What to do about bad repair job done on my car

sewell94 · 12-05-2001, 11:15 AM

I bought my 76 930 a little over a month ago in DC, I am in florida. the day before i bought the car the drivers rear wheel bearing were replaced by a mechanic in Falls Church , Va. He does the work at his shop behind his house, he is very reputiable. I have seen his name on our BBS before. I was driving home on i-95 at 1am on turkey day morning and i heard a klunck, klunck, BAM, i pulled over right away. The bolts that hold the cv joint and the axle together worked there way out, I had dropped the cv on the highway. It had been only been 1500 miles since the work was done. I am 100% positive they worked there way out, a few of them were still on the cv boot plate, they were bent as all hell. I had to pay for a tow, new Cv joint, boot, new bolts($30 for 6, damn expensive for 6 bolts), then i had to install everything, also My battery went bad from the flashers being on so long. I am kinda salty about that but ohwell. This is what makes me mad , when the cv went (nothing left) it spun around and messed some things up, mostly minor but dented the hell outta my heat exchangers and they now leak and sound like hell. I have another set of exchangers but they are a pain in the a$$ to change. He also forgot to put the dust shield back on. I fugure there is nothing i can do but i figured i would ask what/if there is anything i can/should do?? He charged almost 500 to do this, personally i feel for that much cash it should be done right!!!!thanks again

pbs911 · pbs911's Garage

Write a letter telling him everything you just said. Be civil and level headed. Put the ball in his court. Give him a chance to make it right.

carnut169 · carnut169's Garage

I would say talk to your mechanic. Tell him what happened. Perhaps he can make it right(ish) by replacing you heat exchangers for you?

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I'm sure this wrench thinks his reputation and future work is worth more than $500. Threat of trashing him on this or the Potomac PCA board should be incentive enough for him to straighten this out with you. I'd bring it up with him and figure out how he can best fix the situation. Hopefully, he's a stand-up guy and will do it. Otherwise, I'd make sure everyone on every p-car board (or whatever other cars he works on) knows about your story. I'd also take very good photos and keep it all well documented.

tobluforu · tobluforu's Garage

He should pay for whatever hassle you went through. He must have installed the cv joint-axle when car was up in air, tightened bolts just enough. He was probably going to torque them when the car was on the ground but forgot. Bummer!
I just changed my half shafts. I ALMOST forgot myself when I lowered the car. Was so excited to drive car that it almost slipped my mind.

R22tech · R22tech's Garage

Considering you live in a different state, correct? You can try all of the above, but I think your probably just going to have to find a good mechanic locally, hand him some lubricant, bend over, and say, "please be gentle

!" I feel for ya man....good luck.

sewell94 · 12-05-2001, 02:28 PM

I treid to call him today. i can report him to the potomac PCA board?? I would gladly put on my other heat exchangers but i KNOW it will be a pain. My car also is burning the grease that is all over the underside of the engine, boy it stinks. I do all of my car repairs myself, this is why.

tight as a bull's ass · tight as a bull's ass's Garage

yeah, I would give him the opportunity to make it right and compensate you for your damages and all of your inconveniences.

If he gets defensive to protect himself, then take him to court.

Harold_89_911 · 12-05-2001, 03:58 PM

I had a similar experience with one of my Saabs. Some confusion of what really happened, but it looked like they did not use a spacer where the should have with the new harmonic balancer. To make a long story short, the thing disintegrated 6 months later and left us stuck near Needles AZ at 2 am on our way from LA to Denver for our vacation. Had the car towed to Las Vegas, had hotel costs, needed to rent a car for the rest of our trip (picked our car up on the way back a week later), and then the repair bill. Came out to nearly $2000 total. Talked to the garage who did the work and we agreed to split the cost. They wrote me a check for $1000. I still go to them when I have a chance and have been recommending them to other people. Don't think that I would have taken them to court if they hadn't worked with me. I would just have stopped using them and written it off as bad luck.

Moral of the story: Talk to them and explain the events. If they are a decent business, they will work with you to make things right. Give them a chance.