Faulty Car Repair - Not rectifying

Ayresome1

Hello,

In January my clutch went. My car was driving brilliantly up until then but these things happen. I asked a local mobile mechanic to repair it for me.

Initially based on my description he quoted "£650-950". Then once he'd taken it in he messaged: "We've stripped it and it needs a more work than we thought. Going to be £1250 😂"

(The laughing emoji is probably an indication that this was not going to go well.)

When it came back, the car was losing power and lights were flashing on the dashboard. (Stop! Service. ESP brake light etc…)

As it was losing power I asked him to come and look at it. He said it was nothing to do with the clutch repair because it was the turbo.

I got The AA out to it and they took it to a different garage. Within minutes of dropping it off, the garage called and said the reason it was losing power was that the vacuum reservoir had melted onto the exhaust pipe. Also the air box at the front of the engine was missing. (There's just an open pipe that doesn't go into anything.)

As well as those issues, the coolant bottle is now empty. (The AA patrol filled it but by the time the garage had it on the ramp, it was empty.) They also showed where bolts were missing (with sparkling metal where they should be so it was a new thing.)

The garage said it was a fire hazard and "extremely dangerous".

I told the mechanic about this on the 6th Feb and said I would need it putting back to how it was before he did the clutch. (The initial clutch replacement was carried out 19th January.)

To date (23 Feb) he keeps saying he'll pick it up to make the repairs and each time I've chased he's said "tomorrow".

I am without a car. (He did say last Friday he'd pay for a hire car until it was fixed. I'd have to pay for it and he'd reimburse me. At the time of writing that would be £350 to date…)

He did say two weeks ago he'd ordered "the part". (I looked on the Citroen website; it takes 3-4 days to arrive.)

I paid half the £1250 clutch fee in bank transfer (I know!) and the second half on credit card. (His links didn't work so he asked it was paid through his Mum's caravan curtains shop. Again… I know!)

What's the next step?

(Also, I am feeling extremely anxious about all this and, as I write it down, swathed in hindsight. I know for the future, but what should I do for this situation please?)

Thank you.

A_Geordie

What's the next step?

It's not for us to tell you what the next step is, you really need to tell us what outcome you are seeking. I assume you want to be put in a position where the car is in a roadworthy state, but whichever way you look at it, there is going to be an additional cost element on your part.

You are most likely going to have to sue this person by going to court and hope that they have the means to repay you, otherwise you could be throwing more money at an unresolved problem. Based on your description of the situation, I wouldn't hold out much hope that the mechanic has a penny to his name and is probably living day to day.

You probably need to work out whether it is worth pursuing this individual with the risk of not recovering any money back, or moving on and soaking up the cost yourself.

Aylesbury_Duck

Doesn't the fact that OP paid half of the cost on their credit card give them an alternative route here? Although I wonder what the credit card company's view on paying a caravan curtain shop for a clutch replacement will be…