Call me a mug but I listened to the guy at the garage and he explained how it happened. He explained they were not hitting it but simply adjusting it as designed and the sub frame has failed. He thinks it was most likely caused by a stress fracture. He seemed to be very genuine and was very upset that it had happened but said there was nothing he could do. Feeling the pressure of the ever growing queue behind me I reluctantly paid up and left. My MOT and 4 wheel alignment cost me the sum total of £728.17 In hind sight I should have tried to at least split the cost between us, but I did not. Thanks for your time anyway.

No I have not paid I was just trying to get some free advice from the solicitor particularly on anything I should definitely not do. I do appreciate all your help and do not intend using a solicitor at present.

Thanks for the advice. I am waiting for a call back from a local solicitor to hopefully gain some advice from them before going to the garage.

They have sourced the second hand sub frame, fitted it and the car is ready for collection, bill unknown at this point.

What should I do then if we can't reach an agreement? If I pay them do I forfeit any rights? Should I leave the car there and contact a lawyer?

If that is the case what should I do? Do I refuse to pay or pay and then dispute later? Can they hold my car if I will not pay?

The car is a 54 plate BMW 530d with around 105,000 on the clock.

A bit late for that as they have called me to collect the car as the work is finished. I just spoke to the main dealer to see if this is a known fault and they said nobody had ever heard of this happening before and they had never sold a sub frame. The mechanics said that they must have overtightened the adjusters to crack it. I am sure the guy at the garage originally said that it broke whilst they were doing the alignment. I will ask again when I get there. If that is the case and presuming the original is still there for inspection then it should be easy to assess when it was cracked by the cleanliness of the inner material inside the crack. If the crack was present before I took the car in then obviously it will be full of road grime, if it was not then I expect it to be clean aluminium. If they can show me that it was already cracked then I guess it is my problem if the crack is clean and new I think it is there problem. Thoughts?

I can confirm that it was cracked they showed it me on the ramp and did point out that they thought it was a very bad design. I do believe that they did crack it doing the wheel alignment. They also checked what the price for new one from the dealer would have been which I was told was £1000 + VAT. This was why agreed to one from the breaker. So, in short, I believe they cracked it and I am certain they will have replaced it and I will expect them to prove that to me. I believe that they are generally reputable but still the question remains should I be footing the bill when all I asked for was a wheel alignment?

I should stress that we have not even spoken about this as yet and so they have not had a chance to offer me any compensation as yet.

The garage is G & M Auto Repairs Ltd, Chipping Norton, Oxford

Hi, this is my first post so please be gentle. I recently had four tyres fitted at a local garage that I purchased through Black Circles, this was all fine and they seemed a reasonable bunch. My MOT is coming up so I booked it in with them for the following week. I also asked that once the MOT was complete could they align the wheels as the old tyres had been wearing unevenly. So far so good. I took the car in as planned and explained not to do the wheel alignment unless the MOT had passed. I was aware any part of the running gear that needed replacing would put the tracking out again. Still all good. It was a morning appointment and mid afternoon I decided to contact them as I wanted to know if I would have the car in time for the school run. I was informed that the car had passed the MOT and all was in order so they had moved on to the wheel alignment. I was then told there was a big problem and I would need to go in and see the car. I had asked for a full four wheel alignment. It turns out that whilst attempting the wheel alignment they cracked the aluminium rear sub frame. They explained they would get a local welder to have a look at it and see if he could weld it. Subsequently it turned out it could not be welded so I would need a new sub frame. They have now sourced and fitted a second hand sub frame and the car is ready for collection. I was quoted £270 + VAT for the sub frame and I am expecting it was a days labour. They did talk to me about it and I said go ahead as what other option did I really have. I had originally thought it was just one of those things but I am thinking otherwise now. When I took the car in I was expecting a bill in the £100 to £150 region. They supplied me a car to use whilst they fixed mine which says it is "£15 per period". I guess that is a daily rate. So all in all I am guessing I will be presented with a bill for around the £1000 - £1250 mark but I have not yet had that conversation as they told me the car is ready via voicemail. Obviously the sub frame was not cracked originally or how could the car have passed the MOT? So my question is this, should the garage foot the bill for the cost of the sub frame and fitting it? A quick response would be great as I know they will be on the phone very shortly. Hope you can help Ex.