Garage Destroyed My Car..

[wildheart]

I took my car to Nationwide Autocentre in Slough 2 months ago to have the cam belt replaced. The work was (supposedly) completed, I paid and off I went. Fast forward 2 months to today, I'm driving on the M4 when the car dies on me. Recovery firm turns up, the chap has a look and tells me the cam belt has snapped! This has more than likely destroyed my engine. Got towed back to the same Nationwide Autocentre in Slough, I told them what had happened. They had a record of the work they had done previously on my car, and the work is covered by a warranty so they will look into it.

However, I am now without a car for the foreseeable future. I asked at the garage if they could give me a courtesy car and they said it was with another customer. Where do I stand on this? Can I hire a car myself and claim the cost back from Nationwide Autocentre? I need a car to travel to work, and as it's Nationwide Autocentre's fault that I'm without a car, surely they should supply me with one?

[MATTYFEZ]

I would think so, yes.

Surely if thier car is out on loan, they themselves should arrange a third party hire car for you...you should approach them with that and see what they say.

[yiddo]

i used to work for nationwide-in my experience they book that much work in and put you under that much pressure to "upsell" that things like this are inevitable! I would not advise you to hire your own car then try to claim it back as it more than likely will leave you out of pocket!! Instead speak to the regional manager he will already know about the problem and demand a hire car-yours could be off the road for weeks depending on what damage has been done-they have contracts to service and repair many rental companies vehicles-it wont be a problem for them to sort out! if you kick up a little more fuss you'll probably get a free service and mot-providing you still want to go back-but thats about it im afraid-let me know how it goes