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to feel annoyed with garage

4 replies

gertatron · 04/06/2015 11:43

took my old vw into garage as gears were sounded/felt funny and there was an oil leek. Advised that needed to replace a part as was looking worn but no rush, would do 20000 miles before it needed replacing.

A few days later, some 100 miles into the assured 20,000, the gearbox failed. Got towed home by AA and took it to garage who have now advised that gearbox is stuffed, would need to be replaced but unfortuntely can't find a replacement gearbox. Our search for a replacement has been unsuccessful so now looking like our lovely van is going to have to be scrapped. Subsequent google searches have revealed that a gearbox making noises needs to be repaired straight away - only wish we'd seen them before putting our trust in the professionals.

Do the garage have any responsibility here or am I blaming them unfairly and if so , is there anything I can do about it?

OP posts:
penisland · 04/06/2015 13:17

Did they put it in writing that it didn't need repairing straight away? If not I'd think it would be hard to prove they'd said that. Also, why is it so hard to find a replacement gearbox - VW stuff is usually pretty plentiful, get on a forum specific to your type of van and see if anyone there can help you track one down.

gertatron · 04/06/2015 13:52

The parts aren't made anymore so the only gearboxes you can get are refurbished ones. Have to be taken out of another van and in addition, the gearboxes are very specific - about 75 different types just for this age of vw van.

Conversation was over the phone unfortunately.

I just feel so cross for trusting them when they said it would be fine. We've gone from a van that was running ok with some iffy noises to being scrapped in one journey!

OP posts:
penisland · 04/06/2015 16:43

That's a shame, there's usually a lot of parts support for old VWs. I'm guessing it's an air cooled bus of some kind for there to be many types of box over the years? There's a lot of parts interchangeability so I'd be hopeful that someone could make it work. Get on the forums and talk to some specialists, there will be some way around it.

penisland · 04/06/2015 16:46

PM me the van details if you like

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