AIBU to ask if there is anything else I can do to get some money back for my car after mistake from garage?

[Throwmoneyatit]

I used a small, independent garage for my car a few miles away from where I live for servicing, repairs, MOTs etc. I was a customer for around 2 years.

About 18 months ago, there was a noise which turned out to be the steering rack. I paid for this and took the car. Two weeks after having the steering rack replaced, it failed on a twisty country road - thankfully managed to not lose control and pulled over to safety. I got it recovered to the garage and they replaced the steering rack.

After this, I had my car serviced, got some injectors replaced and spent more money.

Not long after this, maybe a month, my clutch felt different so I took it into the garage and had the clutch and water pump replaced. They advised me that we may as well do the timing belt and water pump as it was about due. Again, paid and left.

In October, my car broke down. I had it recovered and I was told the timing belt had failed. I phoned the garage to advise them that I had broken down and that the recovery service had suspected timing belt failure. They told me over the phone not to bring it to the garage and they would have to speak to the manufacturer of the timing belt as it was under warranty, and would be back in touch.

I had no choice but to have the car recovered back home (I had my youngest in the car and at this point we had also waited about six hours for recovery). I then got an email from the garage to advise that the case would be going through their insurer and they would not be communicating on this repair.

Their insurance contacted me a couple of days later and told me that in order to start an investigation, I would have to pay approximately £2500-£3000 for independent reports from multiple insurance assessors. There was no guarantee that I would get any money from this back.

To add, the part is still under warranty however the contract is between the garage and the manufacturer and they will not even speak to me about it.

I have had a mechanic strip the car and has confirmed that the timing belt was not timed correctly, putting wear onto the belt and eventually it gave in. The valves are bent and the engine is done. He also noted that the gearbox was not bolted back in after having the work done.

At this point, I had to buy a new car as I knew my car wasn't in a state to be repaired, I was losing out on earnings from work and it was logistically very difficult.

The insurance would not budge and gave me their final letter.

I went to the Ombudsman, who couldn't help as I'm not the insurances customer.

I have around £6k of parts on that car, all put on by that garage within the last 24 months. I am down a new car and I am looking at getting £250 in scrap value.

All in all, I am down about 10k, including the new car.
I understand that I wouldn't get the 6k back on the parts on the car if i sold it, even with all the new parts but I would have got a hell of a lot more than £250

I just feel that it is really unfair and I don't know what to do. Do I just suck it up and move on?

My car is booked to be picked up by the scrap man tomorrow - this is a final hope that someone may have another suggestion?

Watching that amount of money get squished is making me feel sick. My insurance won't look into it as it is a breakdown, not a crash.

To add... the timing belt has been on the car for a total of 4000 miles and 9 months

Have you spoken to a solicitor. Given the amount of money involved it might be worth talking to one.

Did you get a report from the mechanic who stripped the car and seen all the faults?

No, I'm really reluctant to spend any more money - I'm scared stiff of putting anything else in that I could lose. My house insurance doesn't cover anything to do with vehicles either.

Yes, I have everything that he has given but the insurance won't accept it as a forensic report. They're saying it has to be an independent assessor, not just a mechanic report.

What about citizens advice? Write everything down, dates, any evidence, take receipts etc.

Have a look at Which? Legal. You used to be able to sign up monthly for a really low fee (£20 or so) cancel anytime, and use them immediately. I used them for a covid related travel agent issue and they were excellent- good luck!

Thank you, I didn't think about Citizens Advice. I will get in touch!

I've never heard of this - thank you!

Glad you managed to get your problem sorted!

Insurance won’t help her / not an expert but your (car) insurance won’t care as you selected the garage not them. garage’s insurance won’t care as they are for the garage not you.

as already mentioned by another poster your only recourse if you want to pursue this for some sort of damages would be a of legal claim against the garage for the faulty work. What kind of legal claim I’m not sure - you’ll need to google yourself unless you’re lucky enough for a solicitor to come on here and tell you your exact legal rights. (Are you a member of a trade union, they often have legal helplines you can access as part of membership.)

any legal claim would cost money - even if you DIY it and don’t use a solicitor you’ll need to pay to file something, and of course you risk end up incurring their costs if you lose, so it would be a risky one even if you’re confident of the law.

the first botched repair you describe seems incredibly negligent and dangerous of them - if the faulty work caused the car to not steer properly, again I’m no lawyer/policewoman but if you had been injured in an accident for that if it was such a bad job they may have been liable in some way. Maybe if at that point you’d taken it to another garage you could have perhaps had a claim then.

If you’re serious about pursuing a legal claim I would cancel the scrap man tomorrow in case you need it for evidence of the claim (eg getting more reports or analysis done).

But, it may be sunk cost fallacy at this point and there’s no guarantee so you may just want to move on given the effort it will probably take and the risk of further cost with no reward.

You could also try and negotiate directly with the garage for them to compensate you in some way - it sounds given the number and cost of the errors they are either incredibly incompetent and or dodgy and so it could get nasty. But if it was genuine mistake/error and they’re not total wrong uns they may give you some money back (particularly if you say you’ll give them bad reviews or note how awful the work was on local Facebook pages etc). If you live in a small place and they rely on word of mouth for trade they may be inclined to chuck you some money so you don’t give them a bad rep. But that’s also a risky one as it could get quite nasty and personal.

but honestly, given how terrible the work was I’d be tempted to let others in the area know about it anyway as it seems like a genuine safety issue. I wonder if there is some sort of mechanic trade association who you could report them to given it appears they are utterly unqualified (but again have no knowledge of this space).

At the very least if I’m friendly with neighbours, or have colleagues that live locally I’d certainly be spreading the word about them.

And certainly not to blame you for this horrendous situation as we should all be able to trust garages/mechanics but for your next car I would seek a few local recommendations from trusted friends/neighbours/colleagues/local community groups.

I do feel really bad for you OP none of this is your fault. I guess the only small positive is you didn’t cause any accidents or get injured due to your car being in such a state. So whilst I wouldn’t say you were lucky as you’ve been very unlucky in this garage, I think it could have been much worse if that’s any consolation.

Thank you! I think I'm with you that I'm going to struggle without it going down the legal route. You've made some really helpful points, thank you.

The garage have played it well by not communicating with me, their insurance are to protect them, and because of it being escalated to their insurance it means that the Ombudsman won't get involved either.

The garage isn't capable of carrying out repairs, maybe servicing only. Weirdly enough my sisters car had gone in for to have a suspension part replaced, the engine was still unbolted and her steering stopped working on the way home. They put it down to an alternator which is odd, and an extra £500.

I used to work in the motor trade and I'm surprised at how hard it is to file any sort of complaint/claim if the garage are not willing to comply with anything.

My dh thinks we should cut our losses.
I'm just still smarting at the sheer amount of money that has been lost. I had wanted to keep that car for a long time, effectively run it into the ground and over the last 5 years of owning it, I've replaced nearly everything so I could have had the best chance of keeping it for a long time.

I'm all honesty I haven't thought that I was lucky in a way that their work didn't lead us to having an accident. I am now! So thank you!

I haven't cancelled the scrap man (that's another story as he was supposed to come yesterday)! Maybe this car is the root of all my bad luck!

I do have a lovely little car now, not new to me but I went for a car from the manufacturer who I used to work for so I know many people who I trust to carry out any repairs. I will start focusing on keeping this car running as long as possible - starting with the urea light that came on last night.

I was surprised by my dh with a little weekend away this weekend, new little car is coming on its first long journey... we are picking up a new car for my dh whilst we're there - I don't think for one second that it wasn't booked solely to pick a new car up 😂

Thank you again x