Garage were negligent with car?

Sconsey

Hi,

Repost of a question I put up earlier on the 'Consumer' forum, I figure people in this thread might have a good idea...anyway, heres the long version http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055503875


Short version: car given to garage for puncture repair, garage swap wheels, do some balancing also. A week later after hearing noise from front of car, my friend finds that the wheel nuts are very loose, close to falling off. I reckon this is really negligent (and dangerous) of the garage, the person that owns the car is not a car enthusiast, she would not have known to check anything....

Where do they stand? who to complain to (other than directly to the garage), is there a safety standards crowd or something?

Thanks

R.O.R

Sconsey wrote: »

Hi,

Repost of a question I put up earlier on the 'Consumer' forum, I figure people in this thread might have a good idea...anyway, heres the long version http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055503875


Short version: car given to garage for puncture repair, garage swap wheels, do some balancing also. A week later after hearing noise from front of car, my friend finds that the wheel nuts are very loose, close to falling off. I reckon this is really negligent (and dangerous) of the garage, the person that owns the car is not a car enthusiast, she would not have known to check anything....

Where do they stand? who to complain to (other than directly to the garage), is there a safety standards crowd or something?

Thanks

Did they get a receipt for the work?

Does it state on the receipt, like it does from all the tyre places I've ever dealt with, that wheel nuts should be checked within 1,000km as they can come lose?

Ferris

Sconsey wrote: »

Hi,

Repost of a question I put up earlier on the 'Consumer' forum, I figure people in this thread might have a good idea...anyway, heres the long version http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055503875


Short version: car given to garage for puncture repair, garage swap wheels, do some balancing also. A week later after hearing noise from front of car, my friend finds that the wheel nuts are very loose, close to falling off. I reckon this is really negligent (and dangerous) of the garage, the person that owns the car is not a car enthusiast, she would not have known to check anything....

Where do they stand? who to complain to (other than directly to the garage), is there a safety standards crowd or something?

Thanks

Defo they were negligent and the owner should complain but as there was no harm done or damage done then you are not entitled to anything.

If the garage is SIMI regestered you can complain to them but its more of a motor industry version of the stonemasons rather than a regulatory body.

gofaster_s13

Yes they were negligent but if she reads the receipt/invoice I would be fairly sure that the fine print says to recheck wheelnuts after a specified time, also make sure that the wheel nuts havent been damaged after been left loose or that the wheel nut holes havent been elongated(if they have the wheel is scrap) after the loose wheel has been banging around on the studs.

Sconsey

Ferris wrote: »

Defo they were negligent and the owner should complain but as there was no harm done or damage done then you are not entitled to anything.

Agreed, they aren't after any kind of compo, just want to make sure the garage don't keep doing it, complaining to someone like SIMI might be the best bet.

L1011

Every time I've got tyres I have been told directly to check the wheel nuts after a few hundred miles as they can loosen. They may not have been negligent at all.

mickdw

The major tyre places do remind you to check wheel nuts after 1000 miles etc but most others do not. Ive never known a wheel to get loose. Perhaps if non standard wheels are used which dont quite match the wheel nuts it might be more likely to happen.

Overall, Id say forget about it and remember to check the wheel nuts next time

EPM

Sconsey wrote: »

Agreed, they aren't after any kind of compo, just want to make sure the garage don't keep doing it, complaining to someone like SIMI might be the best bet.

Complain away but any tyre place will have it to re-tighten wheels after x km. Its there in black and white. The complaint will almost definitely fall on deaf ears

Healyc

R.O.R wrote: »

Did they get a receipt for the work?

Does it state on the receipt, like it does from all the tyre places I've ever dealt with, that wheel nuts should be checked within 1,000km as they can come lose?

If there a recognised tyre outfit they will have a section on the bottom of the invoice stating you must check the tightness of all wheel nuts after x amount of kms usually 20-30kms!

This kind of covers there backside in case this happens.

But if they werent given a correct receipt/invoice and were informed of this they would definitely have a good case to bring to consumer affairs!

TBH honest the only time ive heard of wheel nuts coming loose is when they werent tightened in the first place. All wheel nuts must be torqued to the correct tightness after they have been removed.

cantdecide

Sconsey wrote: »

....the person that owns the car is not a car enthusiast, she would not have known to check anything....

That dog won't hunt IMO. As the Kaiser chiefs so eloquently put it 'it's cool to know nothing'.

She will almost certainly have received some paperwork instructing her to re-check her studs. This was basic human error. It happens every day. You could complain if the wheel had fallen off with no warning...

You don't have to be an enthusiast to perform basic safety checks. If it's not the owners responsibility, then is whose is it??

PCPhoto

I have similar problems recently .....

Passed my car in for service .... it comes back and all of a sudden theres other issues (different area of car) .... service people claim that the new problems are nothing to do with the work they did, so...get that fixed and now theres more problems elsewhere..... I'm getting the feeling that they are fixing one area but "adjusting" another area so you'll bring it back to them....time to goto a new garage and hope they dont do the same.

In you case OP I think it might have been a simple error (albeit a dangerous one)....someone might have forgotten to tighten nuts properly.... my guess is they will deny any liability and its unlikely you'll be able to prove it was them that made an error.

L-M

Aye OP, I'd get your friend to check the receipt.

Happened to me after I changed my wheels, was driving home 40 miles with a knocking sound getting louder and louder. Pulled in on the dual carrage way, pulled off the cover over the nuts, and 4 out of 5 nuts fell onto the ground. Frightening stuff. Just a note to everyone to check your nuts after you've tightened them (no pun intended :P).

Darragh29

Ferris wrote: »

If the garage is SIMI regestered you can complain to them but its more of a motor industry version of the stonemasons rather than a regulatory body.

??? Did you mean Freemasons!?!?! :D:D

L1011

Darragh29 wrote: »

??? Did you mean Freemasons!?!?! :D:D

I have visions of dealers releasing catchy but ultimately terrible dance tracks now

But yes, isn't Stonemasons what the pisstake in the Simpsons was called?

bazz26

MYOB wrote: »

I have visions of dealers releasing catchy but ultimately terrible dance tracks now

But yes, isn't Stonemasons what the pisstake in the Simpsons was called?

Stonecutters

Carawaystick

I still reckon the tyre dealers disclaimer is a pile of pooh, If you pay a guy to fix a puncture he should be able to tighten the nuts properly.
like if you pay a guy to change the oil, he should be able to tighten the sump bolt properly.

green-blood

Carawaystick wrote: »

I still reckon the tyre dealers disclaimer is a pile of pooh, If you pay a guy to fix a puncture he should be able to tighten the nuts properly.
like if you pay a guy to change the oil, he should be able to tighten the sump bolt properly.

who said they were not tightened properly.... they are loose now... who said they were loose when it was driven away?? there's no negligence here unless you can prove the nuts were not tightened, the fact that they are loose now is not proof of anyting, other than that nuts can loosen.

VeVeX

Sconsey wrote: »

Over the last few days his wife has been reportng a 'knocking' sound coming from the engine, been getting louder and louder so friend took it for a test drive yesterday evening, it did not sound right. He put the car up on jacks and soon found that one of the front wheels was about to fall off, it had never been tightned!!! He said it was literally hanging on the edge of the pins.

IMHO the negligence rests with the owner but its typical that he's looking for someone to blame. If the car has a knocking noise which has been getting louder and louder over a couple of days and they have only looked at it when the wheel came to the point that it nearly fell off its their fault.

A knocking noise is a good reason in my book to stop the car and get it investigated immediately not continue to drive the car till it gets unbearably noisy.

Sconsey

VeVeX wrote: »

IMHO the negligence rests with the owner but its typical that he's looking for someone to blame. If the car has a knocking noise which has been getting louder and louder over a couple of days and they have only looked at it when the wheel came to the point that it nearly fell off its their fault.

A knocking noise is a good reason in my book to stop the car and get it investigated immediately not continue to drive the car till it gets unbearably noisy.

Easy for you to say, I'd imagine you are a bit of a petrol-head with a good knowledge of cars/maintenance/etc.

This was my buddies wife who only knows the basics, she could open up the bonnet and not spot a problem that might be stareing you in the face, I don't consider this to be her fault. Everyone should have a basic knowleged of car maintenance but the majority of people are not car enthuasiasts (sp?) and won't know a car is knackered until the dashboard lights start flashing.

I don't agree with your comment that she was negligent.

L1011

Sconsey wrote: »

Easy for you to say, I'd imagine you are a bit of a petrol-head with a good knowledge of cars/maintenance/etc.

This was my buddies wife who only knows the basics, she could open up the bonnet and not spot a problem that might be stareing you in the face, I don't consider this to be her fault. Everyone should have a basic knowleged of car maintenance but the majority of people are not car enthuasiasts (sp?) and won't know a car is knackered until the dashboard lights start flashing.

I don't agree with your comment that she was negligent.

If you don't know how to check basic safety on a car you shouldn't have a driving licence. Its is negligent.

Sconsey

MYOB wrote: »

If you don't know how to check basic safety on a car you shouldn't have a driving licence. Its is negligent.

Is that your opinion or is it a fact? you might want to get on the department of transport and get them to change the criteria for issueing a drivers license...now look at the reality of the situation, professionals paid to do a job fcuked it up, and though they may not be laible (technically) they were negligent by not tightening the wheel nuts.

Most people here agree that it's up to the driver to check their wheel nuts shortly after any work has been done, and I accept that, but it's news to me, I would never have done that in the past and I bet that the vast majority of the public are the same. I still think the garage were negligent in their role however.

LoveDucati2

The simple fact is that garages have signs saying to check the wheel nuts.

She is lucky that the wheel didn't come off as I have personally seen that happen twice.

What % of people do not check their oil, water , tyre pressures etc?

peasant

Sconsey wrote: »

.now look at the reality of the situation, professionals paid to do a job fcuked it up, and though they may not be laible (technically) they were negligent by not tightening the wheel nuts.

Most people here agree that it's up to the driver to check their wheel nuts shortly after any work has been done, and I accept that, but it's news to me, I would never have done that in the past and I bet that the vast majority of the public are the same. I still think the garage were negligent in their role however.

It is a technical fact that wheel nuts may come loose within a few miles after they were last off and re-tightened due to the fact that the wheel is a moving part and the nuts are subject to various different forces when the wheel turns. As these forces only appear when the wheel turns, re-tightening can only be done after that turning has happened.


See..you learn something new every day.

gofaster_s13

Its not only tyre shops that have this disclaimer, most artic trailer manufacturers have stickers on the trailers to check nuts daily, Mercedes trucks have stickers on the inside of the windscreen saying to check nuts xxxk/m after changing wheels. Wheel nuts can and do come loose but did the op's wheelnuts come loose, unlikely.

L1011

Sconsey wrote: »

Is that your opinion or is it a fact? you might want to get on the department of transport and get them to change the criteria for issueing a drivers license...

The driving test requires knowing how to perform basic mainto tasks so, yes, its in the departments requirements.

They may also have tightened the nuts fully only for them to work loose - this is why there is a warning to check them!