A couple of weeks ago my partner hit something in a road late at night (she thinks a piece of metal) which made a loud bang and then 10 minutes later several of the warning lights on her ford focus come on. She pulls over, towed to a garage etc. The garage then has the car for best part of a week during which time they replace the radiator, AC condenser and various bits of the front grill. It ends up taking a day longer than expected as they needed to ‘test the coolant system’.

Yesterday morning the car overheated and got towed to the garage again. The AA guy told my partner it was something in the coolant system and there’s a chance of engine damage. She phoned the garage and asked for a courtesy car which they haven’t provided – she’s a teacher so working from home isn’t an option – looks like we need to hire a car again (they can’t look at it until Wednesday). She said she’d like to bill them for the hire car as from her point of view she’d said “please fix my car” they’d then said ok, we’ve assessed it it’ll be X much to fix it (£980), they then tested it and the same system them ‘fixed’ has now broken and cause possible engine damage.
The garage seems to be suggesting that it may be a water pump that’s failed and this is just a coincidence and therefore nothing to do with them. To me this seems stretching the realms of possibility!

So are we being unreasonable – should we be telling them to fix it at their expense (which I suspect they won’t do) and pay for the hire car? What’s the best course of action in this case? Let them fix it, pay them and then small claims court? Or get someone else to fix it and then small claims court?

*Didn’t claim on the insurance as the excess was 600 quid, now too late to claim as it’s more than two weeks ago.

Did you pay the garage via credit card? If so, this may give you some consumer protection

Yes . You’re being an arse. Maybe your wife should look where she’s going? It could be a baby robin next time.

Yes . You’re being an arse. Maybe your wife should look where she’s going? It could be a baby robin next time.

Thanks for that i’ll let her know – keep a look out for small bits of metal in the middle of a dual carriage way at night.

Did you pay the garage via credit card? If so, this may give you some consumer protection

Debit card unfortunately.

Did it work after they’d fixed it or fail immediately?

Did it work after they’d fixed it or fail immediately?

She’s driven it for four days (15 mile commute to her school). I suspect the coolant has been leaking out slowly as the AA man refilled it and said it would hold for a bit.

hard to say but it seems like they

1) took ages to fix your car
2) failed to fix it
3) Did not help out when it broke again

Given this WHY do you want to return the car to them to “fix ” it again?

IMHO its highly unlikely the system leak /pump failure happened after they “tested” it on a 15 mile commute.

A ‘small bit of metal’ isn’t going to enter the front of the car unless turn by the car in front.
The garage replaced what they saw was damaged and then performed a pressure test to check for leaks.
What they’ve done sounds fair enough.

They’ll say she’s driven 240 miles since and anything could have gone wrong during that time.

How far did your wife drive with the washing lights on before stopping?
Damage could have been done during that time that the garage would have been unaware of.

It’s a pain but I suspect you’ve just got to suck it up.

Given this WHY do you want to return the car to them to “fix ” it again?

Well only on the basis that the work was ‘guaranteed’.

Re: the small piece of metal – something of a guess. She didn’t see anything in the road, just heard a bang, I drove down the road the next day and the only thing i could see in the approx location was what looked like a piece of metal off one of those temporary road works signs, but really – who knows. Probably drove a couple of miles before stopping.

It’s going to be your word vs theirs, if it’s something they fixed first time around you may have chance, if it’s something else I understand your view of they were asked to diagnose and fix damage but in their view they will have fixed what they found and you paid for it. The only consolation is there was actual damage and repairs made you paid for, it’s not like you had one of those difficult to diagno faults they failed to fix but randomly changed perfectly good components on the off chance and charged you for their inability to diagnose properly.

Ive been in a similar position with a garage. Frustrating to say the least.

My suggestion would be to find a good independent garage (ideally recommended by someone who knows / used them). Facebook reviews, etc.

Get them to fix it and if the root cause (identified by them) turns out to be something that the origianl garage should’ve fixed – then you have a bit of a case against them.

Just make sure you dont come across as wanting blood with the new garage otherwise you wont get their loyalty.

Good luck!

as above go to another garage, an independant one not a main dealer, and ask them to have a look.

cars do break down and stuff breaks.

Unlikely to be a conincidence, but the garage hasn’t charged you a set amount to fix everything wrong with the car – just what they’ve been able to determine is wrong.

So maybe you’re being a bit unreasonable, but it depends how reasonable the garage is if they’re looking at the car again.

Would your wife’s insurance cover this, if the damage was caused in an accident?

What’s actually wrong with it?

The AA man filled up the coolant – so there’s either a leak in the coolant system somewhere, or the head gasket has failed (i.e. an expensive leak in the coolant system).

But the garage said it was the water pump.

Maybe worth finding out what’s wrong. If coolant is leaking, can you see where from?

i’m going with coincidence/bad luck. a mate of mine works at a council vehicle depot as mot tester/mechanic. he has all sorts getting dropped off and picked up. he likes it when he has a guy come in a few days later saying ‘since you worked on my van….x,y and z failed’, and he can respond, ‘well that’s strange, we didn’t actually get a chance to look at yours, and it didn’t move from where you left it. if you check the log you’ll find it’s booked back in for next week’
you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, aren’t you? garage tries to do the best job it can without racking up a big(ger) bill, using their best judgement, and now customer wants stuff doing for free because something else fell off their car.
change garage on the strength of your experiences by all means, but free repairs and free hire cars? unreasonable IMHO.

edit: she hit something in the road and didn’t stop at the scene? 😕

Ok, well i’ll see what the garage says on monday when they’ve had a look (it’s been towed there so not a lot else I can do). At the moment the AA man was speculating and I suspect the guy from the garage was as well (I don’t think he’d done anything but given it a cursory glance).

Would your wife’s insurance cover this, if the damage was caused in an accident?

Hasn’t claimed within two weeks so not covered. Insert statement about hindsight here!

edit: she hit something in the road and didn’t stop at the scene?

Indeed, to be fair it was a dual carriage way, but still… 😕

she hit something in the road and didn’t stop at the scene?

To do what exactly, check whether the inanimate debris was ok?

I’d probably have stopped to clear the carriageway if it was safe to do so, but wouldn’t have thought it was worth calling her out for not doing.

What should have happened is rather than try and help you out they should have just turned you away and concentrated on the easy jobs that make them money
Like most garages do

To do what exactly, check whether the inanimate debris was ok?

I’ve heard worse things…

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canadian-woman-jailed-after-stopping-car-for-ducks-and-causing-two-deaths-9936511.html

Again, stopping at the scene is not a good idea, people get killed doing exactly this, especially at night.

As for the garage, I’ve been in a similar boat, sent in my car to get a whistling diagnosed (I suspected an induction leak), they said it was the (deliberately) blocked EGR and proceeded to strip it and clean it out before telling me my engine nearly blew up. Driving home the whistling was still there, my preferred garage found a very obvious hole in the intercooler intake.

I’d be surprised if this is entirely coincidental, my advice would be to contact CAB to determine the best course of action.

Driving home the whistling was still there, my preferred garage found a very obvious hole in the intercooler intake.

Why not use them in the first place?

To do what exactly, check whether the inanimate debris was ok?

we only think it was a road sign or something because the OP went back the following day. it could have been brian from accounts pi55ed on the way home.

partner hit something in a road late at night

in any case, pulling over to check the car wasn’t hosing various fluids all over the road may have been prudent, non?

Yes . You’re being an arse. Maybe your wife should look where she’s going? It could be a baby robin next time.

A very nice, sensitive response. 🙄

she hit something in the road and didn’t stop at the scene?
To do what exactly, check whether the inanimate debris was ok?

I’d probably have stopped to clear the carriageway if it was safe to do so, but wouldn’t have thought it was worth calling her out for not doing.
Not so very long ago I was heading south on the M6 in a car I’d picked up a short while before, mid-afternoon, lots of traffic in all three lanes. I’m in the outside lane, doing roughly 70 past a long line of slightly slower traffic, and a car pulled back into the middle lane in front of me.
I could just see something in the carriageway in front, and as I get closer I realise to my horror it was a six or seven foot alloy ladder sticking out from the centre crash barrier, with cars behind me to my left!
I had just enough room to go to the side and miss the end of the ladder by centimetres without clipping the front of another car, but my heart rate went through the roof for several minutes.
Imagine if that had been in the dark; almost identical scenario to the unfortunate wife of the OP, and I challenge those making the stupid comments to be able to spot an object like that, in the dark, with other traffic around and traveling at some speed, to be able to do a bloody thing about it.
And as for stopping, checking for damage, and clearing the debris, well, am I at fault for not getting across three lanes of fast moving traffic, stopping on the hard-shoulder, walking back along probably a mile of motorway, then trying to get across to remove the debris?
Really… 🙄

CZ – Remember we are amongst driving gods, A sort of auto valhalla.

Yes . You’re being an arse. Maybe your wife should look where she’s going? It could be a baby robin next time.

A very nice, sensitive response.

Well he is!
His post makes it sound like he blames the garage for the damage, and how dare they wait for parts to be delivered before fitting them! Of course they should pay for the hire car!
The reality may be that the garage acted in good faith and replaced all the components that were visibly damaged and that they could economically and quickly check. A thorough examination may have meant time consuming, expensive disassembly so they did what they could to stop that bleedin teacher giving them an earful every day…

stop digging

Everyone thinks you are being an arse and if it is not intentional then I pity you even more.

Awaits that lament about differing opinions and troll denial you always get rather than the silence, reflection or apology you should get.

It’s not unreasonable to have wanted your car fixed.

Unless you think the garage lied about having fixed it then I think you are being unrealistic about what their responsibilities are.

Unless you think the garage lied about having fixed it then I think you are being unrealistic about what their responsibilities are.

It’s pretty clear where the unrealistic expectations reside.

its but for the lone voice.

If they had to replace all of the above and had to remove the belts, just removing tension from the water pump could cause one with a damaged bearing to begin to leak. Under load and temperature, the pump would continue to leak. Until it ran low on coolant. Not the garage’s fault, just a coincidence.

Your wife drove the car to far after the impact and cooked the engine.

End of story

its not the garage.

It’s not the garage’s fault the driver did not pull over sooner to check for damage.

It’s a perfectly reasonable decision by the driver to not pull over if it was unsafe to do so, but there are consequences to driving a damaged car, and after an impact you should pull over as soon as possible for a quick check.

The garage can only fix what it can see and relies on the client’s description of the fault. Very few people are willing to pay for a complete strip down to check for consequential damage or to pay for just-in-case items.

Bit of a grey area one for me, if I’d have had the repair done and the garage had tested it I would have been a bit pissed off if it failed soon after due to something likely related. That said you can’t rule out coincidence so taking any sort of legal action is probably futile, would have been nice for the garage to give you a courtesy car as a gesture but possibly they’re worried that would imply they admitted some liability (or they just don’t give a shit/have lots of chancers as customers).

I’d just take it to a different garage, if they confirm it was a shoddy repair that caused it then I’d go back to the original garage and ask for a partial refund and speak to CAB it that doesn’t go anywhere.

After having spent a large amount on cooling system damage before, I would have claimed on my insurance (assuming protected no claims bonus). But then I wouldn’t have a £600 excess I suppose.

As it is, you seem to be expecting the level of service associated with insurance. Why would a courtesy car be any cheaper than a hire car? Mentioning you wife’s job status makes it look like you’re expecting the garage to somehow be ‘understanding’, but it’s just a business and nothing like the business model of an insurance company.

So. It comes down to whether the garage did a good job in the first place and to be honest, until you find out what is causing the current problem, it’ll be impossible to determine.

I’m not sure whether I’d go back to the same garage or try another, but it would depend on how sympathetic the first garage seemed and my relationship with them. If there’s nothing there – I’d try another as others have mentioned and then claim if the new garage think they were at fault. To be honest, I think it’s unlikely.

am I at fault for not getting across three lanes of fast moving traffic, stopping on the hard-shoulder, walking back along probably a mile of motorway, then trying to get across to remove the debris?

Drama queenery at it’s best.

You should have called the highways agency to make the road safe. If you had clipped it, it would be prudent to check your car was safe to proceed.

All the hand waving and whataboutery not required.

I’ve heard worse things…

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canadian-woman-jailed-after-stopping-car-for-ducks-and-causing-two-deaths-9936511.html

That’s bizarre. Some eejit ploughs into a stationary vehicle pulled over at the side of the road and she’s at fault? Is this “highway” like a motorway with no hard shoulder or something?

in any case, pulling over to check the car wasn’t hosing various fluids all over the road may have been prudent, non?

after an impact you should pull over as soon as possible for a quick check.

I agree that it’d be sensible to get out and assess what’d happened if it was safe to do so, assuming a degree of mechanical competence on the part of the driver. But a garage staffed by professional mechanics spent a week trying to diagnose / repair, with allegedly minimal success. How’s a teacher giving it a “quick check” at the roadside in the dark going to make any difference to the outcome?

Do you notice the front grill damage before they replaced it?

I’m guessing the pierced radiator dumped the coolant after the impact, and she’s warped the head by driving it until it overheated.

Cougar – Moderator
…How’s a teacher giving it a “quick check” at the roadside in the dark going to make any difference to the outcome?

Fair enough comment, but some damage is obvious, eg coolant dripping/pouring out, ditto oil, etc, but also it’s always worth checking the tyres for cuts etc – a blowout down the road could be nasty.

All stuff that doesn’t need any mechanical knowledge, just common sense.

BTW it’s also why you should carry a torch in your car.