A LEGAL QUESTION.

Hi ya guys and girls, i have a question for you,but let me tell you the senorio first,
On saturday just gone,we put the frontera in for the MOT at a garage near where we live,it's always gone there for the last five years and nothing serious ever hindered receiving a pass certificate,until now.
Last year we had a single advisory of a corroded fuel pipe,which i should have done but didn't through illness and other problems.
this years MOT had the fuel pipe as a faliure,and had advisories for: exhaust gasket leak,
brake pipe that had corroded,
front brake imbalance of 30%.
we told him to go and fix what was needed for the mot and all the advisories,well today we recieved a phone call from the garage saying they had stripped the threads from the brake actuator and that we needed to pay another £325 for the new part,on top of the £425 quid that he origianally quoted us,i thought that if a garage broke a part,they were supposed to be at fault,especially as the part was not requested to be changed as part of the mot.
any thoughts on this peoples?

Not sure on the legality but the initial quote was way over the top :shock:

well we thought that too,but i'm just got out of hospital and thought it'd be easier for them to do the lot,i didn't expect a hefty bill for a part that they broke.i nearly had another heart attack. :lol:

What have they done to it?

if its not part of the job list, you need to ask why they where touching it,

but as far as i am concerned, they broke it they fix it,

I would advise of a trip to citizens advice bureau.They are usually very good at sorting stuff out

This is the reason why I don't take my cars to a MOT station that also does repairs. The temptation for them to be overly harsh on the MOT as they can see a nice pay day is too much for some.

Getting into an argument with any garage that has your vehicle in for repair is a very bad idea. I would suggest that you request that they write you a bill stating the amount and the problem and if you decide your not happy persue the matter with a "letter of intent" of local county court action to recover your expense, but only when you have your car back.

It sounds lkike the garage has stripped the threads to the rear brake biasing valve when changing the pipes...If that is the case they obviously needed to remove the old pipes if they were corroded but to strip the threads changing them can only mean one thing...Wrongly possistioned brake pipe nuts during insertion...They are supposed to be the experts in there field and should be held accountable for there shoddy workmanship....Don't accept there mistake m8ty and make it clear of your intensions to take it further...Better still name and shame the garage

I had the same problem with a FORD main dealer putting an apprentice mechanic on the job.He did the wheel nuts up so tight with an airgun he naffed the wheel bolts threads....That error cost FORD four alloy wheels and four hub asasemblies oh plus the bolts....MEGGA money

I think most garages have small print, by way of a disclaimer on the wall in clear view, or on the quote documentation, which normally states that further breakages are down to the customer...
I would guess unless you could prove negligence on their part, or that they had no business touching the bit that broke, then at best you will have to foot the bill for the part (hopefully at cost) but with no additional labour to fit it...
Ultimately your car will get a new part to replace the 15yr old bit and should never be a problem dismantling again for the next 15yrs...

Things do break when you take apart an old car...even if you are careful...

I would ask yourself, would this have broke if I tried to take it apart...???
if the answer is yes or probably then the garage is fair enough to charge for the part...
if the answer is no then you must be thinking that they were negligent and then charging is harsh, but proving negligence is gonna be nigh impossible...

If it is the bias valve then surely threads would only be stripped when tightening the brake pipe unions by crossthreading.

On that basis they must have already removed the old brake pipes?

Surely a cheaper bias valve can be found?

thanks for your replies all,yep sorry peeps,it was the bias valve thing they messed up,but they only got the go ahead as they said it was an advisory not a faliure,so we've arranged for recovery so we'll pay for the mot but not anything else,and have the fronty brought home,where i'll source a cheaper one than the £325 they wanted for the bias valve.there's nothing more i'd like to do than name and shame,but it wouldn't be appropriate for this forum,besides we may be looking into legal action to get this sorted.

Good luck Lee, I will keep my eyes open for a second hand valve for you

Thanks drifty.

seems to me that its their mistake (cross threading on fitting) and there for they should repair it. buy a cheaper one your self and get them to replace it free. id be kicking off if it was mine like lol

well we have got the frontera back home,but i have not plucked up the courage to have a look at what they have/haven't done to it.
but with many thanks to 4x4 bobby,he's come up with a suggestion,so i'll take a look tomorrow and go from there.

If you were closer mate me and a few others would come over and sort it for you. Now't better than plenty of bacon butties and plenty of tea to get the spanners workin!!!! Lets hope it can get sorted for ya fella, its a real bummer when your trucks poorly as well as yourself!

Chin up mate.

Regards Bobster. :drink: