Car garage have had my car for over 4 months

Hellokitty44

My car broke down over four months ago and was towed to a large well known car dealership. They kept giving us dates in which the car would be looked out and they would come and go without us hearing a word from them. We had to keep chasing them. In this time we have spoke to customer support who have done nothing to help. Just giving us dates to which again they would come and go with no news about our car. Then we find out last week that the garage had lost our car keys and had lied about it this whole time. We have raised our complaint with the dealership and customer support who have done nothing. Who can we contact to help us with this. As we got offered no courtesy car, we’re paying monthly finance for the car, had to change the locks on our house as they lost my house keys attached to my car key, spent a fortune on taxis and buses as I’ve had no car. We still don’t have our car back or a date of when we will.

TadleyBaggie

The house key thing is a little strange, the first thing I do when I leaving my car key with someone, is to detach it from the key ring. What was the logic behind leaving all the keys?

Nearlyold

Was there a reason the car was taken to that particular Dealer, had they sold you the car originally? Are they dealers for the make of car you have. Is there a warranty with the car?

Alderbank

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6652781/car-garage-have-had-my-car-for-over-4-months

Welcome to the forum.

If I can simplify your post a little…

Your car broke down more than 4 months ago. You took it to a car dealership and asked them to look at it (in legal language you made a contract for them to supply a service, that service being to carry out a fault diagnosis). They have not done so.

If no faster timescale was agreed there is an implied condition that the task of diagnosis must be carried out in a reasonable time.

In connection with that contract you left with them a bunch of keys including a car key for the vehicle and your house keys. In legal language they are the are the bailee of those keys.

Is that all correct?

Markdavid1962

My few points based on my own experience

The lost car keys they should replace at their expense, when the dealership damaged my bumper they had to repair it, they normally have insurance for this.

Regarding the repair, you have tried the normal avenues like customer support to no avail, is it a national dealership linked to a manufacturer, did you buy the car from them, age of the car etc

I would email the head of the dealership if its a large chain, if its a small garage then not much hope, who actually gave the instruction to tow the car to this dealership and also consider the manufacturer if the car is newish. When my daughters car was towed in to a dealership and things didnt seem to be moving I emailed the CEO of Nissan and the dealership. It was resolved in 2 weeks

Hellokitty44

@TadleyBaggie I broke down with my 3 kids in the car was stranded there for hours. Got towed to a garage miles from my home and forgot to take my house keys off the keys. Was too busy focusing on getting my children home.

Hellokitty44

@Markdavid1962 AA towed it to that specific dealership as it’s an electric car and they said it was the only place it could get fixed. We have spoke to numerous people above customer support and they were rude and no help out all. Maybe the CEO is a good route to go down. Thank you

Hellokitty44

@Alderbank yes basically but we didn’t take it there AA took it there said it was the only place that could fix it as it’s an electric car. They kept giving us deadlines and then nothing was getting done and then it turned out the whole time they and lost my car keys. So the dealerships and customer support had been lying to us for months

Aylesbury_Duck

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81860427#Comment_81860427

Are you sure about that? It's possible they have a big backlog and having come to work on your car have just realised they've mislaid the keys. The independent garage I use is taking bookings three months away at the moment, so if I left my car with them at no notice, it wouldn't be looked at for ages.

Hellokitty44

@Aylesbury_Duck yes I’m sure as they said the reason it hadn’t been looked at was because they had lost my keys. And the new key had only just arrived

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81860520#Comment_81860520

once the car is fixed go there and have a civilised conversation with service manager about a discount due to what has happened.

Remember you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.