RAC call out & misdiagnosis of fault - can I claim the cost of uneccessary repairs back?

HHarry

Mildly_Miffed said:

HHarry said:

But they’ve given a ‘diagnosis’ and it’s not unreasonable for the average Customer to trust that.

I will bet you that that diagnosis is covered in caveats.

The garage certainly should not have blithely trusted it.

It's the job of minutes to see if the issue is alternator or starter or both.

1.  Totally agree

2.  Probably not

3.  I’d challenge minutes.  I’m not saying the garage shouldn’t be checking the ‘diagnosis’, but they’re not going to do it for free.  And I can understand that a Customer might be reticent to pay for 30-60 minutes labour when they’ve got a report that tells them what the problem is.

born_again

nero33 said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

This is not an RAC issue. If they'd done the work, it might be.

What did you say EXACTLY to the garage?

If you said "the alternator has died, replace the alternator", and they replaced the alternator, it's a you issue. They did what you told them to.

If you said "it broke down with a burning smell and smoke and this is the RAC's report from the roadside", and they replaced the alternator without doing any further diagnosis, then it's a them issue. They failed to identify the issue 

I showed him the RAC report. I don't know enough about cars to tell a garage what to do

The garage should know enough not to blindly follow a report from a 3rd party... 
Or they saw you coming & thought cash cow incoming.

So avoid them going forward, as they are clearly not worthy of being called a garage.

nero33

I appreciate the replies.  Unfortunately I don't understand cars, starter motors, alternators and the jargon that one or 2 of you are using is baffling me even further.

Seems like no one thinks the misdiagnosis from the RAC patrolman counts for anything.  And yes. I know they'll have hundreds of disclaimers in their T&C's.

I'll pursue the matter with the RAC using their complaints procedure and see where it gets me.

Grey_Critic

We can only express OUR OWN opinions. Just like the RAC mechanic did. You might also consider that both parts were actually faulty -Not unknown.

Mildly_Miffed

nero33 said:

I appreciate the replies.  Unfortunately I don't understand cars, starter motors, alternators and the jargon that one or 2 of you are using is baffling me even further.

What jargon? Tell us, and we'll explain.

On the vast majority of cars...
The alternator is at one end of the engine, connected to the engine by a rubber belt, and turns engine power into electricity all the time the engine is running.
The starter motor is at the other end of the engine, connected to the engine by metal gears, and turns electricity into engine rotation for a second or two while the engine is actively being started.

Seems like no one thinks the misdiagnosis from the RAC patrolman counts for anything

Because the RAC didn't do any other work other than have a look then recover the car.
The garage should not have relied on the RAC's diagnosis without further diagnosis of their own.

There is one other possible situation, which hasn't so far been mentioned...
What car are we talking about? Is it a hybrid? The reason I ask is that some hybrids don't actually have separate starters and alternators. They have one combined electric motor-generator which does both jobs... But if the garage replaced the alternator THEN found the starter duff, I don't think that'll apply.

But we are slightly playing Chinese Whispers, with everything translated through you, despite you freely admitting you don't actually know what's what.

WellKnownSid

nero33 said:

I appreciate the replies.  Unfortunately I don't understand cars, starter motors, alternators and the jargon that one or 2 of you are using is baffling me even further.

Seems like no one thinks the misdiagnosis from the RAC patrolman counts for anything.  And yes. I know they'll have hundreds of disclaimers in their T&C's.

I'll pursue the matter with the RAC using their complaints procedure and see where it gets me.

Were you not offered a diagnostic from the garage?

Normally what happens is that the AA or RAC recover a vehicle, most garages will then insist on a diagnostic - which comes with a cost (£140).  The customer will refuse it because 'it's already been diagnosed' and will tell the garage 'RAC says it's module X, so just replace module X'.  They then spend £800 changing unnecessary parts followed by the diagnostic anyway (£140) which identified a broken wire which is then repaired (£0).

Mildly_Miffed

WellKnownSid said:

Normally what happens is that the AA or RAC recover a vehicle, most garages will then insist on a diagnostic - which comes with a cost (£140).

That'd be less than an hour at main dealer rates.

Ibrahim5

In my time I have seen some incompetence from mechanics. Those in recovery trucks take incompetence to a higher level than I previously imagined anyone could reach. They are really totally clueless in my experience.

WellKnownSid

Mildly_Miffed said:

WellKnownSid said:

Normally what happens is that the AA or RAC recover a vehicle, most garages will then insist on a diagnostic - which comes with a cost (£140).

That'd be less than an hour at main dealer rates.

To be honest wouldn’t know - my son works for our local Bavarian motor company so we pay £40 an hour close-family rates.

MEM62

nero33 said:

Seems like no one thinks the misdiagnosis from the RAC patrolman counts for anything.  

It actually doesn't and you are missing or ignoring the reason that it does not.  The garage, who are the ones that actually did the work and charged you for should NOT have made any repairs to your car until THEY have confirmed what the probelm was.  They should NOT reply on a report from a third party.  

I feel that you just want to go after the RAC regardless of any opinion you are being given here when clearly your issue is with the repairing garage.