Garage failed to repair my car

Geneygene

My car broke down and the AA towed it to my local garage.  The turbo had gone and needed a new one. Quote was £2500. Once new (reconditioned) turbo was fitted, the car still had issues. The garage have now had it almost 8 weeks trying all
sorts of things to
mend it but have now admitted they cannot find the issue and I’m
now stuck with a bill that hasn’t sorted the problem and a car that I now cannot sell for it’s value if it had been mended. 

A point also for consideration, during the original diagnostics, the garage said it needed a new DPF (or filter, not sure) which could
only be bought from
a main dealer (Volvo) - I called Volvo and they confirmed this was correct and they are £1600. The garage said they could do a cheaper option of “knocking it out”. He said it’s illegal for him to do it but not illegal for me to have it done but it would
cost significantly less so I opted for that as he made very clear after me asking 3 times it was not illegal for me. 

I have since had the car towed to Volvo to see what they would give me in part ex A. In its current state and B. If I were to keep
paying to have it sorted. They won’t take the car at all and advised me to sell at WBAC or an auction and they said the work carried out by the garage “goes against the grain” of what they would have done. (Volvo originally offered me £10k in part ex on the assumption the new turbo sorted the problem) 

1.  Are the garage entitled to charge me given they have not the fixed the problem. 

2. Is it an offence for me to not declare the issue to someone like We Buy Any Car 
3. can I get in trouble for allowing the garage to knock out the DPF 

my big problem, I was getting 10k for my car. Im now only going to get maybe 6/7 at best but then maybe half of that is going to the garage which means I’m ending up with next to nothing with something that  was either £10k a few weeks ago. 

Does anyone have any suggestions that might help? 

Thank you and sorry the post was so long. 

WellKnownSid

What car is this, age, mileage?

What exactly happened, as much detail as possible, what exactly are the symptoms / issues now?

If the garage did the work (which you agreed to), then they are allowed to charge you for it.

No-one will come and arrest you if you have a DPF delete - although it seems to me it's anyone's guess whether it will even fix the issue.

Geneygene

Thanks Sid - it’s an XC60 R Design with 111k miles. The car all of a sudden was blowing white smoke. So we pulled in called AA and got towed to garage. Garage said turbo has gone. So we agreed to replace. But once done, they said the car had no power. So he replaced battery saying that would fix and didn’t. Then he replaced a fuel rail said that would fix and didn’t. (All this after deleting the DPF) he tried a number of other things (not sure what as the list seems endless). From what I understand, it’s still blowing smoke intermittently and there is little power until it reaches 3000 revs. He’d mentioned initially a chemical wash but couldn’t do as the DPF was shot which is why he knocked it out. 

The Volvo dealership have in professional terms basically said “they wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole” after everything it’s gone through and that possibly all of its problems could be a result of damage when the turbo went, but some could be caused by the garage not having sufficient capability to do the job but he was careful not to slag them off. 

So the symptoms are intermittent smoking and lack
of power with initial driving. 

Geneygene

@WellKnownSid sorry I should have also have said it’s a 2017 model. 

chrisw

It's not an offence as such to not declare it to the likes of WBAC but they will want to test drive it and I'm sure their terms say they can reverse the transaction if they find a hidden major fault.

Try posting on the Volvo forums, they're usually very helpful.
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=187

boxosox

A six year old car with 111k miles on the clock?!  No wonder Volvo wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.  

Dave_5150

Not sure why they told you it wasn't illegal: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diesel-particulate-filters-guidance-note/diesel-particulate-filters#legal-requirements-and-the-mot-test

tl;dr Removal of a DPF will almost invariably contravene the Road vehicles (construction and use) regulations (Regulation 61a(3)) requirements, making the vehicle illegal for road use.

Geneygene

@Dave_5150 oh Flippin heck. I’ve just read the article Thankyou for sending me it. I honestly just don’t know which way to turn with this now. 

Goudy

Find a reputable local diesel specialist.

By the sounds of it you've let the butchers have a good go at it, it's now time to take it to the experts. 

WellKnownSid

Goudy said:

Find a reputable local diesel specialist.

By the sounds of it you've let the butchers have a good go at it, it's now time to take it to the experts. 

Yep 100% this.

Geneygene

@GoudyBy the sounds of it you've let the butchers have a good go at it, it's now time to take it to the experts - yes I think you must be right although this Garage has been there years and I take it there for it’s MOT so I had no reason to believe I would end up in a mess. Im
loathed to spend anymore on it as I’ve bought a new car so regardless I am selling this one. I just don’t know how best to go about it to try and protect as much value as I can  I don’t want to stitch anyone up
pretending it’s something it’s not, but I just don’t know what’s best to do. Originally the AA were towing to Volvo dealership but it was a Sunday night and they had a right faff about where to leave the keys which is why it ended up going to this other garage which is nearer to where we live. We niavely thought “at least they will be cheaper than a main dealership”. And as I am very un knowledgeable about cars, I now find myself in a right mess and hugely out of pocket.