Garage Advice Dispute

[Shaun_wells]

Anyone got any advice on my dispute..

Taken my car to the garage to have the self levelling suspension fixed, due to a leak in the pipe which made it fail the MOT.. All the time I asked the garage to provide me a quote before carrying out any work.

So now after a week of having the car, they have taken the car apart (without my approval) to inspect and provided a quote of £400 pounds. (Don't understand why it takes so long) So I've said, to put the bits that you've taken off back on again and give me my car back in one piece as I have not authorised any work.

Even when I told them to return the car in the original condition..They have since replaced the faulty parts without my authorisation again.. What can I do, Any advice !!

 

[Mr Teddy Bear]

Hi,
you should talk to Consumer Protection at your local Council, or find them via Citizens Advice.
they have no legal advice to hold your vehicle either!

 

[jberks]

I believe the law is clear.
You made you requirements clear when you gave them the car. Its quite normal for a garage to provide a quote for work FOC so you're not asking them to do anything unusual.
That forms the basis of the contract.

He has breached that contract and undertaken unauthorised work. This he does at his own risk and expense.

You are perfectly within your rights to insist that he puts the car back to the condition it was in before he got it.

All that said, he's taken your car apart and you're relying on him rebuilding it correctly, knowing he's not going to get paid and is already down on the deal .........
Legal issues are fine, if you invoke the law, but that is a slow, expensive, cumbersome creature that you want to avoid if humanly possible. Other than that, law on your side or not, you really need to try to reach an amicable settlement.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

As per jberks comments on our fine legal system. It is ponderous and generally ensures that the law has been enacted effectively - but that may have no relevance to natural justice. This is particularly true if an other party either can not (no money), or will not (stubborness) comply with the ruling of the court and any award made. Particularly true in civil cases.

I think you need to take stock here, acknowledging that they did act without your authority.

Have they repaired the car and done a satisfactory job? (they may well provide a warranty on the work as a matter of course).

Is the initial problem solved to the point that the car is now roadworthy and will pass the MOT?

Did they do it at a price which was reasonable?

The answers to these questions might enable you to take a pragmatic view, pay the bill and put this behind you.

Good luck.

 

[Shaun_wells]

Thanks for all the advice so far..

I think I'm going to try and negotiate a free MOT out of it if possible and then leave it at that and move on.. Otherwise I will take action against them.

I'll let you all know the outcome..

 

[Shaun_wells]

After getting the MOT for free, I then checked the repair to the car..And found it was not repaired correctly. They just cut the pipe half way down and repaired, not a complete replacement like I asked for... And the pipe size used was slightly smaller than the orginal one, so I decided this was unacceptable.. The manager more or less agreed after speaking to the guy who did the work.. In the end I paid nothing for the work..

RESULT !!!!

 

[television]

That was a good result then, these pipes are a certain size for a reason

 

[Shaun_wells]

Yes, that's what I told them..

 

[SilverSaloon]

Yes, that's what I told them..

u still have dodgy pipes though....

 

[100%Bitch]

u still have dodgy pipes though....

And a free MOT.

 

[avsdoyle]

And a free MOT.

Good point