Garage might have broken my car...

A_Lert

Based on the facts you've stated, in theory the garage should be liable. As I see it they have either a) fitted a new accessory belt that very quickly snapped, or b) not fitted a new belt and left the old one in a state where it was about to snap. Either way, their fault. But if it turns into a he-said she-said and they lie through their teeth they could get away with it.


I wouldn't have had it towed back to the same garage. Agree with a PP, it gives them the chance to hide evidence. Do you have anything in writing from the AA about what the fault was?



I really hope the accessory belt snapping hasn't damaged the timing belt.

Norman_Castle

The new belt could have snapped because it was overtightened or the wrong belt was used.

A local car shop supplied me various belts, all were either too long or too short despite these being the only on offer in their parts book and shown as correct. They said they'd had the same problem with Transit vans with the belts needing to be forced on. I went to GSF who supplied the correct belt at a size which didn't exist in the previous suppliers book.


Timing belts are behind a cover to prevent them being damaged by external obstructions.

alan_d

Which model Volvo and which engine?
The one-way alternator pulley can fail, but that usually just causes the belt to make a drumming noise, highly unlikely to cause a breakage, especially in such a short time.
FYI there is no manual tension adjustment, it's a spring-loaded auto adjuster on pretty much every model built in the last 20+ years.
The belt idler bearings can fail, and cause the aux belt to get thrown off. On some versions of the D5 engine (and probably others) this can end up going through the timing belt cover and forcing that belt off too, causing catastrophic damage.
Thick-fit SHOULD have checked each idler bearing while the belt was off, and insisted these were changed also - I would say there is no doubt that they are liable for the 2nd (expensive) failure.

ratrace

Norman_Castle wrote: »

The new belt could have snapped because it was overtightened.

Not sure about this as most cars now are self tensioning, get a long spanner on the tensioner pull and belt loose easy to come off and same thing with putting it on this is providing like you said the correct belt was used

if an incorrect belt was used then yeah i can see it coming of

AdrianC

I wonder if whatever caused the belt to break last time did it again... and the first time, the OP was simply lucky...?

But we're all guessing.

BurnsieUK

Well... Still none the wiser. I left my car with them just before 11:30 and they said it was next on the ramp.

I have not heard from them since that point nor have I been able to get hold of anyone on the phone

BurnsieUK

So they phoned and said everything is working.... Ie they can't work out what it why the new belt snapped.

Their "advanced" mechanic is on holiday and they might have to get someone from out of area.

Any ideas what my rights are now? I guess I can get my car back and get it to another garage... But this will all be at my expense...

waamo

If everything is working why do you need to take it somewhere else? If it's just to work out why a belt snapped I doubt anyone would be able to say if everything is now running normally

rawhammered

Ive never understood why people refer to businesses as a “well known high street...” whoever rather than just name them. What are you afraid of? What do you think is going to happen by naming them? It’s odd behaviour.

AdrianC

BurnsieUK wrote: »

So they phoned and said everything is working.... Ie they can't work out what it why the new belt snapped.

And I presume that there's no additional bill...?

Seems the cambelt was fine after all, eh?

Any ideas what my rights are now? I guess I can get my car back and get it to another garage... But this will all be at my expense...

Umm, I thought it was fixed?