to think this is completely out of order? Car related....

[TalisaMaegyr]

To cut a long story short-ish...

About a month ago, our car broke down on the way back from Wales and we had to be towed by the AA - we took it to a garage that had been recommended to us by a couple of taxi drivers as we were needing to get taxis to work while it was knackered.

We bought the part that the AA guy had told us had gone, and took it to the garage to be fitted. This took over a week, and the day after we got it back, it blew up, also completely wrecking the engine.

We then had to buy another of the same part, plus a whole engine, which were delivered to the garage, took 2 weeks to fit and we got the car back on Tuesday this week. On Wednesday, it broke down on the way home from work.

The car is back at the garage again. The mechanic won't answer the phone, we have no idea what's happening with it and I'm absolutely at my wits end.

We've had to spend over £2k on parts and labour in 3 weeks - we've had to borrow this money from DP's friend and my mum, plus almost £300 in taxis. Neither of us are on a particularly high income and this has absolutely crippled us.

Can we do anything? Surely the mechanic has some responsibility to fix this asap with no further cost to us?

Can anyone advise? I could cry, honestly.

I have a nice runabout with 12 months MOT for sale

I would advise taking the car elsewhere and finding out exactly what has gone wrong. If the fitting is faulty start the process to get the costs involved so cost for taxis, the second turbo and engine and also the cost of having it put right refunded from the mechanic, if the turbo is faulty then reclaim from the turbo supplier. You do need to find out what has gone wrong to hold either responsible though. The aa may do an assessment for a reasonable fee.

I'm so sorry OP. Car issues are so stressful.

To have one turbo blow would be unfortunate, but to have two when they were fitted by the same mechanic...I would be asking questions. We have never had to order & pay for a part and then have it delivered to the garage for fitting, nor have we ever paid upfront, in fact our garage invoices for work. A garage has your car, so it's pretty much guaranteed that you are going to come back and pay for any services. I wonder if he is credit blacklisted with suppliers.

I would do everything mentioned above, CAB, trading standards, probably small claims court as well. Check your house insurance policy, as sometime you have access to legal services through that. Obviously that does not cover your existing car issue!

Is it a ford focus 1.6 tdci?

The turbo will generally go due to another cause. I had a ford focus 55 plate with a Peugeot engine. I think it's used in a 307. The turbo itself is used in several other cars.

This is a very poorly designed engine, carbon build up causes the turbo to go. It went on me and a lot of turbo reconditioning companies told me they don't even stock the turbo for this engine as they go so quickly again after. I 'sold' the car to DP as it was much better than his w reg rover. He had it3 months and 1000 miles before it went again. The part was not covered by warranty because it was the engine and carbon build up that caused it to go and not a faulty or poorly fitted turbo. There is also the issue that a screw in the turbo could be pulled into the engine and wreck the whole engine. Possibly what happened to you.

I have ordered parts for mechanics myself, though they generally prefer to use their own as it's less complicated if something does go wrong but I have never ever paid in advance for work.

If you feel he has ripped you off, trading standards is a good place to start, as is the good garage scheme. Though it sounds like he won't be a member of that. Potentially, the small claims court could help.

I feel terrible for you. This is an horrific thing to happen and utterly unfair

I am sorry but he has led you a merry dance

If you provide the parts (which you have done) then the garage will not guarantee the parts so if they are defective they are jot at fault, they will only guarantee against the work they have carried out so in your case the fitting of the turbo not the turbo itself iyswim - we have had this recently with a garage.

Get the car back and get the work assessed by an independent mechanic.

Just a response to those saying there's something dodgy about paying up front...

I usually use main dealers, but the one time I used an independent garage, one close to me to replace an alternator, they did ask me to pay half in advance. The repair was fine.

Fraidy cat an alternator is what £150? So half isn't anywhere near the cost of a blown engine. This is thousands, I'd still not hand cash over till job done, tbh.