Car damaged while in a garage

[chris-durham]

Hello guys,

wanted your thoughts on a situation that has come up with the cls55. Just before lockdown, i put the car into a local garage (who had decent reviews) to have the wheel alignment done. It transpires that they didnt actually know what they were doing with the fluted adjuster bolts on these and proceeded to try and turn one like you would a cammed adjuster.i was also charged a whopping £250 for the alignment, explaining all the things they had done blah blah. The car still pulls to the left worse than ever and ive a damaged lower arm (the lugs inside have been sheared off).
I photographed the parts and also asked why work that was not authorised by myself was carried out (playing about with the ecu).
Covid hit and i was told nothing could be done at the moment. It seems this garage is now open again, ive sent a follow up but am not hopeful that it will be resolved in the slightest.
How would you tackle moving forwards?

 

[Deleted member 149005]

Take the hit and try somewhere else - garages rarely roll over and accept responsibilty, certainly not post event.

 

[John]

I always take "reviews" with a pinch of salt if you found them online as they can easily be made up.

I would turn up in person and speak to the gaffer first to see what can be done. Be polite and find out the outcome of that first.

If not, your best bet would be to find a trusted place who can do the alignment.

There is a good place in Bucks but quite a trek for you unless you ever venture down south...

 

[chris-durham]

Its gonna cost a fair bit getting a new bottom arm fitted unfortunately, so not just the loss of cash for the job in hand. I replaced all the arms on the front a couple of years ago not long after i bought it. So they had plenty life on them

 

[Deleted member 149005]

and ive a damaged lower arm (the lugs inside have been sheared off).

I cant see that you have any comeback on the garage unless you can clearly show the lugs were there before and not there when you collected the car.

What makes you think they have “played” with the ECU?

 

[219]

Hello guys,

wanted your thoughts on a situation that has come up with the cls55. Just before lockdown, i put the car into a local garage (who had decent reviews) to have the wheel alignment done. It transpires that they didnt actually know what they were doing with the fluted adjuster bolts on these and proceeded to try and turn one like you would a cammed adjuster.i was also charged a whopping £250 for the alignment, explaining all the things they had done blah blah. The car still pulls to the left worse than ever and ive a damaged lower arm (the lugs inside have been sheared off).
I photographed the parts and also asked why work that was not authorised by myself was carried out (playing about with the ecu).
Covid hit and i was told nothing could be done at the moment. It seems this garage is now open again, ive sent a follow up but am not hopeful that it will be resolved in the slightest.
How would you tackle moving forwards?

Do you have legal cover with your insurance? A lawyers letter telling them you hold them liable , and given the mess they made you will be taking the car to an MB specialist to be repaired properly and will be sending them the bill .

 

[chris-durham]

I cant see that you have any comeback on the garage unless you can clearly show the lugs were there before and not there when you collected the car.

What makes you think they have “played” with the ECU?

Well i fitted them and they went touched since, they admitted to me they turned the bolt and couldnt get any adjustment, which i pointed out at the time would likely have caused damage. I guess it would be like going in for new tyres you come out and someone has driven into the side of it. Its unlikely many of us would have taken a picture prior to the event.

what makes me think? I dont think, they told me and wrote it on the invoice. Re centralising the steering or words to those effect, clearing random fault codes that wasnt Part of the scope of work.

 

[chris-durham]

Do you have legal cover with your insurance? A lawyers letter telling them you hold them liable , and given the mess they made you will be taking the car to an MB specialist to be repaired properly and will be sending them the bill .

Good point will need to check on that.

 

[AW8]

Difficult to fully advise in absence of all facts, (for starters I cant understand timescales &/or why ECU was touched if car only in for alignment or how you would know).

Some options if initial reasonable negotiations fail.....

1. If you paid on credit card you may have some recourse with card provider representing you.

2. You could indicate you would like them to resolve/settle in advance of you posting your review on FB or elsewhere &/or considering small claims court action. (IMO it is NOT blackmail to use a reasonable threat of future lawful & reasonable actions to secure a reasonable demand to secure reasonable compensation for alleged wrongdoing &/or incurred losses).

3.Walk away with nothing gained to compensate you & get car fixed by someone else.

If in doubt seek proper legal advice or go with option 3

Do be careful as some staff or associates of smaller businesses can potentially get quite hostile. when challenged ( maybe make an intelligent assessment based on how things might go).

Good Luck

 

[219]

Well i fitted them and they went touched since, they admitted to me they turned the bolt and couldnt get any adjustment, which i pointed out at the time would likely have caused damage. I guess it would be like going in for new tyres you come out and someone has driven into the side of it. Its unlikely many of us would have taken a picture prior to the event.

what makes me think? I dont think, they told me and wrote it on the invoice. Re centralising the steering or words to those effect, clearing random fault codes that wasnt Part of the scope of work.

I think you need to decide what outcome you are looking for - in my view having the car fixed elsewhere and them pick up the bill would be reasonable since they have already shown they are not competent .

Don’t get into arguments yourself - have a lawyer write to them stating this is what you’re looking for - perhaps enclose a quotation for the repairs - and ask them to confirm they will pay ?

 

[chris-durham]

Difficult to fully advise in absence of all facts, (for starters I cant understand timescales &/or why ECU was touched if car only in for alignment or how you would know).

Some options if initial reasonable negotiations fail.....

1. If you paid on credit card you may have some recourse with card provider representing you.

2. You could indicate you would like them to resolve/settle in advance of you posting your review on FB or elsewhere &/or considering small claims court action. (IMO it is NOT blackmail to use a reasonable threat of future lawful & reasonable actions to secure a reasonable demand to secure reasonable compensation for alleged wrongdoing &/or incurred losses).

3.Walk away with nothing gained to compensate you & get car fixed by someone else.

If in doubt seek proper legal advice or go with option 3

Do be careful as some staff or associates of smaller businesses can potentially get quite hostile. when challenged ( maybe make an intelligent assessment based on how things might go).

Good Luck

So wrt timescales. Car was taken in on the thu evening in march, collected day later, i examined the car a week later (due to work commitments) took pics and emailed same day. I got an email response a few days later from them. That takes us present time, as ive been waiting until garages up here fully open to pick up where i left off.
The ecu was touched as he wanted to see if there were fault codes (not part of the scope). I actually have a suitable system at home to fully interrogate all the computers on the car, so am familiar with what was done....

given the time and effort i have personally put into the car over the last few years, such as a full strip and rebuild of the rear subframe, a huge task on one of these, im not too forgiven when a trained mechanic makes a mistake like that, specifically after i stated when dropping it off not to touch the camber adjustment on the front.

 

[chris-durham]

I think you need to decide what outcome you are looking for - in my view having the car fixed elsewhere and them pick up the bill would be reasonable since they have already shown they are not competent .

Don’t get into arguments yourself - have a lawyer write to them stating this is what you’re looking for - perhaps enclose a quotation for the repairs - and ask them to confirm they will pay ?

Yeah ur right, i wouldnt have the car back with them, ideally i want either the lower arm replaced (which i will fit myself) or they cover costs for a specialist to do it. And also the money back for the additional work that was not agreed nor approved.
Yeah food point re not engaging directly if it goes sour

 

[Deleted member 149005]

you wanted alignment adjusted without adjusting the camber...how does that work?

If the alignment was out, I would expect the steering sensors to be “told” of the new settings...

 

[Deleted member 149005]

MBs these days (last 10 years) have fixed bolts, not adjustable bolts , as standard.

Had yours been replaced with a retro fit of adjustables and did you tell the garage?

 

[markjay]

So you asked the garage to carry-out a specific adjustment (what was it - tracking?), and instructed them specifically not to touch the adjustable camber bolts (which you have fitted yourself earlier, replacing the original non-adjusable bolts)? And they tried to adjust the camber bolts anyway, damaging them, and damaging the lower arm as well on the process?

And you never asked them to scan the car for fault codes, and yet they connected a scanner and deleted some old fault codes?

And now you want them (ideally) to refund what you have paid them, and compensate you for the cost of new adjustable camber bolts, and new lower arm, parts-and-labour? And what do you want from them regarding the ECU - presumably nothing as 'no harm done'?

 

[Wolfie1]

Regards to the ecu, they will have reset the steering angle sensor and then whilst they were there they will have deleted all codes, i would say that is involved albeit not 100% necessary but going above and beyond what was asked of them if you werent charged for it

 

[chris-durham]

So you asked the garage to carry-out a specific adjustment (what was it - tracking?), and instructed them specifically not to touch the adjustable camber bolts (which you have fitted yourself earlier, replacing the original non-adjusable bolts)? And they tried to adjust the camber bolts anyway, damaging them, and damaging the lower arm as well on the process?

And you never asked them to scan the car for fault codes, and yet they connected a scanner and deleted some old fault codes?

And now you want them (ideally) to refund what you have paid them, and compensate you for the cost of new adjustable camber bolts, and new lower arm, parts-and-labour? And what do you want from them regarding the ECU - presumably nothing as 'no harm done'?

Correct

 

[chris-durham]

Regards to the ecu, they will have reset the steering angle sensor and then whilst they were there they will have deleted all codes, i would say that is involved albeit not 100% necessary but going above and beyond what was asked of them if you werent charged for it

Yeah, there were a few random codes as the batt had drained,
Yeah i was charged for all that and that helped take the bill up to £250ish

 

[219]

Since there are a few questions arising here , I think the way forward would be to take the car to a trusted MB specialist for examination ; ask them to give a report on the current state of the front suspension , and a quotation to put matters right .

This can then be sent , by lawyers letter , to the garage , asking them to pay costs . Proper legal advice should be sought re the cost of recovering monies already paid ; my thinking is you would be entitled to either get money back from original garage , and have to pay MB Specialist yourself , or get garage you paid to do work , to pay for work to be done by MB specialist at his cost , but not refund you .

I don;t think you would be entitled to both get refund from original garage and have them pay for work to be done elsewhere ; it would be one or the other ; you aren't entitled to end up in the position of having the work done and having paid nothing . You should just be in the position that you paid the correct price for a satisfactory job . It could be argued that you shouldn't have to pay the (higher) cost of having the damage fixed , since that ought not to have happened in the first place , so getting the garage to pay the bill from the specialist and letting them keep what they charged you is probably a better option .

Now that the lower control arm will need to be replaced , along with new bolts , plus labour , I think the rectification by a specialist will cost more than you paid the original garage ; they might prefer to refund your bill and leave you to pay the specialist ; I imagine you might prefer to leave them with what you paid them and pay the bill at the specialist . I remember when I replaced a lower control arm on my W203 seven or eight years ago the part alone was around £150 ; I imagine you will easily be looking at more now , especially for a CLS55 !

Again , seek legal advice .

 

[Deleted member 149005]

i suspect if the steering sensor hadn't been reset, via "playing with the ECU, you would have had some warning lights generated..