Should the garage pay?

RFJK925

So my girlfriends car broke down last night with no warning and had to be recovered. It has been looked at today and found the timing belt has came loose.

Now just wondering where she stands as she has receipts for the timing belt being changed in April and if done correctly it definitely shouldn't come loose so soon. So my thinking is the garage should be responsible for fixing it free of charge? 

[Deleted User]

What guarantee on workmanship did they give?

Legally you would have a decent case at small claims court, but before that you need to ask them to pay for it and your other costs like hire cars etc.

forgotmyname

Depends why it came loose. If a part that was not changed failed then it will depend on what was said.  Did they give an estimate
to change everything or is it a belt swap only?

What work did they do?  Who said what at the time of booking it in?

RFJK925

Yeah problem is it was done by previous owner a month before she bought the car. The invoice states water pump and timing belt kit changed so at a guess I'd say all bolts, tensioner etc will have been changed as part of the 'timing belt kit'. Going to phone them tomorrow and see what they will offer to do

MattMattMattUK

RFJK925 said:

Yeah problem is it was done by previous owner a month before she bought the car. The invoice states water pump and timing belt kit changed so at a guess I'd say all bolts, tensioner etc will have been changed as part of the 'timing belt kit'. Going to phone them tomorrow and see what they will offer to do

I suspect that the garage will offer nothing as they will be aware that you have no rights against them.

Did your partner stop driving when the EML came on or keep driving until the car stopped running?

RFJK925

MattMattMattUK said:

RFJK925 said:

Yeah problem is it was done by previous owner a month before she bought the car. The invoice states water pump and timing belt kit changed so at a guess I'd say all bolts, tensioner etc will have been changed as part of the 'timing belt kit'. Going to phone them tomorrow and see what they will offer to do

I suspect that the garage will offer nothing as they will be aware that you have no rights against them.

Did your partner stop driving when the EML came on or keep driving until the car stopped running?

That's what I'm worried about, just don't see how the belt should slip or move less than 2k miles and 4 month after being done.

No EML light came on, she had just left a clients house got 30 seconds down the road when the car started to judder then cut out. Praying the engine can be salvaged but I don't have much faith in that being the case. 

Jenni_D

Unfortunately as she didn't contract with the garage for the work then she has no claim against them. She might have a claim against the seller - but if this was a private sale then this is unlikely.

MattMattMattUK

RFJK925 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

RFJK925 said:

Yeah problem is it was done by previous owner a month before she bought the car. The invoice states water pump and timing belt kit changed so at a guess I'd say all bolts, tensioner etc will have been changed as part of the 'timing belt kit'. Going to phone them tomorrow and see what they will offer to do

I suspect that the garage will offer nothing as they will be aware that you have no rights against them.

Did your partner stop driving when the EML came on or keep driving until the car stopped running?

That's what I'm worried about

Unfortunately it is the legal position, something which they will be well aware off if they any knowledge of their obligations, take advice, or even a cursory Google.

RFJK925 said:
just don't see how the belt should slip or move less than 2k miles and 4 month after being done.

Not fitted properly, not fitted at all (but invoiced for), manufacturing fault in the belt or the tensioners, engine seizing due to lack of oil snapping the belt etc.  However none of that really matters as you have no rights against the garage.

RFJK925 said:

No EML light came on, she had just left a clients house got 30 seconds down the road when the car started to judder then cut out. Praying the engine can be salvaged but I don't have much faith in that being the case. 

Sounds like it might be what would be regarded as a catastrophic failure of the belt, that does not mean loads of damage, but it generally means the belt has gone quickly, in one go. Normally the belt gets loose and might slip a bit first, resulting in the EML coming on due to timing issues and loss of power first. Any damage depends on the engine as some engines are less prone to damage and luck, but a garage should be able to tell fairly quickly.