Garage damaged my car

pcajones2

I'm just looking for a bit of advice.  I took my car into a service to the same garage which passed my MOT two months ago.  They said they broke through the chassis when lifting it due to the rust underneath and have said this alone will cost £400.  The rust wasn't mentioned in the MOT, and I want to know why they didn't check for rust before raising the car and causing this damage. Any advice?  Thanks

JJ_Egan

Garage cannot check for everything before starting work .

pcajones2

Thanks.  So is your advice that I should accept it?  I appreciate they can't check everything but if its rusty enough for them to go through the floor wouldn't that be easily visible? And wouldn't lots of rust come up on the MOT?  Also, when they raise a car, don't they raise it by the wheels or by the rocker panels under the car, rather than straight under the chassis?

Herzlos

The MOT is a visual inspection, and the car may have been up on ramps (held by the wheels). If there wasn't obvious rust, then it'd pass. The MOT is a pretty basic "this car isn't obviously dangerous" test, not a comprehensive "this car is perfect" test.

This time,the garage is presumably lifting it by the lifting points on the sills (held by the body), presumably to remove a wheel.

Assuming the sills seemed ok at the time and the car was lifted properly, then it's not the garages fault.

Indeed if the rust is that bad you should be glad it broke on the lift and not on the road.

Flight3287462

What is the age of the car?

caprikid1

AFlight3287462 said:

What is the age of the car?

and Model , miles etc. Many car chassis rails can absolutely rust from the inside out, MX5s are notorious for it.

Thesaltmustflow

Maybe the thread title should have read 'Garage found significant rust on my car, is the price they are quoting me to fix it reasonable?'

Also there are a few different types of ramps ( I know my adapted car won't go on the 4 pillar ramp as it catches but will go on the 2 pillar ramp with the extending arms) but I digress, ultimately car needs fixing or scrapping depending on economical viability, garage didn't cause the problem but have done you a favour finding the problem.