Got parking fine due to dodgy garage! Where do I stand?

[ripley]

I can't believe what has just happened! Just opened my mail and there was a penalty notice which was apparrently served in January for parking in the other side of London. I have never been there but my car was in a garage at the time of the penalty and when I got it back the clock showed that it was 200miles over what it was when I brought it in. I've just rang them (the garage) and waiting for them to call back. What can I do?

wow ripley. i'd definitely take this further then, someone was out on a jolly and must have been parked pretty badly for a ticket (must've been the police, not a traffic warden, surely they're not out at that hour? ) and could have even damaged your car.

What can be legally done with this I wonder? Like you say, they could have damaged the car. When I was ranting on the phone I said 'what if he was speeding, what if it was involved in a car accident'? She actually sounded very embarrassed about it all so i do hope that she is ggod to her word and put the cheque in to post pronto. If they do, should I still pursue it? I myself feel very embarrasse because it was my first car and I told myself to be careful and not to have the wool pulled over my eyes - now look what has happened!

I don't know what can be done legally. CAB should be able to advise.

ripley, you mentioned the AA earlier. Are you a member? If so, don't they have a free legal advice line?

what about writing it all down in a logiacal order and what happened on which date etc.

Then phone CAB they will give you advice

You may even be able to sue them

One car we nearly bought was driven by the garage and crashed it then they had to give hoim a new car

I know thank goodness that didn't happen to you but still

How did you pay for it?

Was it under finance with that garage?

perhaps you could get them to buy it back and then start again.

They are certainly very very very much in the wrong.

IMHO something certainly should happen more than just giving you a refund on petrol.

I mean they didnt do repairs in first place

That could have been very dangerous

Am not a member of AA (on procrastinator's list!) but am going to join now. I think CAB is a good idea. I took out a loan for it, independantly of the garage. I went ballistic on them about the repairs because the other garage that had a look said that the exhaust was about to fall off. And I was horrified when I realised they hadn't fixed the brakes also.

So you have only had it 7-8 months.

Was it a honda dealer?

No, it was an independant garage/trader.

if they are sending you a cheque to cover the fine they have admitted they were using the car without authorisation i would have thought?

and if it was in the garage for repairs that they were supposed to carry out BEFORE you bought the car off them why did you pay? surely they should have done this work for free..........especially as they sold you the car without doing the work!!

i think it is definitely worth phoning someone like trading standards and just making enquiries as to whether you should take this further. you never know the garage may have had other complaints made against them.

Hi Moschops. I didn't pay for any of the work carried out - it was all done for free. I would never have paid for something like that! I will definitely call trading standards, but I think I will wait until I get the money.

oh thats ok then!!!!

i would definitely wait until you get the money. with a bit of luck they will write you a letter with it to prove what they have done!!

do they have such an unprofessional system that any of their workers can take the keys to any car he/she wishes without signing it out?

Did you get the car back on the Friday?

What about congestion charge was it back at garage before that started?

breech of sales act

and

unfit for the purpose ie

should never have been sold without brakes etc done

Sorry, late to the party.

I don't really know a lot about cars. They have wheels, right ? (though, RTKM, jazzybee is a car nut - though again, more about latest models etc. than mechanical stuff)

Anyway, ripley: 200 miles for anything sounds like utter crap.

If they fitted some exhuast putty to fix a hole, sometimes that needs to be baked. They do that with the car just sitting there and the engine running.

If they fitted new pipes / exhaust boxes / catalyst I can understand the need to check the installation. This would still probably be done stationary or by a SHORT journey of a few miles.

Basically, it sounds like a member of staff borrowed it, quite possibly without asking, had fun in town, possibly a shag / grope (button) and then brought it back. The garage has obviously had this sort of problem in the past as the lady on the phone didn't try and dispute this with you.

If this was the garage that claimed they did work to remedy the AA check in the beginning, and then didn't, I'm afraid you're going to a crap garage. There are plenty about.

Try and get petrol / fine / valet / money for the aggro and for not going to watchdog, and don't go there again.

HTH

Thank you everyone for your advice and input. Hopefully I'll receive the money by the end of week - the lady said that she is going to post it today. However, when I brought up the fact that petrol had been used and I should be reimbursed she said well she has no idea how much petrol there was there when I left it in and therefore she wouldn't pay me anything for it!

So, when I get my money I think I will still go to the CAB or Trading Stardards because I think it is only fair given everything that they have put me through. will update later!

I can't believe them

Did they not write down the mileage on the worksheet when it went in?

I mean if they agree it was on the other side of London

How do they think it got there flew? or drove there using air or water?

It could have changed into Chitty Chitty Bang Bang !!!

Exactly RTKM.

ripley, if she is paying for the parking ticket, she is admitting it was one of the garage employees who (ab)used the car.

It got there with petrol, not teleportation.

If I was being ballsy (and I appreciate it is hard at the best of times to be as brave as we think we ought to be), I would tell her that she is getting away lightly, and that she should cover half a tank of petrol rather than taking the p*ss.

Maybe she pays up, or you check the whole thing out with the police - quite possibly it was uninsured for the driver, quite possibly other offences were committed on this journey (which you haven't found out about because the police haven't yet written to you), quite possibly you didn't know it was being used without your consent yadda yadda yadda.

It might be neat to get it in writing from the garage that they acknowledge the event occured so that if there are any more penalty notices heading your way you are covered.

Oh yeah, local paper would just love this...

And they can hardly claim any kind of prtofessional test drive for the middle of the night, can they? The whole thing is outrageous, and she shouldn't be quibbling about petrol - they should be paying you a car-hire fee!

what about armed robbery or hit and run