Garage Will Not Give Me My Car Back!

[uncleclank]

Hello.... I hope you can help me please.

I drove my car to a local garage with a suspected drive shaft problem.

The owner of the garage suspected it was a driveshaft / other joint problem and replaced a couple of components hoping to rectify the problem.

He has now rung up and advised that it was not a driveshaft problem, but is a gearbox problem and has said it will cost approx £2k to repair the new found problem.

I advised i could not afford this.

He removed the new driveshaft parts (put on to try and diagnose the unknown problem) and replaced them with the old parts as there was no problem in this area.

So the car i drove to the garage has been looked at, had a few parts replaced to try an diagnose the problem, after diagnosis these parts were replaced back to the original parts.... BUT the car is not in a driveable condition, ie it does not drive as the gearbox has failed.

The way i look at it is... i drove the car to a mechanic in good faith to repair the problem, he has not fixed the problem and now my car does not drive, when it did previously.

Can any one help as he will not give me my car back until i have paid him £200 apparant charge for his time for replacing parts that he has re-replaced with the old parts because he found a greater problem.

[johellicar]

Hi,
Just to clarify a few points...presumably the £200 you have been charged by the garage is for the time taken for the diagnosis and work undertaken on the driveshaft to be carried out? If your reason for taking the car to the garage was to have a suspected drive shaft problem investigated and this work has been completed by the garage, then they are entitled to charge you for the work they've carried out. If your car is no longer roadworthy because the diagnosed gearbox problem is still outstanding and now causing problems with the vehicle, this is due to the fact that the gearbox is presumably faulty as the garage diagnosed. Since the garage have completed their part of the service contract by carrying out the work you asked for, you would be in breach of contract if you did not pay them for their services (though £200 seems very expensive!!). The problem arising with the gearbox presumably does not result from any works carried out by the garage since you asked them not to repair that particular problem. Hope that helps!

[uncleclank]

Hi

Many thanks for the reply.

Just to clarify whats happened.

1 - The Car was in a driveable condition when taken to the garage
2 - To diagnose the problem a new driveshaft was replaced
3 - This did not fix 'apparent' drive shaft problem
4 - New driveshaft was taken off and original 'old' parts put back on as the driveshaft was not the problem
5 - A gearbox problem was found and no work has been done to rectify this as too expensive
6 - The garage has left the car in an undriveable condition
7 - This is why i refuse to pay £200 for original investigative work as car has been left in a worse condition than when i drove it there.

I Hope this helps.

Regards

Uncle C

[johellicar]

Hi,
I think this all boils down to why the car is no longer in a driveable condition...if the cause of this originates with the garage and the work they've done to it, then they are obliged to rectify this problem. If the car is undriveable because the gearbox is faulty, then this is not the garage's problem as they haven't carried out any works to it, they've merely informed you there's an apparent problem that needs work carried out to rectify it. I'm assuming the reason for removing the new driveshaft that they put on, was to save billing you for new parts if there was no need for them, though perhaps they should've asked you if you wished them to do that. As i said, it all boils down to what has caused the car to be in an undriveable condition...if it is because of any work the garage has carried out, then they must rectify this..if it is simply because the faulty gearbox has now packed up completely, then this is not the garage's responsibility...the best thing to do, if at all possible, is to have the fault diagnosed so you know if the fault lies with the garage.
Hope that's of some help1