Garages

[VeneziaJ]

My car failed its MOT last week on a faulty fog light bracket. The garage have had the car over a week now with promises of the part being on order but no concrete news and we have to call them if we want any sort of update. In the mean time being without it has caused me huge inconvenience as I have daily need of it and mobility issues. The car is a French one and a bit unusual but not exceptional so. My DH is very laid back about the vague “it will come any day” but I am getting extremely stressed. Is a week out of the way to be waiting? Other cars I have owned parts have arrived usually the same or next day.

My first question is what is the make/model/year?
Fog lights (rear?) are generally integral into the rear cluster or into the bumper so (speaking to my OH), he can't think of a bracket that would cause so much of a problem.
Have you done a search yourself to see if the part is available?

My old MGB had a separate rear fog light that hung down below the bumper, the bracket on that was just a piece of formed metal that my OH managed to remanufacture when it broke.

I have searched for the part myself, but only ebay Halfords and local scrap car parts sales; but haven't located one. but not being a mechanic I might be missing something.
I am getting annoyed that the garage are not letting us know what is going on and have to be chased by us on a regular basis, it feels like they don’t consider that we are any prior at all

It’s normal for you to do the chasing- that’s not a priority thing in my experience.

Go and get it back, and take it to a different garage for an MOT. It’s yours!

How long do you have left on the current MOT you can drive it home and to the alternative location. They are being lazy and ridiculous and I’d be suspicious they are taking other bits off your car!

It genuinely took a garage a month to find a part for our Clio a couple if years ago. The same place gets parts of our landrover overnight.

If its an old car, not in producing more, it can take a while.

Our car is older and also French (like your Clio) so I suppose that might affect it but a month! Thats very stressful

Thanks to Brexit, the supply chain is totally screwed up. My car was stuck in a bodyshop for almost 6 months, because the parts had to come from Germany, the manufacturer was unable to give a supply date, OEM parts were also not available. Luckily I had a loan car so it was ok. It explains one of the reasons insurance premiums are so high

It’s taking ages to find car parts nowadays. A friend of mine had a crash last year and it took over six months to get the parts to get it fixed - luckily it was drivable in the meantime.

Why isn’t your garage supplying you with a courtesy car?