Car goes in for new tyres come out with new tyres and a dent – AARGH

STW Please can you help,

I have put my car into the garage today to get new tyres fitted, after I picked it up I discovered there was a reasonable sized dent in the OSF wing just above the wheel. This was not there when i dropped the car in! I have been back to the garage and they have seen it and are at the moment thinking it could have been another customer who has hit my car but do not know and are insisting it was not one of their boys that did it.

As of now i have been lucky not to have a bump in my car but do not know where i stand with this as it has happened when i was not present. Any tips on what i can do to find out what has happened? What should my next steps be with this?

Cheers

Rusty

Absolute bummer. Dunno where you stand with that but it sounds like you’re going to be relying on the integrity of your garage.

Good luck with it.

If they are in the “good garage scheme ” get in touch with them.
If it’s a part of a chain, ATS/kwickfit, get in touch with head office. Might get some good will gesture.

That is why I always buy my tyres through Blackcircles.

One of our hub caps came flying off when the monkey who fitted them )third party place) didnt do a proper job of it. Black circles send us a cheque to go out and buy a new set.

Will continue using them, just wont use the same fitting place.

As for your situation – I have no idea. One of those mobile dent repair places might be your best bet.

It is part of a chain, that all our fleet cars go to. Garage manager is waiting on the suspect vehicle returning for further work scheduled tomorrow so hopefully it is that car and i can all be sorted.

Anyone know if these sorts of places have CCTV and if so can anyone ask to view the footage?

Last thing i need right now is a bill for car repairs when it was not my fault and increased insurance premiums will be a real PITA.

Rusty Mac – Member

are at the moment thinking it could have been another customer who has hit my car but do not know and are insisting it was not one of their boys that did it.

Does that actually matter? I’d have thought it’s in their care, so their responsibility regardless of who bumped it?

Northwind It would be nice if that is the case but i don’t know how these things work. I am a bit of a luddite at the best of times but when it comes to car insurance and what happens when something goes wrong even more so.

I took my car in for a service the other day and the desk guy specifically went out to do a visual inspection of it

Since he didn’t give me a copy of the sheet I assume it wasn’t worth the paper it was written on or the 2 minutes it took him. Good PR I suppose, if punters don’t think about it.

If its KwikFit or another big chain just call the head office, they almost always pay out because its normally cheaper and easier than a long drawn out case and they don’t want the poor publicity.

brodie,

That is good to know. I’ll take that option if i don’t hear anything back from the branch manager.

Go for it, I’ve worked with lots of Kwikfit people. They probably made more money fitting your tyres than it will cost them to fix your car!!!

I’m really not being funny, but are you 100% it wasn’t there before hand?

I only ask as I have had people claim that their car has been damaged on the property which later turned out not to be true, I’m not accusing you & if you are 100% then I’m sorry to ask but you have to see it from both sides, I manage a garage & always tell any of the guys to report any damage to me (without fear of retribution) & I deal with it, wether that is remedial work or just telling the customer straight & offering to fix it.

Oh, one of the customers who got caught drove into a bollard & claimed we did it, it was quite fun to show him the cctv footage of him doing it 🙂

Best of luck getting it sorted.

Do you know if there is anything i can get the branch manager to do that would help with the head office payout? Log the complaint or acknowledge the bash?
I wouldn’t like to get someone in trouble for something that is not their fault but i don’t want to have to fork out for it to be repaired myself when the car goes back in January.

2unfit2ride

It definitely was not me, if it was my fault i’d be hacked off and kicking myself but the way it has been bashed looks like it is from back to front as if something has been dropped against it or hit it.

Assuming the answer to my previous question was yes 100%, then really all you can do is ask the manager to acknowledge that you brought it to his/her attention. As a manager you can’t be 100% that is was your fault or one of the staff unless the staff told them about it & they are covering up, in which case your stuffed 🙁

Edit as we were typing at the same time, when you say back to front do you mean the dent goes outward?

In which case your pretty safe thinking it was their fault.

No dent doesn’t go outwards (doesn’t look like something has hit it from inside the wheel arch) but the scuff marks that accompany the dent appear to go from the back towards the front (OSF wing towards and onto the back edge of the front bumper).

Unsure if its a company car, if si, just report it to your company.

If its a lease car don’t bother repairing it unless the garage pays, the lease company will reduce the value by less than the repair will cost you.

Lease car but i am lead to believe i am responsible for any damage out with general wear and tear. I would think this would fall out with the general wear and tear.

See how it pans out with the depot manager, if he/she digs in then just ask for a contact further up the chain. They cant deny it without lying.

In my experience the big chains will sort it at the area manager level, sending you to the bodyshop will cost them £3-400, as a chain they make that in a few minutes. Getting taken to small claims court not only costs more money but more time and a loss of reputation and potential business. Its simple damage limitation at the end of the day.

Car under their care. They are responsible to you for it remaining undamaged. It was damaged in their care, so they owe you.

If the damage was actually caused by a third party, then it’s up to the garage to recover from them.

Don’t take anything else from them, and certainly no “you signed a waiver” nonsense.

It’s only damage limitation if that party thinks/believes it is their fault, if they believe it is not then why pay as it could lead to being seen as a soft target for future claims from less than honest people.

Rusty mac – who is the lease through? Some companies are way more lenient than others. Arnold Clark are very lenient.

Apologies for the slow reply. Just back from being bumped again from my offshore trip.

Lease is through leasehire, from other guys at work I have heard they are quite strict on the condition the car is returned in.

Just called the garage back and the branch manager is consulting his area manager so at the moment things seem to be moving in a sensible direction.

The car they originally suspected turned out to be the wrong colour so I don’t know where it will go from here.

you know, the garage will have ‘public liabilities insurance’ for this make them use it, the issue with the other car is theirs not yours to deal with…….

If its KwikFit or another big chain just call the head office, they almost always pay out because its normally cheaper and easier than a long drawn out case and they don’t want the poor publicity.

You’d think…. but it depends on which idiot picks up the phone. After a branch of National failed to tighten the wheel nuts properly their head office helpfully suggested that it was more likely there was some madman sneaking around outside our country cottage in the night deliberately loosening her wheels in an attempt to kill her. They genuinely offered this as the more likely scenario.

Some people need a kick in the fork

Naming and shaming time I’m afraid. They are not willing to admit anything. No CCTV footage in the garage or on the car park and they can’t think how this would have happened. Area manager is not willing to fix it as I can’t be proved to have happened there.

Kwik-Fit Aberdeen 226 South Market Street, avoid if at all possible. Our company has previous with this branch I have since heard, they managed to shear off 2 out of 4 of my colleges locking wheel nuts when they went to go and change tyres on his car and also accepted no liability for this too. With the company we lease through anything tyre related gets put to Kwik-Fit so it was them and that branch that put the wheel nuts on the last time.

Any one have an email address for their head office?

Part of the point of having a lease car is not having to deal with shit like this. Do you have a fleet manager? He / she should be able to advise. Failing that, ring the lease company, tell them what’s happened and let them argue the toss.

http://www.kwik-fit.com/get-in-touch.asp

On phone to lease company as i type.

Completed a customer comments form stating un satisfactory service. Will hope the lease company can sort it out without involving insurance.

Find out who administrates repairs for the lease company, if its National fleet or 1link for example then you DO NOT have to use Kwik fit even though they try to insist you do.

Brodie,
I will try and find out, I think they want us to use Kwik-Fit as they offer the tyre hotel service so we are not responcible for storage of our summer tyres.
Other guys I have spoken to have had good experiances with other branches slightly further afield so i will be going elsewhere next time.