so end up not fixing the actual issue which a bit of mechanical diagnosis coupled with experience would suss out.