Accident after repairs

[Craig_CD9A]

Hi there,
just the other day I booked my car into a workshop here in Adelaide's North-Eastern suburbs to get the driveshafts reconditioned, and the brake rotors machined. I also had the rear brake pads swapped at the mechanics suggestion. Anyway, the car came back fine I thought, apart from some brake noise which I think should probably go away once the pads and rotors have seen some use.
I park every night on a driveway thats on a slight hill, and I have never ever had a problem with the handbrake not holding the car properly. But the morning after the repairs were carried out I noticed that my Evo was parked VERY close to the car in front of it, upon closer inspection it became obvious that the tow bar of the car in front of mine was imbedded into my intercooler!
The damage is not too severe, the intercooler is damaged but not leaking and the mesh from my bar is now bent in. But I am pissed off! It never would have happened if the repairs on the rear brakes had been done correctly! I called the workshop and the boss said he'd take a look at the brakes, I said what about the intercooler, and he kept trying to avoid that subject.
I am planning to call the office of consumer and business affairs today to try and find out whether or not he is going to be liable for the payment of repairs to my car. I don't want to bring my car back to this workshop either, and I highly recommend that others from Adelaide avoid it also. The workshop is called Just Jap.
So has anyone ever been in a similar situation to this, and any advice?

 

[D3bb4]

same sorta situation with my car also. A workshop messed up my suspension, caused damage; cost me $430 to get fixed. They offered me $100 goodwill gesture; told 'em to get stuffed - called their head office who offered me $200. Told them to get stuffed too
Dept. of fair trading reckons i should be able to get all my money back, as i'd given them a chance to fix it, they screwed me around and refused to admit liability... so now they should pay. damn lucky nothing worse happened.

 

[GSR94T]

besides using your handbrake to keep the car from rolling, do you not leave the car in 1st or reverse gear as a precaution?

 

[DOUGMO]

i believe that you need to give the said workshop a chance
to fix the problem before you can get anywhere with consumer affairs

 

[D3bb4]

i believe that you need to give the said workshop a chance
to fix the problem before you can get anywhere with consumer affairs

Within reason anyways. I got old i'm allowed to dispute it, as I'd given them a chance, they messed me around, so according to DFT, i'd "lost faith" in them as repairer, thus entitled to go elsewhere.

 

[SakeMan]

Thing is, and people don't realise this, the department of consumer affairs / fair trading, is merely a mediator, they have no authority whatsoever and generally are sympathetic to both sides. They will give the workshop a call and ask them about the story, they'll probably say it's BS, they'll write them a letter and they'll have to reply and it will go on record but that's about it.

If you are going to get some of your $$ back I'd go to an independant and get them to certify it was indeed the workshops fault that your handbrake failed. You can then take them to the small claims court and recover your money that way.

Probably more trouble than it's worth, I'd threaten them as much as I can, had to do it myself with a set of wheels that got damaged by a tyre joint, sometimes they cough up. Good luck.

 

[Richard]

Thats over $300 worth of mesh thats been bent up to! + the damage to your intercooler, see how much you can get them to fix up to keep them selves a good name.

 

[thirteen]

Like others have suggested approach the
workshop and explain what happened and go
from there. They're either going to be cool about
it and sort things out, or screw you around.

All the best getting it sorted out.

 

[iluszn]

Hrmmm this will be a tough one. Did they bed the brakes in after all that work? Did they adjust the handbrake to hold the vehicle within 6 or 7 clicks? What sort of pads were put in? Comp pads? Standard pads? How steep a hill was your car parked on?

 

[chris123]

Didn't you do driving lessons, one of the criteria is when parking on a hill leave it in gear. Another reason to ditch the turbo timer aye

 

[evopwr]

another reason why you should carry out mechanical mods/repairs yourself

 

[Entaran]

If you're on comp pads you don't have a case. Comp pads aren't designed to hold under handbrake pressure, they will slip until they are upto temp. So you're basically up shit creek. Here's to hoping you have regular pads.

Also, your handbrake adjustment isn't TOUCHED when replacing pads or rotors, i can't see how the workshop managed to foul it. Was your handbrake previously only engaging on the very top of the clicks? Is your handbrake cable stretched and now it's finally decided to give way a bit?

I mean, it's possible the mechanic made an error, people are afterall only human but I just don't see this from your point of view at all. A workshop that's been around for years and obviously specialises in style of car you own.... and on top of that, i'm betting that you've taken your car there a bunch of times before without issue.

I once had my mechanic (who i still go to) cause a catastrophic engine failure on my car. It took a bit of discussion between us, but in the end I was happy to shell out $1000 towards the repairs and he would cover the other $2300 to replace the top end & timing assembly courtesy of his other fulltimer who did the damage. Of course I didn't go lumbering in there screaming and ranting and demanding money before i'd even thought about explaining the situation?

Maybe the method you use to talk to Just Jap is the key to the whole situation.

 

[Entaran]

I forgot to mention, every mechanic in the world has insurance for this sort of stuff. So when they screw you around it's rarely about the money required to fix it, it's more about your attitude to them. If you're willing to give and take a little in the world of shit happens, then you'll get a lot further.

AKA, total damage to your car is probably around the 300 mark including intercooler and mesh. Unless it's like a PWR/ARE cooler, but i don't know the details. It's possible your handbrake cable was stretched, or that you didn't pull it on quite far enough given the new pads/etc you just pulled it to the third click or fourth click like you "always do" (habits suck). So figure out if you're not 100% in the right and then go negotiate.

 

[Liberoz]

:lol: same thing happened to me apart from it was me replacing rear brake pads.

Around 4 years ago:
Woke up went to the car and it wasn't across the road where i park it, I freaked & panic set in, I first thought It had been stolen after I called my wife and asked her what to do, see when out on the balcony and said you parked it down the road and laughed.

To my amazement it had rolled around 50meters down the road parallel to the curb and was resting on a Commonwhore's frt bumper ...opps

Then and about 2 months ago:
I parked in front of a roller door on a slope of a abandoned apartment block, came back after work and my car had rolled down and had forced the roller door open bending it in the middle and my car was half inside the garage.
I shit bricks slowly started her up hand brake tight and hill started in reverse got out of the drive way checked bonnet and frt bar No damage bar a small sight scratch in the bonnet which buffed out, tried in vein to get door down & back in the track better than what it was, then left a note with my number on it.

2 hours later phone rings on my private mobile (I had left my work mobile on the note)
It was the cops asking me weather I had seen my car and if it was stolen? I said I'm driving it now Sir he replied that it had been reported apparently stolen and used in a ram raid lol.

I always leave my car in gear now if parking on a slope

 

[Pyro]

Well, about the whole handbrake thing, put your car in gear!! my car just rolled down a very steep hill and nearly went through my house! lucky I saw it start to roll, ran like hell and jumped in wrenched the h-brake on and it pulled up literally 30 cms away from the wall of my house, not to mention taking out the clothes line on the way.. new front bumper for me haha..

Put ur car in gear when parked ppl!

 

[thirteen]

^^^lol dude at least at wasn't major damage.
My misses got out of her falcon (EL XR6 - Auto) and left
it in Neutral. It rolled down the street towards a popular beach
and was stopped (unforetunately lol ) by a wooden bollard.

 

[Pyro]

haha. yer true that! I could have been buying my parents a new house, instead of a new front bar & maybe a clothes line! haha luckyy.

 

[CLuTZ]

My handbrake totally failed one day and it slid back into a parked car in little bourke st in the city