Seeking compensation from mobile tyre fitter for damaged locking wheel nut/bolt

JDM84

Hi All,

I hope this is the right board to post on. I have the following issue.A mobile tyre fitter has attempted a tyre change on my car, but failed and broke the locking wheel nut in the process - in such a way that part of it became stuck in one of the bolts.

The refunded me the payment for the order. I've asked them to confirm they will cover the cost of the new locking wheel nut/bolts set as well as the remedial work to get the damaged bolt removed.

They agreed to pay for the key/bolts set, but refused to cover the work on the back of the damage, claiming the bolts were overtightened. They used phrasing such as, I quote:

"As he attempted to remove the locking nut from the wheel, it was clear the nuts were excessively overtightened and caused the key to break".

The whole response is in the same vain - claims absolving them of their responsibility, without providing any evidence on those claims.
What would be the most effective route for me to follow to try and get that covered?

Appreciate the help!

waamo

How much will it cost to fix?

BoGoF

You would need to show they were somehow negligent. Can you? Was it you own locking wheel key?

Sometimes stuff happens and it is no-ones fault.

mluton

I've had garages ask before they attempted to remove the locking nut, saying this may break, do you want me to proceed.

If this had broke it would have been on me. Its bad they didn't ask, but I don't feel this is the garages fault in any way IMHO.

Jumblebumble

JDM84 wrote: »

Hi All,

I hope this is the right board to post on. I have the following issue.A mobile tyre fitter has attempted a tyre change on my car, but failed and broke the locking wheel nut in the process - in such a way that part of it became stuck in one of the bolts.

The refunded me the payment for the order. I've asked them to confirm they will cover the cost of the new locking wheel nut/bolts set as well as the remedial work to get the damaged bolt removed.

They agreed to pay for the key/bolts set, but refused to cover the work on the back of the damage, claiming the bolts were overtightened. They used phrasing such as, I quote:

"As he attempted to remove the locking nut from the wheel, it was clear the nuts were excessively overtightened and caused the key to break".

The whole response is in the same vain - claims absolving them of their responsibility, without providing any evidence on those claims.
What would be the most effective route for me to follow to try and get that covered?

Appreciate the help!

You dont have an effective route
You asked them to remove the wheel.
You supplied them with a car which either had defective wheelnuts or they had been overtightened by someone else
Your car Your problem
If I were the the tyre mechanic I would tell you to jog on as well.

Lomast

A fairly common occurence, I used to work oposit a garage and we would remove 3-4 a month after failed removals due to nuts being over tightened.
There are special bang on nuts garages can use but they are expensive, we just used to weld an m12 or m16 nut on the damaged bolt

The_Rainmaker

Locking wheel nuts are a total pain. I think you will need to suck it up OP.

JDM84

BoGoF wrote: »

You would need to show they were somehow negligent. Can you? Was it you own locking wheel key?

Sometimes stuff happens and it is no-ones fault.

Well they're claiming the locking wheelnuts were overtightened, and claim they were done with an airgun.
The thing is, I only use mobile fitters who do it "by hand" or the manufacturer's dealer garage, who do it to the right torque. Basically their response is quite dismissive and doesn't stack up.
For a bit more context, the fitter was late and in a hurry so there was a possibility it was an error due to him being in a hurry.
The retailer normally charges a callout fee if they can't fit and it's not their fault - they have not attempted it; they were also very quick to refund the order amount. That's not conclusive by any means of course but it begs the question if they do believe their version.

mluton wrote: »

I've had garages ask before they attempted to remove the locking nut, saying this may break, do you want me to proceed.

If this had broke it would have been on me. Its bad they didn't ask, but I don't feel this is the garages fault in any way IMHO.

That would've been fair enough - but there was no mention of that, hence why I looked like they try to fob me off.

Jumblebumble wrote: »

You dont have an effective route
You asked them to remove the wheel.
You supplied them with a car which either had defective wheelnuts or they had been overtightened by someone else
Your car your problem
If I were the the tyre mechanic I would tell you to jog on as well.

No offense, but that response is completely pointless. You have no clue if my wheelnuts are defective, tightened properly or not. I started the thread as I obviously have reasons to believe they're just using it as an excuse.
I'm looking for advice if any of the consumer protection organisations or maybe the small claims court are possible next steps. Wild guesses & unfounded assumptions about the wheelnuts are completely not useful in my situation.

Last but not least, a bit more info - the full labour + parts to sort this out will probably be nearly £400.
I'm getting it done at the dealer's garage, I've also requested they check if the wheelnuts are tightened properly or not - so I can get the facts straight and documented. I'd appreciate advice what to do if my suspicions are right - thanks in advance!

Jumblebumble

JDM84 wrote: »

Well they're claiming the locking wheelnuts were overtightened, and claim they were done with an airgun.
The thing is, I only use mobile fitters who do it "by hand" or the manufacturer's dealer garage, who do it to the right torque. Basically their response is quite dismissive and doesn't stack up.
For a bit more context, the fitter was late and in a hurry so there was a possibility it was an error due to him being in a hurry.
The retailer normally charges a callout fee if they can't fit and it's not their fault - they have not attempted it; they were also very quick to refund the order amount. That's not conclusive by any means of course but it begs the question if they do believe their version.



That would've been fair enough - but there was no mention of that, hence why I looked like they try to fob me off.



No offense, but that response is completely pointless. You have no clue if my wheelnuts are defective, tightened properly or not. I started the thread as I obviously have reasons to believe they're just using it as an excuse.
I'm looking for advice if any of the consumer protection organisations or maybe the small claims court are possible next steps. Wild guesses & unfounded assumptions about the wheelnuts are completely not useful in my situation.

Last but not least, a bit more info - the full labour + parts to sort this out will probably be nearly £400.
I'm getting it done at the dealer's garage, I've also requested they check if the wheelnuts are tightened properly or not - so I can get the facts straight and documented. I'd appreciate advice what to do if my suspicions are right - thanks in advance!

I don't take any offence but
No one will be able to say what the state of the broken wheel nut was before It broke.
No one short of a metallurgy report will state if it was of the correct strength
No one will be able to say if an apprentice on a bonus scheme in your main dealer did or did not tighten up that single wheel nut to the correct torque .and you are making wild assumptions that all main dealers do work 100% to the book
( FYI they don't)

You need proof of negligence and unfortunately i cant see you have any at all
I am trying to help out this into real world context because it has occurred to me the fitter may tell the small claims court that he has worked on thousands of wheel-nuts in his career and has never encountered this problem previously

Fosterdog

If the dealers garage is charging you £400 to fix this then you are being taken for a ride. We've had to replace locking nuts on a few different cars and the new nuts and keys cost between £15-£50 depending on what you want/need and then drilling the old nuts off even if all four need doing would be a maximum of one hours labour charge, some garages only charge per wheel at £5-£10, it takes them just a few minutes to do.

What has happened to your car is relatively common

bris

To be fair, how is it fair to blame the fitter for your faulty wheel nut key, it broke because it wasn't adequate to get an over tightened nut off.


On a side note getting stuck locking bolts off is pretty easy with a bit of knowledge.


I did 4 Ford ones that has the spinning collars in under an hour. A sharp chisel between the collar and the nut snaps the collar off then a 21mm socket hammered onto the bolt does the trick. There are no locking nuts that can't be easily removed. There are lots of cheap specialist tools to do the job. £400 yeah right....