Bit of advice pls

StonedPenguin

StonedPenguin

StonedPenguin

Soldato
Joined
22 Apr 2011
Posts
3,849
Location
Nottingham
Bit of a long 1..

I took my car to a Garage that I wont name yet (They're regional and franchised) for 2 rear tyres to be fitted and 4 wheel tracking performed.

A soon as I left I noticed a faint rubbing noise coming from the backend so the next morning I took it back, But not before my gf kerbed the passenger rear wheel a bit that very night :mad: (she was more devastated than me lol)

Upon taking it back they shown me 3 wheels were out, Quite far out, So they scratched their head, Did my tracking again and said if the rubbing noise persists take it to BMW!

A couple days later I took it to a bmw indy who said whoever attempted to track it broke the camber arm, Invoiced as '' Found the nearside rear camber arm adjustment tab broken and found the arms had been over adjusted causing the arms to hit the sub frame''
''Replaced the nearside damaged arm''
''Performed 4 wheel tracking''
total £349 inc 40 for tracking.
They also supplied me with photos of the broken arm, you can see its freshly done.

So I contact ***'s complaints department, 3 days later heard nothing so I called the garage today and spoke to the manager, He said he was sad about this, He said they happily re-tracked it for free the next day because they felt sorry for me as the mrs had kerbed it, He also said kerbing it could have damaged the camber adjustment tab! (wtf really!?)
and that they only adjusted the toe, Not the camber so it couldn't have been them.. Here's a picture of the printout they gave me clearly showing they did adjust the Camber..

R1C9PRK.jpg

So I'm asking them for a reimbursement of £419.42, £349.57 for repair bill and £69.95 full refund for the tracking they did.

Few pics of the damage

zmn89.jpg

4qo4dk.jpg

The complaints department says because its franchised the manager of the store will deal with all complaints in house so to speak, He's adamant they didn't cause it. Not sure where to go from here..
 
If you are certain that hitting a kerb cannot cause the issue that you are not experiencing, then write to them, a letter of complaint, with a demand for reimbursement. Stating specifically why you believe they are at fault.
Then small claims court, or get a solicitor to draft you a letter as a follow up if they refuse to play ball.
 
It was kerbed at 2-3 mph moving out of the way of emergency vec, Not to badly, Bit of a scratch on the rim of the alloy.
I'm not 100% sure but I don't believe scratching the alloy on the kerb can cause that sort of damage on the camber adjustment tab, Can anyone confirm this? If it's possible that has caused it then I'll drop it but I don't believe it has.
 
If they are adamant it can cause the damage and you do not know, then first point of call would be a dealer service centre to ask the question.
Make the call now.
You can't prove 2-3mph, you have a damaged alloy, they obviously know this, or you told them about the kerb impact? So ask if a kerb impact can damage that part or not to someone who knows about damage.
 
You have 0% chance of proving that the damage wasn't caused by your other half.

Chalk it up to experience and take it to somewhere you can trust next time.

Edit: By the way, the note from the people that fixed it has 0 weight.
 
Given not many places in Nottingham have the Hunter kit I am guessing this is the garage next to B&Q who took 2 attempts to get my tracking right and couldn't even manage to get the steering wheel to line up straight the first time. Lee the manager seemed reasonable in terms of getting it resolved, but the person I initially dealt with was useless.

The problem you have is you didn't give the garage any opportunity to assess the damage or put it right which would be the reasonable thing to do.

I would still however be taking it through small claims as the cost of doing so is nominal and is likely your only chance of getting any money back.
 
StonedPenguin said:
Here's a picture of the printout they gave me clearly showing they did adjust the Camber.
Click to expand...

Does that actually show that they adjusted the camber?
It shows the camber is different before and after, but could the other adjustments effect the camber that much?
 
Thanks for the responses.

The Running Man said:
If you were sure curbing the wheel had no impact?, why mention it to the garage?

You gave them a get out of jail free card almost.
Click to expand...

Yeah I realize that now :(

Anyway, An area manager has set up a meet for next week to get this resolved.
He's requested I bring the broken Camber Arm so he can establish whether it was broken by an impact or over-adjustment.
The garage manager said they only adjusted the Toe, Not the Camber, Yet I have paperwork showing they adjusted both Camber & Toe so I'll take that along too.

Am I trying to prove the curbing of the alloy didn't cause it? Or am I trying to prove them over-adjusting the camber arm broke it? Or both? Not sure which to concentrate on.

Kaeo said:
You have 0% chance of proving that the damage wasn't caused by your other half.

Chalk it up to experience and take it to somewhere you can trust next time.

Edit: By the way, the note from the people that fixed it has 0 weight.
Click to expand...

You're probably right, But I'll give it 1 last bash at this meeting next week.
 
Last edited:
Claim over-adjustment, they will mention curbing as a probably source of failure... see what goodwill they are able to extend. Sadly it is a tricky situation that they are aware of... Good luck.
 
Doesn't adjusting the toe have a knock on effect on the camber anyway?

If the two points of adjustment are out of plane with one another, that could well be the case. Just something worth thinking about if they try to baffle you with bs when you meet.
 
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