should i have to pay for garage's mistake?

top madra

ive dropped my van in a garage beacause the heating wasnt working and the coolant kept leaking..
every morning i would fill it with water and it would be gone later that day or definately by the next morning..

so i drop it into the garage and tell the guy the heating is fukd and the coolant bottle is leaking or something,later he rings me and tells me my headgasket is fukd (which is very possible because you shouldnt drive it while low on coolant) anyways he cant find where the crack in the head is and has to send it to specialist and i agree to this,i tell him do whatever has to be done..

he gets back to me and says they cant find it either and he cant do no more(my options are get new engine or sell van) and im like so im getting my van back the same way i gave it to you..he basically says yeah..

he rings me today and says while he was putting the engine back together he see's the problem,its a fukd water pump so i tell him order it and ask how much all this is gonna cost..

now my van has been in the garage for a week,he says about 600/700 euro..
now i dont mind paying for the work with the water pump and sending it to the specialist because i agreed to it..

but it was him that told me my headgasket was fukd and did all that other work,should i have to pay him for the work he did even though it was hes mistake?

cliffs:
sent van to garage to get fixed..
i was told there was something wrong with it that wasnt..
should i pay for his mistake..
__________________

Tom Young

Sorry no advice. Seek the professional and indemnified advice of a local solicitor.

Tom Young

Re-opened in a more appropriate environment.

top madra

Tom Young wrote: »

Re-opened in a more appropriate environment.

grand job..

dudara

If you agreed for him to undertake the work, then you are liable for it. He did ask you if it was OK to proceed and you agreed.

Now that's how I see it, unless there's some detail that I'm missing.

top madra

dudara wrote: »

If you agreed for him to undertake the work, then you are liable for it. He did ask you if it was OK to proceed and you agreed.

Now that's how I see it, unless there's some detail that I'm missing.

well i droped it in and said my heater is broken and my coolant bottle is leaking...he told me it was my headgasket that was the problem(it wasnt it was a water pump) he told me he couldnt find the problem in the headgasket(cos there wasnt any)

and he would send it off to a specialist and naturally they found nothing wrong either,it wasnt until afterwards he found the right problem..

now i dont mind paying for the waterpump and it going to the specialist,
ive priced it
150 for waterpump fitted...average
150 for specialist...he told me it would cost this,i agreed

should i have to pay about 400 labour to him for him trying to fix the head gasket,when that was hes mistake,i never said thats the problem.
he (the expert)told me it was....surely i shouldnt have to pay for his misakes?

Guell72

Sure at that rate i could open a garage. Make up whats wrong. Work away on what i made up. And charge a fortune.
I know what id do.

jor el

You paid for him to investigate the problem, which he did. At first, it looked like it might be the head gasket, and the only way to prove that would be to open the engine. You agreed to let him do this, and he has proven that it wasn't the gasket.

When there's an unknown problem with something, you need to pay for someone to figure out exactly what that problem is. That takes time, and they won't get it right first time, every time.

That's the way I would see it anyway.

Guell72

jor el wrote: »

You paid for him to investigate the problem, which he did. At first, it looked like it might be the head gasket, and the only way to prove that would be to open the engine. You agreed to let him do this, and he has proven that it wasn't the gasket.

When there's an unknown problem with something, you need to pay for someone to figure out exactly what that problem is. That takes time, and they won't get it right first time, every time.

That's the way I would see it anyway.

Better off paying for someone with expertise instead of someone who doesnt have a clue. It would take less time.

Del2005

Guell72 wrote: »

Better off paying for someone with expertise instead of someone who doesnt have a clue. It would take less time.

How do you know that the mechanic doesn't have a clue? Are you a qualified mechanic who's looked at the OP's van?

The OP went to the garage with a problem the mechanic followed fairly standard procedures, head gasket is usually the main suspect when you have the OP's symptoms. Also even if they had found the water pump at the start the HG would more then likely have to be checked anyway as the OP has been driving the van with no/little coolant.

They checked that out and couldn't find anything wrong. They then contacted the OP to ask was it OK to send out for more work, which the OP agreed to, and they came back with no issue (luckily for the OP). When that was a dead end the mechanic found the issue and fixed it.

If the OP didn't want to pay for any part of the repair they could have said no. Not come onto a message board after the mechanic has spent time and money trying to find out what's wrong with their van.

Sometimes with vehicles the problem can be easy to find, other times they may never find it. It's all look of the draw.

Nonoperational

There are things that can be done to check for a likely head gasket failure. It seems poor enough stuff from the garage but thats only my opinion. Maybe the garage would come to some agreement with ya.

super_furry

Talk to him about it, explain your point of view and try to come to a compromise.

cock robin

jor el wrote: »

At first, it looked like it might be the head gasket, and the only way to prove that would be to open the engine.

There is no need to strip an engine to determine if head gasket is gone. Most garages use a kit similar to a pregnancy test kit. All they do is take a sample of coolant and test it. If gas from the combustion chamber is contaminating the coolant it will test positive as there is no other way they could have got there.