Car has been in garage for over a month - say they are looking for a part but give us no updates

Simone_F

Hello, 
I'm looking for a bit of advice on what to do about our car that has been sat in the garage for over a month. 
My husband took our car to get the timing belt changed around a month ago and the garage said this job would take a couple of days max. The garage called us a few days after we dropped the car off and told us that they had broken something while they were changing the timing belt and they needed to buy a new part to fix it. They explained they are having difficulties because volvo has closed because of the coronavirus lockdown - but they are looking in other places (ebay, online parts shops etc).

We have rang weekly to ask if there has been any progress - and they say they will call us when they have found the part. But they have never once initiated a call to us to give us an update in the last month. We asked whether they could tell us what part they need and were told they need a washer for the fuel filter hose - but haven't given as anymore information than that. When I search online for "fuel filter hose volvo s40" -  I can see lots of results on ebay and other sites - but because I really don't know much about cars I don't know whether I have found the right part or the right washer they need to fix the leak. 

I have suggested to my husband that we call other garages to see if they have the part and whether they could get the car fixed, but my husband explained that this leak means we cannot drive the car - and if we were to move the car we would need to pay for a lorry to pick it up.My husband also said that because this damage was caused by the garage while changing the timing belt that they should be the ones to pay for this, and if we move to another garage then we would have to foot the bill. 

I know it is lockdown and that parts are probably hard to come by right now - but their lack of communication is starting to annoy me. It's coming up to 5 weeks now - and I really want our car back. Is there anything we can do? 
Thanks in advance for any advice. 
S

AdrianC

"Fuel filter hose Volvo S40" is going to find a lot of bits - and they certainly won't all be for the same car as you've got. There's been two completely different generations of car sold with that badge on, each with a wide variety of engines available. If you want to do any parallel sourcing, you're going to need a lot more detail, ideally a part number.

What can you do? Ask VolvoUK to re-open their parts supply...? Or maybe the delay is with Volvo Sweden...? Or maybe the delay is with Volvo Sweden's parts supplier?

fred246

Dishonesty is the norm for garages so unfortunately you have no idea what is happening. Garages often do damage parts that you don't expect. I call that collateral damage. They can do serious damage to your engine if they get a timing belt wrong which they sometimes do. They would then have to repair the engine and they might not want to tell you. Unfortunately you just have to keep pestering them. The only suggestion is to threaten them that you will hire a car and send them the bill. If they didn't pay the bill you could take them to court and it would be up to the judge to rule whether the delay was acceptable or not.

shaun_from_Africa

fred246 said:

Dishonesty is the norm for garages so unfortunately you have no idea what is happening. 

Maybe dishonesty is only the norm for garages that are used to dealing with someone as blinkered and biased as you seem to be.
I've been driving for well in excess of 40 years and in that time I've taken my vehicles to a very wide range of different garages and I've only ever come across one place that I would class as acting dishonestly.

mcpitman

fred246 said:

Dishonesty is the norm for garages so unfortunately you have no idea what is happening. 

Will this verbal diarrhea ever end?

fred246

Call me old fashioned but I thought the job of a garage was to fix a car and then give it back to the customer. I do my own timing belts. I have never broken anything. I have never taken more than 4 hours but I do take a lot of time studying the youtube video the night before. If you get them wrong you can cause serious engine damage which is why I insist on doing my own to make sure the job is done properly. I have a relative you took his to the main dealer for it's first cambelt change. It snapped the day after and that was the end of the car. If you google it you'll find it's quite common. They told him that it was his fault. The tensioner had broken. He had only asked for a cambelt change and hadn't asked them to change the tensioner. Garages will tell you all sorts of stories. Hopefully they are just waiting for the part. If they've messed up and damaged your engine they will have to fix it but sometimes they put a replacement engine in instead. I am just hoping for your sake that they haven't done that.

AdrianC

Thank you for confirming just how narrow your experience is, Fred. There's a lot of cambelts take a LOT longer than 4hrs, even for manufacturer-trained pros on a ramp in a fully equipped workshop. I s'pose if they insisted on changing the water pump as well, you'd call that a scam?

fred246

Like lots of things there will be variation. I am a bit quicker than most mechanics. I would say 5 weeks is a little excessive. Have you any help for the OP? They would like their car back.

452

fred246 said:

Like lots of things there will be variation. I am a bit quicker than most mechanics. I would say 5 weeks is a little excessive. Have you any help for the OP? They would like their car back.

Have you any help for the OP?

The only advice you ever give is watch YouTube and diy. 

AdrianC

fred246 said:

Like lots of things there will be variation. I am a bit quicker than most mechanics. I would say 5 weeks is a little excessive. Have you any help for the OP? They would like their car back.

Did you even get as far as reading the first comment on this thread...?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77169238/#Comment_77169238

Mr Youtube grovelling in the gravel is quicker than pros with ramps in fully equipped workshops. Bless. You just don't even begin to understand how clueless you sound, do you?

Scrapit

fred246 said:

Like lots of things there will be variation. I am a bit quicker than most mechanics. I would say 5 weeks is a little excessive. Have you any help for the OP? They would like their car back.

Hiw do you know you are quicker than "most" mechanics? You havent been near one in years. Also what do you know as a part timer that they as a professional dont?