Fan Belt not fixed properly

Reganovski

Hi, recently a friend of mine car broke down. She took it to a mechanic, with his own garage in town (near Cork), who told her it was the fan-belt and fixed it for €50.

So after fixing she drove had to drive to Dublin but not far from Dublin, her car broke down again. AA had to take her to another mechanic in Dublin who fixed the fan-belt again but this time it cost €180 because when the fan belt broke, it broke some other tank as well. (Sorry about the lack of specifics but I know nothing bout cars )

Anyways because the first mechanic didn't fix it properly, she now out of pocket by €180. The Dublin mechanic is adamant it wouldn't have happened if the first mechanic had fixed the fan belt correctly in the first place. He says the belt wasn't tightened correctly or something like that.

Both mechanics have talked on the phone as my friend got them to ring each other. Anyways the Dublin mechanic is adamant he is correct while the first mechanic is refusing to pay the bill of €180. She threatened him with the small claims court but he said "Grand, work away!!".

So what are her options now? She doesnt really want to go to the small claims court but maybe she has no choice.....

mickdw

It might be hard to prove the exact cause of the additional work required.

andyseadog

chalk it up to experience and move on?

Reganovski

mickdw wrote: »

It might be hard to prove the exact cause of the additional work required.

She got the tank that broke apparently and proves it was the timing belt that caused it. She showed it to the first mechanic but she just shrugged his shoulders.

andyseadog wrote: »

chalk it up to experience and move on?

Experience??

mickdw

andyseadog wrote: »

chalk it up to experience and move on?

Im inclined to agree. Its pretty sh1t but still given the amount of money, its not worth the stress of it all.

andyseadog

i should have elaborated, apologies.

as above, its unfortunate for your friend, and bad form on the part of the first mechanic and i know times are tight, but is it really worth dragging someone through the courts for 180 quid.

just take your business elsewhere next time, and tell your friends to give his garage a wide berth, that should do.

Nissan doctor

Reganovski wrote: »

She got the tank that broke apparently and proves it was the timing belt that caused it. She showed it to the first mechanic but she just shrugged his shoulders.



Experience??

Fan belt or timing belt? This is getting confusing. It couldn't surely have been a timing belt issue for either of those prices.


If the fan belt came off again, after you had an issue with it fixed, or more likely, had it changed, and it damaged the(expansion bottle, ps tank???) then whoever did the job first is responsible.
If there was some further issue that he couldn't fix at the time you should still have been made fully aware of it and perhaps the possibility that it may have been only a temperary repair.

dharn

supposing the first belt broke because of an intermittent fault say a water pump starting to sieze up or bearings in an alternator getting stiff due to failure and he fitted new belt and found everything ok let the lady off charged her only 50 euro which was not too bad, but the long drive caused the pump or alternator to sieze and snap the new belt then the first mechanic could not be really responsible

Nissan doctor

dharn wrote: »

supposing the first belt broke because of an intermittent fault say a water pump starting to sieze up or bearings in an alternator getting stiff due to failure and he fitted new belt and found everything ok let the lady off charged her only 50 euro which was not too bad, but the long drive caused the pump or alternator to sieze and snap the new belt then the first mechanic could not be really responsible

But a decent mechanic would check for the cause of a problem. There is no way you would just fit a new belt to a car that came in with it snapped without checking all pullies/guides/tensioners etc.

bluegoldmaster

hello

i have 05w nissan almera 1.5 petrol van (no air con) fan belts very noisy need to be replaced just asking if anyone one knows how much are they?
are they easy to install ??

thanks

Toyotafanboi

bluegoldmaster wrote: »

hello

i have 05w nissan almera 1.5 petrol van (no air con) fan belts very noisy need to be replaced just asking if anyone one knows how much are they?
are they easy to install ??

thanks

i changed a fan belt for a friend on a 1.5 petrol nissan tiida (if thats the same engine), afaik the belt was around €15 and all i needed was 2x 10mm spanners. if you're any way handy you'd probably tackle it yourself.

bluegoldmaster

thanks

where did u buy them ??

Toyotafanboi

bluegoldmaster wrote: »

thanks

where did u buy them ??

my local motor factors, its a generic enough belt, most places would have one

bluegoldmaster

hey

thanks mate ill let u know how i get on !!