Garage work & charges but car not fixed

[nets68]

Hello all,

I need advice. My Peugeot 3008 (2010) broke down 3 weeks ago. The car just died when I was turning right on a roundabout and I was able to 'coast' it onto a kerb. The anti-pollution warning light came on.

Green Flag rescued me and the car was taken to a garage I have used once before.

 

After several days, they inform me that the car needs a new EGR valve at a cost of £400-£500.

 

I called Peugeot as this seemed like a big job. They said they would be surprised if the 'whole unit' would need to be replaced as it consists of 4 valves etc etc. I relayed what they told me to my garage who said the codes etc all told them the complete unit did need replacing. They did this, at a cost of £460 (£340 of this was for the unit).

 

I collected the car on Friday evening. Used it for a short journey on Saturday. Went to use it Sunday and it was dead on my drive with the same fault light.

 

The garage collected it Monday, by Monday evening I collected it again. They said they thought they had disturbed a sensor so they cleaned it and clipped it back on with 2 cable clips.

 

Tuesday morning dead on my drive again with the same fault light.

 

Now I am due to collect the car again in the morning - but the point is they say it seems to be working but they've done nothing else to it. It's obviously going to happen again.

 

I'm on my own with 2 children and a car dying on a roundabout was terrifying. If the car breaks down again, what would you do?? Do I have any entitlement for my money back as they haven't repaired the fault I paid them to repair? If I have to take it to a dealership, can I ask them to cover the cost???

 

I've no idea where to go from here. I live in a rural area so need the car for school & work.

 

thanks for reading - sorry it goes on a bit!!

[BankFodder]

When you take your car into a garage for repair, your contract with them is not only to carry out the repair but also to have diagnosed the problem correctly.

 

It seems here that they have not carried out a correct diagnosis and therefore they have carried out an unnecessary repair.

 

If this is the case then you are entitled to all of your money back plus any additional losses or expenses to which you have been put.

 

I think the time now is to start going to another garage and to get a proper diagnosis – and hopefully to get the fault repaired. This may mean going to a dedicated Peugeot garage.

 

As far as getting your money back from the original repairer, I think that the best thing you can do is to get the car properly diagnosed and repaired. Get a written report of what the fault really was, and then send that and a letter to the original garage and required them to repay you back all your money immediately.

 

If you end up having to make a small claim, if you have written evidence of a proper diagnosis supported by successful repair, then your chances of success are better than 95%.

 

I'm afraid that it will mean that you are out of pocket pending the proper repair – unless you are very lucky and your original garage decides to be decent and to fulfil their proper obligations.

 

What is the name of the original garage?

[Conniff]

Egr's can be cleaned or bypassed.

[nets68]

Picked the car up yesterday. They dis connected the battery in an attempt to clear the memory. Drove it around for the day. Started this morning! Got 2 miles down the road & it died on a speed bump. Same lights

Garage have collected it and I haven't heard yet - but I've just had a confirmation from my local peugeot dealership of a booking for Monday. So my garage must of admitted defeat and booked it in! I suppose that's cheaper than giving me my money back.

Thanks for the replies! At least I now know my rights so feel a bit more empowered to deal with it confidently

 

On the up side, while it was working yesterday, I bought a new car which I collect on Tuesday! Just hope it's repaired for then!

[heliosuk]

When you take your car into a garage for repair, your contract with them is not only to carry out the repair but also to have diagnosed the problem correctly.

It seems here that they have not carried out a correct diagnosis and therefore they have carried out an unnecessary repair.

If this is the case then you are entitled to all of your money back plus any additional losses or expenses to which you have been put.

 

 

 

This is not entirely correct. If the garage can show that they went through a proper procedure and the indicators were that the replaced part was at fault then they have made a reasonable diagnosis. The OP also has the benefit of a new part being fitted to the used car. If they were to do a refund then they would be entitled to remove the new part or just refund the diagnosis costs only. However that is getting into a daft situation where no-one benefits. I see this sort of thing everyday of the year all over the world. It's not easy now to get it right first time as it used to be but where garages frequently go wrong is assuming the computer doesn't lie and not having an understanding of what the computer system is actually reporting. Much of the time situations like this arise from a historic reported failure of a component and what is a live failure purely because after market diagnosis systems will not be programmed to see masked DTC's like the dealer ones will.