To think the garage are liable

[Mercs]

I am going to try and keep this short. I got a small cheap car almost 4 years ago as a second run around , it was an ex demo and was 4 months old. In Dec the car was 4, I have serviced every year despite doing 6000 miles a year. End of November I booked to main dealer a service and mot. The car had done 24000 miles never had a problem - ever. Car is serviced all green no issues. Last week the oil light came on, my Dh was driving and had nowhere to pull over so found a place to stop, called recovery and the oil filter was loose and no oil. The car was taken back to the garage and despite 4 days of calling etc refused to speak to us, finally called back to say they have parts blah blah £3k to fix!!!! My reaction was hang on car serviced last month oil filter loose lost oil it’s their fault as haven’t put the filter on properly. They Said they did a “full” investigation and found no fault with car or a leak anywhere but said it can’t be filter as no oil on bottom of engine so not their fault. So they found no fault with engine no leaks anywhere but admit filter was loose, which if tightened correctly would have no way of come loose - they say they are not at fault!!! They have offered, as good will to help by getting a second hand engineer but I think they didn’t fit the filter correctly and they are liable?

Would trading standards help?

There really should be a formal accreditation scheme for garages with some form of ombudsman.

Yes that is my next step the motor Ombudsman, just want to ensure I’m right before I make a case.

Thank you

I agree with you op. You should be confident, having had your car serviced only a couple of months ago, that it would be fine for the next year. Yes, get onto the motor ombudsman. The garage should have put in a new oil filter when the car was serviced. If it had become loose and lost all the oil it is blatantly obvious that it was not properly fitted during service. Good luck.

Do you have it in writing from the recovery people? If not can you get a report from them?

messopotomia there is.

OP, please check all paperwork and provide them with a receipt which states they have serviced it as a first step and details of what they actually did. Sometimes when people book vehicles in they assume an MOT is a service and vice versa (and sometimes if the customer says both one can be missed off the booking). Secondly, talk to the mechanic and find out all the details - having a vehicle serviced doesn’t throw up problems it has. Perhaps there is a fault which has developed and the knock on effect is the problem you have?

Make absolutely sure your facts are correct because you may find you need the garage. After that they shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss you, if they are then mention The Motor Ombudsman and see if that helps, usually these things are easily proved and easily solved.