Issues with car repair

Djbrowning

Good evening,

Many thanks for your help/advice regarding this.

I purchased a car in November 2022. The car worked well until it developed a fault in March 2023. I contacted the dealership I purchased the car from and they advised to take it to a local garage.

The issues were
1. Clunking whilst driving
2. No heating in the cabin
3. Check engine light/coolant warning had come on.

The car also had a warranty insurance.
To cut a long story short the issues identified were that

1. Clunking whilst driving - Brake pads and caliper needed replacing
2. No heating in the cabin + Check engine light - a silica bag had burst in the coolant system blocking this up.

Now the garage took approximately 3-4 months to carry out the work required, the communication from them was very poor. Overall the cost came to £1600, but they had carried out work which I had not asked them to/authorised them to do so such as replacing the timing belt (apparently this was a standard thing although the car recently had the timing belt replaced).

Altogether it was covered partly by myself, the warranty and the dealership. The repair garage advised me that they had repaired the coolant issues, brakes and caliper. They advised that there was now some heat in the cabin but this required further investigation to look for a cause.

I was happy with this outcome. I paid my share by credit card.

Since then the coolant warning light has come on 3 times requiring me to top up my coolant with 2-3 litres of coolant. I've contacted the repair garage who advised that this is likely "and air bubble" from where they flushed through the system. They have now not replied to my emails.

Therefore now I'm left with a car that still isn't fully repaired.

Overall I'm extremely disappointed in the garage for 
1. Taking a huge amount of time to repair the car
2. Poor communication
3. Conducting work I didn't ask for/authorise
4. Stating that they have repaired the identified faults but they have not.

I just wanted to see where I stood from a legal point of view. To be honest I don't trust them to take my car back to them for them to repair it.

Aylesbury_Duck

Points 1-3 in your list are now moot, I would think.  You were happy with them at the time, and paid willingly.  Point 4 is where your complaint lies now.  They may be correct that there is air in the system, and if you want any sort of redress, you're going to need to let them look at it.  Otherwise, you'll have to get another mechanic to inspect and diagnose the fault, determine whether it's new or a result of recent work by the first garage (I assume you've just had the car back after the 3-4 months of work on it?) and then pursue the first garage for a repair or the cost of repair elsewhere.

I'd just get them to look at it.  If it is an air lock, it's an easy fix.

tedted

if its a vag group vehicle and the sliaca bag has ruptured they can be a complete pain to sort out ,did they replace the heater matrix/