Car Repair Calamity

Hi I had the cylinder head repaired on my Landrover Freelander by a Local Garage at the cost of £1150.82 on10 February 2017.

I was driving on 9 Dec 2017 when the cylinder head gasket blew again. I had to get recovered back home (£90 by local recovery firm).

I contacted the garage who said If I wanted them to look at it I would have to get it to them. Having spent over £1100 getting it repaired last time and more money to get it recovered I did not want to leave the repair to them again.

I hired a car to get me into work over the Xmas period and got a company who I have used before to collect and repair the car. I also asked them to let me know if they find any reasons why the previous head gasket repair failed so soon.

They told me the head had not been skimmed as the new rienforced gasket and the old gasket that was removed have a different hole pattern and when they removed the gasket they could see the marks left by the old gasket oin the head. (I have photographs of the cylinder head).

Basically I am out of pocket to the tune of several thousand pounds due to this.

Original Head Gasket Repair
Car recovery back home
Car hire over Chistmas period whilst my car was getting repaired (I work very early shifts).
Car collection and repair by another trusted garage.
Train fare and petrol to collect car and drive it back home.

What are my options to try to recover some of my costs?

Small Claims Court?
Judge Rinder? - Would at least warn others about garage
Write it off as bad luck?