Now, I am absolutely fuming. I had a full service on my car in the middle of August last year. Paid a good price for it, too. This should have included everything I needed to ensure my car was healthy. So, I started my new job on September 1st, with a drive to Cheltenham. About an hour from me. All was well, until I got on the motorway to come home, when a huge bang occurred, and my car went from 65 to 0 in roughly 3 seconds. I was stuck on the m4 for over an hour, broken down, with someone I had just met 20 mins before. The AA breakdown van comes to tow me home, and he diagnoses a cambelt snap. This should not have happened if just two weeks prior, it was correctly checked. Fuming. It cost me £750 and my first three days of my new job to get back driving (I can't get there without a vehicle). Ever since this, my "Stop" and oil lights have been flashing intermittently, and the car has been making a clicking/grinding sound. I took it back to the same mechanic at least three times, and he always said "it's fine, you're not losing oil, and I can't hear the noise you're mentioning". So me being me, a 24yr old female who knows almost zilch about mechanics of a car, accepts this. This brings me to today. I had literally just put my remaining money from my bank into the car to ensure I can get to and from work, from tomorrow, as it's my first day back after annual leave. And what happens just 10 mins later? My engine siezes up completely. The car is now worth nothing but scrap (advice from two separate and new mechanics). I have absolutely no way to get to work, and they are seriously angry about it. I feel gutted. I adore my job, and I hate letting them down. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do.
You should take this further with the mechanic. That belt should not snap again for 40'000 miles if that is what has happened. If he hasn't fitted the new one correctly and all the timing is completely out of tolerance then your engine will soon come to a crunching stop. Don't not take this sitting down.
You should take this further with the mechanic. That belt should not snap again for 40'000 miles if that is what has happened. If he hasn't fitted the new one correctly and all the timing is completely out of tolerance then your engine will soon come to a crunching stop. Don't not take this sitting down.
I was wondering if this was possible. I have proof in my service book that it was done. No idea how I'd go about it though. I'll have a Google. Thanks for your reply x
Firstly you need to speak to the original garage and ask them what they intend to do about it. You made them aware of the faults after they did the original repair and they ignored them. That belt should not snap unless they fitted it wrong. They either haven't set everything back correctly, or even fitted a new tensioner for that belt. Shoddy that they fobbed you off even after telling them your oil/stop lights kept coming off. They need to take responsibility for sure. Record what they say to you when you question them. If they refuse responsibility they you need to take it further with a governing body (not sure which). The aa may help you or even your own insurance company.
Firstly you need to speak to the original garage and ask them what they intend to do about it. You made them aware of the faults after they did the original repair and they ignored them. That belt should not snap unless they fitted it wrong. They either haven't set everything back correctly, or even fitted a new tensioner for that belt. Shoddy that they fobbed you off even after telling them your oil/stop lights kept coming off. They need to take responsibility for sure. Record what they say to you when you question them. If they refuse responsibility they you need to take it further with a governing body (not sure which). The aa may help you or even your own insurance company.
Thasks for your advice. I feel like they took one look at me, and decided they would bodge the job n hope they get away with it. I appreciate someone giving me an idea of what I can do from here. I feel like I've been well and truly screwed over.
I hate people who take advantage. If they sort it you should still report them.
I think I probably should, even to prevent this happening to anyone else in the future. I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my job. I'm probably going to have to walk 3hrs to get there. Ugh :(
Tell me about it! It's a Renault clio. Was absolutely perfect until the cambelt snapped. Then everything fell apart. It had 23000 on it when I bought it, and have had it 6 yrs. It should still be in perfect working order. I'm gutted.
If you weren't happy with the first garage fobbing you off when something was clearly wrong (the lights warnings) why didn't you approach a different garage then?