today i took my car to a subaru dealer in nottm for the 45k service (cam belt) and at 2pm i got a call from them saying the middle bit of the cover snapped when removing it as the bolts were rusty and had siezed and some snapped when removing and 3 othem snapped the plastic on the cover so now cant be refitted??and it costs £91
so i said so you snapped it taking it off and you want me to pay for it????
he said yes i said that doesnt sound right to me but he said that it wasnt their fault the bolts were rusty!!
so can anyone advise me as to where i stand ??and to make matters worse they dont have it in stock either

but at least have 55 plate wagon ,non turbo thoughtill they finish it

 

Hi,

Also in Notts, would this happen to be a newish dealer near a sainsbury's by any chance?

If so they are very new to the brand and I heard that tuners in the surrounding area have been called by them for guidance on routine jobs such as removing the gearbox...

On your issue - I'd kick up a stink, as if you should pay for what thay broke!?!? Madness.

 

Im afraid you are going to have to pay. Its like asking someone to replace a fence panel and the rest falls down because its knackered. You cant tell the guy to re-do your fence for nothing........

 

If you were the dealer and had to contend with this you would never work on a car again ...... unless it was all under warranty.

Gary

 

yes it is near sainsburys

 

Bit of a generalisation don't you think Gary? Insurance companies do a great deal of their business through covering tradesmen for such instances. A car hifi installer broke part of my door handle release trim during installation they kindly informed me and said they had already ordered a new part. That's more like it.

There are lots of areas on cars that can become awkward to deal with - even on newer cars. Think of the pain that changing a downpipe can induce with seized bolts shearing etc. If they all followed your rule they'd have carte blanche to spin out substandard work ***** nilly with a get out clause like that.

 

Ask the dealer if his heavy handed grease monkeys have ever heard of WD40...or "rost-off Ice" (superb stuff - unseized my propshaft bearing ).

How old is the car?

 

Siborg - thought as much...

Funny isn't it - you hear a few rumours going around the grapevine then some poor soul has an experience like this...?

They were never great as a Rover garage in the past, nor a Pug garage when I had my Peugeot and my friend has had a poor service from their Seat arm around the corner...

 

My main dealer snapped all the lugs off the rear upper cover on my wagon whilst fixing a leaking rear wash wipe.

They didn't tell me and handed me the car back with it just 'jammed' up .... luckily I saw them pulling it off!!! I called the service manager out to the car and showed the damage and, after a bit of an argument, they agreed to order a new part and post it to me ....

They did just that ....

At the VERY worst you should ONLY have to pay the TRADE price for the cover (ie. the cost that they are charged .... demand to see the invoice!!)

Stand FIRM and you may just get a free one - but, do NOT pay retail price for the part, as that is an absolute rip-off!!

Pete

 

No problem ........ If a bolt is too tight or welded in place, take the car off the ramps and charge the guy the labour up till the point you couldnt do the job......

 

i would buythe part by all means, but as for labour charges and a retail price as mentioned above, i would tell them where to stick it....



john

 

There is a reason why garages are operated on a profit basis...not just to make money. BUt also cover their ***** when they make **** ups or breakages that they did themselves. Good business practice I belive it called (and with the rates dealers charge for parts and labour - I should hope so). But obviously a manager with a pair of "£ £" in his eyes wouldn't give a second thought to charge anything his heavy handed baboons break straight to the customer.

 

Sometimes we do try to blame garages for everything ....... I have done it myself when a cowboy outfit changed my pads and tightened the wheel nuts to almost twice the recomended torque. Could have killed me .... thats negligence.

However I have also been with my mate when a stubborn bolt wont come undone on my rear shocks. The only way it was coming off was cut it out or heat it up and hope it gets looser. Is that the dealers fault? Should he pay for a new bolt for you?

You see the dilema?

 

But a cambelt cover? The bolts on these from my experince don't seize that badly. Not on a scoob, actually, not on anycar I've worked on.

Ball joints and bearing and huge subframe and suspension bolts are highly torqued and need and good blast with the nut runner to get them to budge.

That a huge difference to a cam cover bolt should obnly need 5ft/lb, if that. And a car with 45K, I suspect is not that old to rust up badly either, bearing in mind they are zinc coated bolts too IIRC

 

dont these bolts screw in to the ali block, and that plastic aint easy to brake, if i wer u i would have a look at the cover and bolts, it should be easy to tell if it was because the bolts wer rusty.

 

i have seen the bolts and they were very rusty and could see where they had siezed to the metal bit on the cover that caused them to snap but like someone above says they not heard of wd40

a friend of mine worked at merlin landrover and told me if the mechanics broke owt it would affect their bonus and merlin paid for new part

and also that they are given a set time for each job so he wouldnt bother taking his time with it as this also affects their bonus

 

Not being funny but if you knew all that why didnt you get your mate to do the job privately?

Sometimes I think garages get a raw deal just because OUR cars aren't up to scratch........

 

Not really Gary. That being the case I would expect them to get the go ahead from the customer FIRST in such situations. It's common sense if there is a liklihood that things may be seized or prone to breaking when being loosened then i would expect them to inform the customer and proceed thereon in.

Maz

 

Thats fine but the clock is still running while the garage tries contact you and gain authorisation? If they cant get hold of you the car comes off the ramp and the clock starts again when they get hold of you and you give them the go ahead yeah?

 

I see your point but what if it was YOUR car? Would you be quite so understanding? I shudder when someone so much as slams my door , never mind breaking something. It is easy to be objective when it's not your car but a bit harder when it is.

 

Just wait until the baboon gets the timing belt one tooth out

 

Yeah it would be a case of tooth for tooth!!

 

i didnt know this before i phoned him and he told me and as i said before "he worked " as in no longer there
but i also thought theres no better place to take it than a subaru main dealer

 

many have thought the same and lived to regret it.

 

lol

 

We all love our cars and there can never be anything wrong with them in our eyes. Its always someone elses fault when something goes wrong.......

 

well got car back today and they managed not to break owt else
but i had to pay for the cam cover they wouldnt budge as they said they have done it at cost (lol thats the least they could do)

but if they had thought about it and paid for it i would of gone back there but now i will go else where so how much has a cam cover cost them in the end!!!!

a great way to start a new dealership