Bought car that nearly killed me

Conor_3

pulliptears wrote: »

TBH, I have never known another cruiser report a fault like this, and the club has hundreds of members, so I very much doubt its a manufacturing fault.
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I was meaning that particular individual bolt. That one bolt. Not even all the other bolts that were made at the same time.

tomstickland

If the OP believes that the car had a "dodgy" MOT then just put it in for another one.

dazron

ADDENDUM:

I spoke to the garage on saturday (you could call it more of an argument really) and they informed me that they had replaced the front two wishbones at their cost in the MOT when I bought it and that they'd replaced the 'pin' and ball joint then. Well, to my mind that means that that work wasn't carried out correctly if 800 miles later a wheel comes off. What do you think?

Keith

The MOT tester would have spotted a missing pin.

The pin must have failed in the time between you buying it and the pin coming out.

dazron

Here is the MOT that failed in March:

Reason(s) for refusal to issue Certificate
Nearside Front Lower rearward suspension arm rubber bush bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.3)
Offside Front Lower rearward suspension arm rubber bush bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.3)
Nearside & offside front brake juddering severely (3.7.A.2b)
Nearside Rear 205/55/16 tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.D.1)

Here is the subsequent MOT that then passed:

Advisory Notice issued
Small stone chip in zone A of front windscreen


Picture becoming any clearer? (I don't really understand any of this stuff?!)

Keith

The 2 lower arms are the bit which is hanging down in your photos, the bushs wear with age and need replacing.

The arm is held in by 3 bolts, 2 to the chasis and the one pinch bolt which holds in the end which is hanging down in your photo.

To free it, you need to remove the bolt which is missing and then apply pressure to the arm so it pops free, if this bolt is missing during an MOT, the car will fail.

That is why I believe it was there at MOT time, but has since failed.

Conor_3

dazron wrote: »

ADDENDUM:

I spoke to the garage on saturday (you could call it more of an argument really) and they informed me that they had replaced the front two wishbones at their cost in the MOT when I bought it and that they'd replaced the 'pin' and ball joint then. Well, to my mind that means that that work wasn't carried out correctly if 800 miles later a wheel comes off. What do you think?

You're grasping at straws. You cannot fail to do it correctly. The nut that fits on the pinch bolt is a self locking one - a type that's designed not to come undone on its own. As said before, if they'd failed to put the pinch bolt in, the balljoint would have popped out the first big bump you went over.

It was a million to one chance failure and you were unfortunate it happened to you. That's it. End of. Why does everything have to be someones' fault? Has the "where there's blame there's a claim" culture meant that we now have a society where people honestly think there's no such thing as an unforseen event?

Conor_3

dazron wrote: »

Here is the MOT that failed in March:

Reason(s) for refusal to issue Certificate
Nearside Front Lower rearward suspension arm rubber bush bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.3)
Offside Front Lower rearward suspension arm rubber bush bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.3)
Nearside & offside front brake juddering severely (3.7.A.2b)
Nearside Rear 205/55/16 tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.D.1)

Here is the subsequent MOT that then passed:

Advisory Notice issued
Small stone chip in zone A of front windscreen


Picture becoming any clearer? (I don't really understand any of this stuff?!)

Yes. Non of that is at all relevent to the pinch bolt failing other than it had a new one put in when they replaced the lower suspension arm.

dazron

Conor, thanks for your input and advice, but no amount of you crowing or cajoling will persuade me that I should have paid out five and a half grand for a car that the front wheel fell off. I want to take action, i'm not happy about it. It has got nothing to do with blame culture.

Keith

But to claim for damages you have to have suffered an injury.

There is no way that the car passed an MOT with that bolt missing.