Two garages but what to do? Help

yellowelise

Car for son going back to Uni
garage 1 changes clutch, exhaust and does service.
car taken to Uni just over 100 miles.
Son on first journey after this notices horrible noise from front.
RAC called and car driven to nearest local garage (garage 2) with RAC following, suspected wheel brg.

garage 2 confirm brg and will investigate and give me a price for the brg replacement prior to doing anything on the car. 

They called back on the day saying that the reason the brg failed is that the previous garage left out a ‘spacer’ for the brg and now they have noticed that the hub is beyond repair and needs replacement also.

I say can you put this in writing as I will need to go back to garage 1, if they left a piece out they need to pay for the repair. They have still not put this in writing but I have no reason to doubt them. 

Garage 1 wants car brought back to them or will sort out with garage 2 if not (all said verbally). They ask can I see if I can get car transported back to them.

I ring garage 2 to check and they say but we have fitted two wheel brgs because in their view the other one had some play in it. 

I did not authorise this additional work, indeed I maintain they should have stopped any work immediately they discovered the issue. I now cannot get the car transported back to Garage 1 as they want payment for the work carried out. 

1. 

I am not happy the work carried out prior to them informing me what was wrong with it
or continuing to do work after they had noticed unless they only noticed whilst repairing. I dont know…….

2.
I don’t want to have to pay for transporting the car back to garage 1 and then having to drive it back to my son and catch a train home, the cost in both money, time and health is too much and it’s not our fault (I am recovering from illness). This is all very stressful.

Can I just ask garage 1 to sort it out with garage 2.

Ayr_Rage

How long have you had the car ?

A normal service would not involve any wheel bearing work, so how are you sure that Garage 1 had anything to do with the issue ?

yellowelise

Garage 1 took the wheels off as part of the repair work done I think when changing the clutch (think that’s what they said) and the spacer got left out when replacing one of them.

Garage 1 have accepted this verbally to my face.

diystarter7

Hi OP

What type of service was it?

I ask because some major services inc that, ie wbr check as does mot  (check what was included in service)

Thanks

[Deleted User]

This sounds like an awful palava for two wheel bearings and a hub.
Perhaps just pay and chalk it up to experience, particularly if it's affecting your health?
Not an ideal solution but sometimes you have to choose your battles...

yellowelise

It was a basic service, oil and stuff, they had MOT, the car in June with no brg advisory.

The brg failed catastrophically due to no spacer being fitted. This could not have happened over a long period of time.

yellowelise

@[Deleted User] Not paying as can’t afford too and is not our fault.

garage 2 is saying it will cost hundreds of pounds. I just don’t have it. 

They are both RAC approved garages, they can sort it out between them at a fraction of the cost to me!

Its the principle, my son did nothing wrong.

SpudGunPaul

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP

What type of service was it?

I ask because some major services inc that, ie wbr check as does mot  (check what was included in service)

Thanks

The wheels don't come off during the mot test. 

Ayr_Rage

yellowelise said:

Garage 1 took the wheels off as part of the repair work done I think when changing the clutch (think that’s what they said) and the spacer got left out when replacing one of them.

Garage 1 have accepted this verbally to my face.

OK, having non-standard wheels on a car that require spacers could also have insurance implications, another avenue worth checking.

diystarter7, the OP had just said what happened, Garage 1 made a mistake, it's now just a matter of how it is resolved and and who pays who !

diystarter7

yellowelise said:

Not paying as can’t afford too

garage 2 is saying it will cost hundreds of pounds. I just don’t have it. 

Hi

Minor service may not inc it

Not having a go at you, but when someone has a car, you need money in the bank/etc to look after it or its off the road.

With any car, even a reltively new one when out of warranty or not covered by warranty etc, things can go wrong

Sorry, cant help, you need to decide your next steps

Good luck