Car repair gone wrong, help.

[alexb123]

Hi,

My car was recovered to a main vauxhall dealer for a repair last week. They said it was spark plugs and changed them. The car was not running right all week and now today I had an exact repeat of the orginal problem and now the car has been recovered back to the garage.

My problem is that I am due to travel to Ireland on Sunday and I am fearful that the car might not be ready (although there is still a good chance it will be).

So my question is when I go to the garage tommorow if the car is still not ready can I claim from them the cost of a hire care, or possible even a curtesy car? If they had sorted the car in the first place I would not be in this position, but does the law consider them to be liable for these costs?

Any help would be great.

[chasin sunsets]

As it is difficult to establish and diagnose faults on message boards, I very much doubt as to spark plugs would cause a vehicle to stop. My Range Rover has trouble with wrong temperature plugs only starting on a cold morning or if not used for a while. Once the engine is running (although someties only on one bank of the V8!) they do catch and warm up. Ask for a full fault diagnosis and ask to see the spark plugs, have a look on t'internet for pics on how they should look. Does the vehicle start first thing? If it does, again, this can rule out plugs, have you been low on fuel? May have clogged up filtering system...how old is the vehicle? Sorry to go on, but it is slightly difficult to try and diagnose blindly..

[alexb123]

Originally Posted by chasin sunsets

As it is difficult to establish and diagnose faults on message boards, I very much doubt as to spark plugs would cause a vehicle to stop. My Range Rover has trouble with wrong temperature plugs only starting on a cold morning or if not used for a while. Once the engine is running (although someties only on one bank of the V8!) they do catch and warm up. Ask for a full fault diagnosis and ask to see the spark plugs, have a look on t'internet for pics on how they should look. Does the vehicle start first thing? If it does, again, this can rule out plugs, have you been low on fuel? May have clogged up filtering system...how old is the vehicle? Sorry to go on, but it is slightly difficult to try and diagnose blindly..

Hi, chasin.

Thanks for the reply, I think you are correct here. The garage phoned me just now and informed me that it was a coil (something or the other) and that they would fit a new one. Yes, the car starts fine first thing, only seems to get worse after driving for a while. And it is 6 years old and has never run out of fuel.

On the phone I asked them why did they change the spark plugs last week and he informed me that you always have to do this first. I ask if this was an unessary repair and he said it wasn't. However, I don't believe him. Also, a friend of mine told me that spark plugs should not need changing in car of it's age any way.

Cheers

[chasin sunsets]

Hi Alex, coil packs can fail at any time, they r a real pain, the old points type distributor was far easier, thats y I have older cars! Range Rover is 21 yrs old and Sierra xr4x4 is 15 yrs old! Although have to say, looking around for a Subaru Imprezza, just chacking insurance and taxation first..

[alexb123]

Wow, 21 years that's some acheivment to still be on the road.

So was he right to say that firstly the spark plugs would need to be changed?

I also now have another problem. I went to get the car back and now the speedo doesn't work and the engine is also cutting out tottaly at times. It did have a very intermitant fault before it went in but it was perfectly fine before they had it for a day and now it's dead (which has nevr happened before). Also, my stero is not working. I can't believe this garage it goes for one repair and now 4 things have needed to be fixed.

[chasin sunsets]

Take it back and demand it be fixed or they will incurr the cost of a hire car/service car for the duration your car is off the road at the gartage, the onus is on them to sort it out.

[WizardWheels]

Originally Posted by alexb123

Hi,

My car was recovered to a main vauxhall dealer for a repair last week. They said it was spark plugs and changed them. The car was not running right all week and now today I had an exact repeat of the orginal problem and now the car has been recovered back to the garage.

My problem is that I am due to travel to Ireland on Sunday and I am fearful that the car might not be ready (although there is still a good chance it will be).

So my question is when I go to the garage tommorow if the car is still not ready can I claim from them the cost of a hire care, or possible even a curtesy car? If they had sorted the car in the first place I would not be in this position, but does the law consider them to be liable for these costs?

Any help would be great.

I don't think the garage will be liable for the cost of a hire car but you could request a courtesy car for your inconvienience. The garage is expected to correctly diagnose the problem with the car and make effective repairs.

They seem to be using a diagnostic system which replaces everyting on the ignition system starting with the cheapest first and working their way up, a bit amaturish if you ask me but a good way to fleece the customer. Spark plugs very rarely need replacing. Being a main dealer, they should have the capability to make a quick, accurate, cost effective repair regarding ignition faults but whether they do this would depend upon their current workload.

If you have already paid for the sparkplug repair and this has not solved the problem then the cost of that repair should be deducted from whatever they find as the real problem. Don't fall for the line 'it could have been a mixture of a few things'.

With any luck they shouldn't argue.

[Conniff]

Originally Posted by chasin sunsets

Range Rover is 21 yrs old ..

The good old Rover V8 - still not much can touch that even today especially for longevity, it will outlast the body.

[WizardWheels]

Originally Posted by Conniff

The good old Rover V8 - still not much can touch that even today especially for longevity, it will outlast the body.

I agree, I don't envy the MPG though.

[alexb123]

Cheers for the advice here. I'm stuck with the car now until I get back from Ireland, I just hope is lasts out the journey. But when I get back will be raising this matters with them, thats for sure.

Thanks again.