Mrs Simpson from London
Had just purchased a 2 year old Ford ST and after only having the vehicle for 2 weeks the car kept loosing power. The vehicle was returned to the garage on four seperate occasions over a 3 week period with the garage unable to rectifiy the fault. We inspected the vehicle and provided a report to Mrs Simpson for her finance company who in return collected the vehicle and provided a full refund including compensation for her inconvienance and our costs.
Mrs Samuels from Wolverhampton
Booked her BMW 320 into a local repair centre with concerns the engine was not running properly, she said it was underpowered. The repair centre explained that it was one of the camshafts that was faulty and gave her a price of £550.00 to fix it. The go ahead was given and when she went to collect the car the price had risen to £750.00 and the car drove exactly the same. The repair centre said they could not work out what was wrong and stripped the engine down.
Mrs Samuels called us to ask if we could help. We inspected the vehicle and spoke with the repair centre and identified the fault. The repair centre agreed to rectify the problem as they had miss-diagnosed the problem and refunded Mrs Samuels with our fee and some compensation.
Miss Carlton from Southampton
had problems with her Fiat 500, the following sequence of events happened
The vehicle owner was informed that the engine cambelt (timing belt) had failed and an estimate of £900 to £1200 was explained to the owner, the owner authorized the rectification work to be undertaken.
The relevant repairs were undertaken and an invoice collated for the sum of £1200.
The total invoice was settled in full and the vehicle collected on the 07/09/18.
On the 11/09/18 the vehicle engine failed after having covered approximately 366 miles.
The vehicle repairer was notified and the vehicle duly recovered to the repairer’s premises.
The owner was notified that the new timing belt tensioner spring retainer had failed causing the release of the engine cambelt (timing belt) causing catastrophic damage to the internal engine components.
On the 13/09/18 the repair centre notified their supplier of a warranty claim on the failed component.
On the 17/09/18 the repair centre faxed a detailed warranty claim form to the supplier of the failed component.
On the 01/10/18 the repair centre were informed that the faulty component and consequential damaged components were to be inspected.
All the relevant components were inspected by the supplier on the 07/10/18.
On the 15/10/18 the vehicle repair centre received a fax confirming the component suppliers were accepting liability.
On the 15/10/18 the repair centre reluctantly accepted the compensation offer in line with the I.C.M.E repair manual times.
On the 29/10/18 the repair centre contacted their supplier on the delay of a required timing belt kit.
On the 05/11/18 the repair centre faxed their supplier enquiring about the delay in the relevant timing belt kit.
On the 07/04/19 the vehicle was parked in an adjacent street of the owner’s home address and the keys posted through the letter box, no contact with the owner or documented evidence was located in the vehicle indicating what condition the vehicle was in.
We arrived and inspected the vehicle which would not start and was very underpowered. All the paperwork was supplied and the repair centre contacted The repair centre was unwilling to discuss the problem with ourselves and we supplied Miss Carlton with our report and assisted her solicitor to peruse the case on the grounds of faulty workmanship.
Due to our report the case was settled out of court with substantial compensation given to Miss Carlton.
Mr Croft from Liverpool
contacted us with a problem with his Jaguar F-Pace that he had only purchased about three months previous, the engine had blown and the vehicle was recovered to a local Jaguar dealer. Mr Croft had contacted the selling dealer but they were unhelpful although sympathetic with Mr Croft over the cost of repair.
We were asked to get involved and found the failed component within the engine assembly, through our experience we were able to prove that the failed component would have been faulty at the time of sale and that the vehicle was therefore not fit for purpose.
Due to our completed report the vehicle was exchanged by the selling agent and our fee was covered by the selling agent and not Mr Croft.
Mr Strang from Crawley
had been driving his Mercedes A200 when a passing car smashed his O/S mirror assembly of the car and then drove off. Mr Strang drove the car home and contacted his insurance company to have his vehicle repaired. The following morning while reversing out of his driveway smoke appeared from the dashboard and O/S door trim The vehicle was recovered and Mr Strang was told by his insurance company that there had been an electrical fire and that it was not related to the O/S mirror being smashed. Mr Strang was left with a £2500 repair bill.
Mr Strang contacted us and we inspected the vehicle, provided forensic evidence that the fire was related and the insurance company paid for the repair.
Mr Stuart from London
had his Renault serviced by a main agent dealer and had the timing belt (cambelt replaced). After four weeks the vehicle broke down and was recovered back to the garage with timing belt failure. The garage refused to accept liability and stated that it was not their fault the belt had failed.
We inspected the vehicle and with our expertise and report brought to light the exact cause of failure, Mr Stuart’s vehicle was repaired and he was compensated accordingly.
Mrs Gibson from Southampton
Had her BMW break down and the garage in question explained that the camshaft had worn and failed due to a lack of oil. They replaced the camshaft at a cost of £1100 and after two months the engine failed again with the same problem.
We inspected the vehicle and found the problem. After discussing the findings with the garage, the garage refunded Mrs Gibson the full £1100 and the correct repair process was undertaken.
Mr Gardner from Exeter
had an accident with his Volvo and the vehicle was repaired by his insurance company. Mr Gardner was not happy with the quality of repair and contacted ourselves for advice. We inspected the vehicle and found significant defects / flaws in the repair and supplied the report for Mr Gardner to have his vehicle returned to the repair and rectified, his insurance company compensated Mr Gardner for our fees.
Mr Holland from Glasgow
was not happy with the service he had received from his Audi franchised dealer over a problem that he had with his car cutting out. His vehicle had been into the garage on four occasions with the same answer that they could find nothing wrong with his car.
We inspected the vehicle and found exactly what was wrong.
Mr McLean from Aberdeen
was concerned when he had his vehicle serviced and he was informed that substantial work was required at a cost of £600. We advised Mr McLean to have his vehicle inspected and found that the majority of the work that had been advised was not required. We provided the report with factual evidence that Mr McLean took back to his garage and he was given a full apology and the cost of his service returned to him along with the required work undertaken free of charge.
Mrs Spiers from Northampton
had her Volkswagen break down after having just been serviced by a local garage only two weeks previous. The garage had explained that the engine had seized and that they were not liable.
We inspected the vehicle and supplied the report for legal proceedings to start. The case went to court and we stood as an Expert Witnesses in the case on behalf of Mrs Campbell. Due to our report, the repair centre was found to be at fault and forced to pay costs to Mrs Campbell.
