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Car 'developed' problem whilst at garage


The Woolster
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Took my car in for its MOT on Saturday, it failed on rear break pad and a break light, fine, whatever.
 
Took it back on Monday for them to fix it, which they did and it was passed, wife went to collect the car, but the car wouldn't drive, so we left it there for them to look at. We haven't had any probelms with the car, bno funny sounds, no funny vibrations etc. They've now looked at it and have told the drive shaft has broken and its going to cost over £300 to replace.
 
Just seems a massive coincidence that it has happened whilst its with them. They've told me its not somehting they couldn't break, that they weren't looking at that part of the car, and it would have broken anyway.
 
I don't know shit about cars to be honest, so they may be telling the truth, but it feels like I've been fucked over. The wife needs the car for school run etc, and as the car isn't driving I can't take it away, so guess I've got no choice but to pay. 
 
Just wanted to vent, but if anyone had any advice that would be welcome. 

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Took my car in for its MOT on Saturday, it failed on rear break pad and a break light, fine, whatever.

 

Took it back on Monday for them to fix it, which they did and it was passed, wife went to collect the car, but the car wouldn't drive, so we left it there for them to look at. We haven't had any probelms with the car, bno funny sounds, no funny vibrations etc. They've now looked at it and have told the drive shaft has broken and its going to cost over £300 to replace.

 

Just seems a massive coincidence that it has happened whilst its with them. They've told me its not somehting they couldn't break, that they weren't looking at that part of the car, and it would have broken anyway.

 

I don't know shit about cars to be honest, so they may be telling the truth, but it feels like I've been fucked over. The wife needs the car for school run etc, and as the car isn't driving I can't take it away, so guess I've got no choice but to pay. 

 

Just wanted to vent, but if anyone had any advice that would be welcome. 

 

They're dumbfounding you with double negatives.

 

They definitely did it.

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That sounds incredibly suspicious - it may have been something that happened on the rolling road while going through the MOT.  If you drove it in there, and it was fine, and you can't drive it out, then it's not your problem.  I'm sure it wasn't done maliciously, as there are far easier things to fuck up than a driveshaft, but it would be interesting to know which part of the driveshaft has gone.  Is it just a mounting, or has the shaft itself broken?  

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That sounds incredibly suspicious - it may have been something that happened on the rolling road while going through the MOT.  If you drove it in there, and it was fine, and you can't drive it out, then it's not your problem.  I'm sure it wasn't done maliciously, as there are far easier things to fuck up than a driveshaft, but it would be interesting to know which part of the driveshaft has gone.  Is it just a mounting, or has the shaft itself broken?  

Sounds about right, They will have bust it testing the brakes the rolling road.

If they are half decent they should at least offer to fix it for the cost of the parts if you make a fuss.

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That sounds incredibly suspicious - it may have been something that happened on the rolling road while going through the MOT.  If you drove it in there, and it was fine, and you can't drive it out, then it's not your problem.  I'm sure it wasn't done maliciously, as there are far easier things to fuck up than a driveshaft, but it would be interesting to know which part of the driveshaft has gone.  Is it just a mounting, or has the shaft itself broken?  

 

I didn't ask, but the impression I got is that its the shaft itself which has broken.

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Sounds about right, They will have bust it testing the brakes the rolling road.

If they are half decent they should at least offer to fix it for the cost of the parts if you make a fuss.

 

If they fix the parts that failed having carried out the test themselves on Saturday, would they have to retest it or can they pass it like that?

 

They've said said it £300 plus VAT for the new drive shaft, and £75 for labour. I said, without kicking up a fuss yet, that I think they should sort something out for me on the labour side of things.

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Just a quick recap as I've understood it:

 

- the car failed its MOT on Saturday due to a faulty brake pad and brake light

- the car went in for and passed a retest on Monday after those issues were fixed (yes they do have to retest it if it fails the first time, but as far as I know you don't normally get charged another MOT fee)

- it was your wife who went to collect the car, so presumably it was her that was informed of an additional problem after the car wouldn't start

- the garage have told you what they reckon the problem is and how much the repair will cost, itemising parts and labour

 

Now given that the car was working fine on both occasions you took it there, it seems to me that the mechanics quickly twigged that you and your wife are easy pickings for them to pull a fast one, perhaps because it was evident in your conversations with them that you both know little about cars (as you yourself have stated). Ask them how they arrived at the conclusion that the drive shaft is faulty. Are the symptoms typical of a faulty drive shaft? Did they plug in a diagnostic kit that came back with an error code indicating a faulty drive shaft?

 

Now, without wishing to imply that either you or (more specifically) your wife are divvies, is it possible that the actual problem is simply a lack of fuel, or the engine being flooded because of lots of running the engine in short bursts, or perhaps a drained battery from the mechanics leaving the ignition in the first position for a long time? It's frightening how often people are conned into shelling out for unnecessary work when the actual problem is something trivial and easy to solve.

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Just a quick recap as I've understood it:

 

- the car failed its MOT on Saturday due to a faulty brake pad and brake light

- the car went in for and passed a retest on Monday after those issues were fixed (yes they do have to retest it if it fails the first time, but as far as I know you don't normally get charged another MOT fee)

- it was your wife who went to collect the car, so presumably it was her that was informed of an additional problem after the car wouldn't start

- the garage have told you what they reckon the problem is and how much the repair will cost, itemising parts and labour

 

Now given that the car was working fine on both occasions you took it there, it seems to me that the mechanics quickly twigged that you and your wife are easy pickings for them to pull a fast one, perhaps because it was evident in your conversations with them that you both know little about cars (as you yourself have stated). Ask them how they arrived at the conclusion that the drive shaft is faulty. Are the symptoms typical of a faulty drive shaft? Did they plug in a diagnostic kit that came back with an error code indicating a faulty drive shaft?

 

Now, without wishing to imply that either you or (more specifically) your wife are divvies, is it possible that the actual problem is simply a lack of fuel, or the engine being flooded because of lots of running the engine in short bursts, or perhaps a drained battery from the mechanics leaving the ignition in the first position for a long time? It's frightening how often people are conned into shelling out for unnecessary work when the actual problem is something trivial and easy to solve.

 

I didn't really speak to them about the car, just took it to them, and asked them how much to regas the air con and for a quote to replace rear parking sensors. Don't think I really said anything when he took me through the fail points either other than how much it would cost, but maybe thats the give away.

 

The wife took it in on the school run with 2 kids, and picked it up with them, so I doubt she spoke to them, but maybe having 2 kids with her made her an easy target.

 

They've told me that I can go to see the broken part (of course they could show me any old one and I would not know), I'll also be asking to see the new one in there as well. Car had fuel, and it started, but would not move off.

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Trip to the garage + runup to Christmas = petroleum jelly and financial ankle straps time

It can be, they're not all like that though. A lot of them won't fuck you over because they know they'll be losing out on business in the long run. It can be difficult to find a decent one but they are around.

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Hmmm. A bit late to the party but Id always suggest staying with a car when its in the garage and especially for an MOT. Garages will always try and shift the cost of any 'mistakes' on to you as do most businesses these days. I've used the same guy for MOTs on our cars for the last 7 or 8 years and I always have to tell him or his monkey not to;

 

drive them quickly over the rolling road rollers so as to ground the suspension

yank the seats back aggressively as this can cause the airbag light to come on (MOT fail)

to put grease filled hands on the steering wheel or door handles (kindly clean you hands!)

 

Anyway, a garage has a 'duty of care' when you leave a car with them for a service, repair or MOT etc. One of the cars was having its cambelt changed when they came to me and said a bolt had stripped the thread out of the engine block. So? I said. £1000 to fix they said. Well Im not paying it because it happened on your watch, I said.

 

Originally they wouldnt have it but I insisted they had a duty of care etc. They eventually agreed to do the repair labour free of charge if I paid about £50 for the relevant parts. Sorted. Negotiate hard, stand your ground but dont swear at them or get really really angry.

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How to Get a Free MOT Retest

Your re-test will only be free if the vehicle is left with the original MOT testing station for repair and then a partial re-test is carried out within 10 working days of the original MOT test.

 

So if you bring your car in to your testing station for an MOT and it fails on item(s) that are not in the list above – in the blue box – and you take the vehicle away and either fix it yourself or get another garage to fix it you will need to bring it back for a partial re-test within 10 working days to get the partial re-test fee which is half the full test fee. To see a list of MOT charges - Click Here >>

 

If you bring it back to the original MOT testing station outside of 10 working days then the station will have to perform a complete MOT test and will charge the full MOT fee.

 

If you leave your vehicle with your MOT testing station to repair and re-test within 10 working days then only a partial retest will be necessary and this will be free.

 

A partial retest is where only the items that you vehicle failed on during the full MOT test are examined. 

 

If your vehicle fails on the partial re-test then the vehicle will have to have a full MOT test when you bring it back again and the full fee will be charged.

 

These charges and the application of them is governed by VOSA - the vehicle and Operator Services Agency.

 

http://mottesting.org.uk/mot-retest-information-fail.html

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Hmmm. A bit late to the party but Id always suggest staying with a car when its in the garage and especially for an MOT. Garages will always try and shift the cost of any 'mistakes' on to you as do most businesses these days. I've used the same guy for MOTs on our cars for the last 7 or 8 years and I always have to tell him or his monkey not to;

 

drive them quickly over the rolling road rollers so as to ground the suspension

yank the seats back aggressively as this can cause the airbag light to come on (MOT fail)

to put grease filled hands on the steering wheel or door handles (kindly clean you hands!)

 

Anyway, a garage has a 'duty of care' when you leave a car with them for a service, repair or MOT etc. One of the cars was having its cambelt changed when they came to me and said a bolt had stripped the thread out of the engine block. So? I said. £1000 to fix they said. Well Im not paying it because it happened on your watch, I said.

 

Originally they wouldnt have it but I insisted they had a duty of care etc. They eventually agreed to do the repair labour free of charge if I paid about £50 for the relevant parts. Sorted. Negotiate hard, stand your ground but dont swear at them or get really really angry.

Why not find a different garage? I mean, if you have to remind them not to get grease all over the steering wheel then I wouldn't really trust them to fix a car. A very expensive piece of precision engineering.

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