Car Advice Needed/problems With Garage

[ReikiAnge]

Our car is being reMOTd at present and we've just been told that the power steering fluid has been leaking into the rack (steering rack I presume, I'm not really "up" on cars).

 

The garage has ordered a new rack in and I asked if the car is driveable as it is and he said not really, which worries me given that we've been driving it. It was actually the same garage that picked this up in the MOT in April and charged us to fix the problem.

 

Obviously it wasn't fixed properly so they're sorting it out free of charge, but I'm a bit concerned as to how dangerous this could have been - does anyone know? I know it's "done" now but I'd kinda like to know.

[Jacobean]

It wouldn't be dangerous for you to drive but isn't clever for the car. You would end up losing your power steering. You would still be able to drive but the steering would become very heavy. I suppose depending when it actually happened and what you were doing at the time it could be potentially dangerous. Going round a roundabout for instance.

[Scooby Dobie]

First question is why are you having 2 MOT's in one year?

 

Regarding the problem - hydraulic fluids are quite diverse. Although the "newer" ones are more ozone friendly in every sense...

 

Basically, as Jaco said, you would have lost your power steering due to lack of fluid (remember cars without power steering - those were the days ) But it still would have been safe to drive.

 

HOWEVER, as I said above (dependant on the fluid used (old type / new type etc....too many factors to list) they can be quite corrosive so the worst case scenario would have been the leak going undetected and literally eating its way through the steering column (rack) - which would have resulted in (well you guess what would happen with no steering ).

 

Pasq xxx

[ReikiAnge]

Thanks

 

Reason for two MOTs - two idiots people drove into us on separate occasions and we have had to get the car re-MOTd for the insurance company. I guess perhaps if the steering fluid has been causing a problem, we may perhaps owe them a favour if it's been picked up now, rather than later

 

They did say they had had to order a new rack because the fluid had been leaking, so I'm guessing it must have had some effect on the rack. Which is worrying me rather a lot, about what could have happened

 

Not sure other than letting them repair it, what we can do, or whether I'm going to feel safe in the car from now on I wasn't a good passenger to start with.

 

Don't remember cars without power steering, this is our first car!

[Richard (The Sane)]

A point aobut cars without power steering. THey were MUCH easier to steer than cars with power steering that has failed.

 

This is because you only had to move the steering mechanism. Now you have to move both the steering mech and the power steering assembly which makes it a lot heavier. I wouldn't want it to fail while driving at any speed that's for sure!

 

If you find yourself in a car park with a lot of space try it... drive along slowly and kill the engine... then try to steer.

(Remember doing this also reduced the effectiveness of your brakes...)

[ReikiAnge]

I am so p*ssed off, sorry I'm going to rant. We got the car back at the beginning of the week, with the new steering rack.

 

Rob said the steering didn't feel right so it's gone back to the garage. They tried to say it was probably a bit stiff because it was a new rack, so Rob made the guy take it out with him, at which point he also agreed it wasn't right

 

They phoned earlier to say they need to order in a(nother) new part. Rob assumed we'd not be charged, since this is something that has happened since they took in to repair it from when they seemingly failed to repair it in April (keeping up?). The guy queried that but I'm not paying for something now, when we paid a fortune back in April to get work done for the MOT.

 

I want to scream.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

That's better. Sorry

[ReikiAnge]

Well we had a phone call from the garage yesterday telling us they had to order a new part in and that the car would hopefully be ready today. Rob picked it up this afternoon - and it's worse than it was before he took it in for the MOT

 

Given that:

it was steering fine before the MOT

that the garage admitted last week that they'd not repaired the power steering thingie properly when we paid them to in April

that they agreed to replace the steering rack foc because they should have fixed the problem in April

 

Why were we presented with a £220+ bill for a PAS Pump (a what?) today when Rob went to pick up the car? It was MOTd on 8 September and didn't need one then, only after they seemingly ballsed up repairing the power steering thing.

 

Rob brought the car home without paying and the garage guy admitted he'd not pay it either, but the car's not right. We're going to get all our points down in writing and he's going to try to see the MD on Monday.

 

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/advice? The car was re MOTd due to accidents to the back and left rear side of the car and this was all fine and got thru' the MOT, it was only the bit they'd not fixed properly in April that didn't

 

Do garages not normally drive a car after they've repaired it? We've had the car back twice in a week after it going in, and it's been obvious to Rob straight away that it's not driving right

 

If they're difficult, is there somewhere we can turn to for help? I could cry.

[ReikiAnge]

I've looked on the Trading Standards website and found this:

 

Vehicle servicing is covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982

 

 

 

Vehicle servicing and repair are obvious areas where disputes can occur between the vehicle owner and the garage. When you take your vehicle to a garage for servicing or repair, you are entitled, under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, to expect the garage to carry out the work:

 

 

• With reasonable care and skill (the standard of skill of an average garage)
   
  
• In a reasonable time (unless a specific time was agreed)
   
  
• At a reasonable cost (unless a price was agreed)
  

 

As the majority of vehicle owners are not very knowledgeable about the mechanics of their vehicle, they are therefore very reliant on the garage staff to treat them fairly and carry out a good job at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, even though the majority of garages are very reputable and honest, there are some garages who will, if you let them, provide poor quality work at a high price. A lot of these problems can be prevented by taking some simple precautionary steps.

 

 

 

 

 

I will incorporate this into the letter somehow. I don't feel that the garage has carried out the work with reasonable care and still. If they had, they wouldn't have had to fix a problem we paid them to fix in April, four or five months later. They'd have realised before they sent us home with the car TWICE this week, that it wasn't right. They probably also wouldn't have presented us with a bill for over £220 without telling us first what they were going to replace, and why, and how much it would cost. In fact they wouldn't even be charging us, considering the previous mistakes.

 

 

[Yantan]

Just a thought but are you in a motoring organisation such as the AA or RAC?

 

I don't know if things still get done this way but a number of years ago I had a problem with a car and a garage not fixing things as they should have and I got the car AA inspected (cost money but I was able to claim this back from the garage) as well receiving help from the AA legal department. It took all the hard work out of it anyway as the garage couldn't really argue with the AA report.

 

Marion

[ReikiAnge]

Rob joined an organisation for breakdown stuff but it's not the AA or RAC and I'm not sure what they offer, but I'll get him to check later, thanks He did try the AA the other day anyway and they can offer the service but it was £190 (ouch!) so we will wait and see what happens with the garage tomorrow before pursuing that perhaps.

 

We did visit the garage (it's also a local car dealer, and one of the better ones we thought) a few weeks back to look at cars and spent some time with one of the sales guys so I will also mention that we were thinking of buying our next car from them but now wouldn't touch them with a barge pole are reconsidering this.

 

We have got the name of a good, recommended garage for future reference, just wish we'd known about them six months ago

[ReikiAnge]

An update ...

 

The letter Rob took in this morning seems to have done the trick. They agreed that the steering rack was too tight and now that they've messed that one up, they've ordered another one in (foc) and confirmed we don't have to pay the invoice issued on Saturday for the pump. They sent Rob home in a taxi on their account too. Hopefully the car will be restored to full working order within the next day or so.