Garage unable to fix problem - what do I pay for

albob · 19-03-2010 3:18pm #1

Hi,
My wife's car is in the garage being worked on. They initially thought it was an ignition coil was gone but have replaced the coil, the leads and something else and still no compression in the car. Their advice now is the scrap it! They say it could cost a couple of grand trying to fix it, not that they know what "it" is. Its a main dealer so surely if they can't locate the problem no-one can. I'm just wondering:
1) Am I correct in assuming that I will have to pay for labor but not parts i.e. they can take the new parts back out I assume?
2) How bad can things be that the advice is to scrap an 7 year old car?

Looks like the car is more of a lemon than I originally thought (see earlier thread!).

Thanks

mickdw · 19-03-2010 3:36pm

This sounds very odd to say the least.
I think they will stick you for the whole bill, after all the labour involved in taking out parts might be just an expensive as the part. Did they tell you they were going to try the parts on the basis that they might fix it. If you agreed to this, you must pay. If they were sure of a fix, I would be very annoyed about having to pay for something that was never needed.

Is it engine compression that is the problem? If so, I dont see why they would go changing coils. Worst case, you need a new engine. Cant see how scrapping it is the best solution.

Gurgle · 19-03-2010 3:44pm

albob wrote: »

1) Am I correct in assuming that I will have to pay for labor but not parts i.e. they can take the new parts back out I assume?
2) How bad can things be that the advice is to scrap an 7 year old car?

1) You'll be billed for the lot.
I wouldn't want parts that have already been used as 'diagnostic' tools. Flip side is they'll probably bill you and sell them on again too.

2) Thats just stupid, as mickdw said worst case is an engine.

Whats the car, and whats the problem?
-edit- Oh yeah, the '03 Focus they're randomly hacking around at..

albob · 19-03-2010 3:46pm

It was my wife who dropped it off so not 100% sure what was said. It was something along the lines of "it sounds like the coil is gone. We will try replacing the leads first and if they don't work we'll replace the coil. We won't know for sure until we hook it up to the diagnostics." As far as I recall they were meant to quote before doing any actual work. I need to clarify if they rang my wife today or not. If they proceeded to do the work without talking to her first then maybe I have a comeback. I don't mind paying for honest labor but parts is another thing especially when as far as I know the coil is a pretty straight forward item.

knipex · 19-03-2010 3:47pm

If the car presented to the garage with lack of compression and they charge you parts and labour for fitting plugs and coil pack I would refuse point blank to pay.

That demonstrates nothing but incompetence.

mickdw · 19-03-2010 3:50pm

knipex wrote: »

If the car presented to the garage with lack of compression and they charge you parts and labour for fitting plugs and coil pack I would refuse point blank to pay.

That demonstrates nothing but incompetence.

Ya Im figuring they went changing coils etc before they thought that maybe it was down on compression. Poor performance if that is the case. If I was the OP, I would bring a mechanic with me when paying the bill.

Yawns · 19-03-2010 3:55pm

If you agreed to the new parts I think they will stick you with the whole bill. However if you were assured that was the problem and that these new parts would be the fix then complain to the manager.

If you go to a different garage and get a 2nd opinion of what's wrong. if a 2nd garage can find out the problem and it's not what the other garage was saying at all, and manage to fix it, I wouldn't pay the first garage. If that was the case they wrongly inspected the vehicle & carried out work not needed. I would let them try to go to courts. Just keep all receipts and paperwork.

Of course that is only if a 2nd garage manages to identify & fix the problem. If the 2nd garage doesn't know you'll have to stump up for the first garage.

mickdw · 19-03-2010 4:05pm

Whats the best procedure in this case. The first garage wont release the car without payment I would have thought. Pay under protest? How easy is it get money back from them if proven wrong? very hard Id say.

albob · 19-03-2010 4:05pm

Just some clarification - they didn't ring before proceeding with work so thats an out if I need it. However by the sounds of it, it does not sound like they will hit us for parts, only the time. We'll see. They are saying that one could replace the engine, get the heads redone etc but like after the timing belt broke the engine might still not be right and you could be throwing more good money after bad. They are offering 2k for the car...which unless we pay to get it fixed we will not get anything off anyone else (I assume).

mickdw · 19-03-2010 4:13pm

If belt broke, surely it should be even more obvious to check the mechanical side of things first. I think they are cowboys. What car is it? A used engine might be the best choice. If they are offering 2k without knowing whats up with it. you can be sure you are not getting the best deal

albob · 19-03-2010 4:24pm

Its a Focus. Its at one of the main dealers to I would hope they know something about it. Still I'll know better when I get to call into them myself tomorrow. Regarding the timing belt, I got confused between what details I had put in this thread and an earlier thread. The timing belt went last year. Got it all fixed up at the time but has been burning oil since. Two separate mechanics were unable to figure out what why it was burning oil. The engine management system was reporting an issue with the cat but both thought the cat was fine.

quarryman · 19-03-2010 4:58pm

What main dealer is this? I'd like to avoid them if I need work done on the Mondeo.

albob · 19-03-2010 5:26pm

I'll avoid naming and shaming for now. No guarantee they did anything wrong. I don't mind honest effort even if its wrong. I'll talk to them tomorrow and get their side of the story first hand.

testicle · 19-03-2010 5:26pm

I wouldn't be so sure Main Dealers know what they're on about. I came across a Ford garage mechanic before that didn't know that there was a Mondeo ST diesel.

SV · 19-03-2010 5:44pm

testicle wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure Main Dealers know what they're on about. I came across a Ford garage mechanic before that didn't know that there was a Mondeo ST diesel.

lol, ford have a tendency for not knowing their stuff apparently..
a very common thing for ford to do with st170s is to put regular 2litre petrol parts into it..removes a load of power!

Garage unable to fix problem - what do I pay for

Comments