Possible "mechanic could have killed me" scenario...

[SC7]

I have a 2002 530, which I sent in for an MOT with a garage about 200 yards away from my house the week before last. It ended up needing about £300 of work, including the rear ball joints. I didn't really want them to do the work because I have a mate with a garage who knows E39s inside out; but since the car was with them and they had given me a quote, I let them get on with it. Two days later I get the car back and all is seemingly well.

Fast forward to Friday/Saturday when I start picking up on a knocking sound coming from the rear on cornering and stopping/starting. I begin to wonder if I'm imagining it but it seems to get louder the more I drive the car (did about 150 miles over the weekend with the missus and little lad in).

So we get home yesterday and I park up outside. Just as I'm straightening up we all hear a very loud thud/clunk. I get out of the car to see that the rear wheel has some serious camber and has collapsed in at the top. There is a piece of metal on the floor which looks like half a ring (about half an inch thick and 3 inch diameter).

This morning I called back into the garage to explain what had happened, and the owner tells me that when replacing the ball joints, they noticed a hairline crack in the metal on this ring (I don't know the name of the part but the ball joint sits inside it) so they sent it away to be welded. He looks rather sheepish and asks for my keys, and says he'll order the part in.

I then called my mate (the one who owns a garage) and explained what had happened, because I didn't understand the gravity of it. He was absolutely shocked, saying the part should never have been welded in a million years and that we quite feasibly could have been in a very bad accident had it happened at speed. He explained that a special tool is required to remove the ball joints and that because they probably didn't have the tool, they just smashed them out with brute force and caused the crack in doing so.

I wanted to get some opinion on how I should approach the situation knowing now how badly the car has been "repaired". Have they been as naughty as it sounds by breaking and then welding such an important part? I'm not a confrontational person, and the situation is made no easier by the fact I do a bit of valeting work for the garage.

What should I do? Just get them to sort it and say no more? Or should I be asking for some sort of compensation and send the car elsewhere?

[munroman]

Blimey, glad you and the family are safe!

I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, who knows what other damage they will do 'repairing' yours, I would be getting the car to your mates, along with new parts.

They sound a bit like 'Bodge, Scarper and Run'!

[Piersman2]

As you seem to know the garage well, ask them if they genuinely know what they are doing with the ball joint replacements as you've spoken to a specialist mate who knows them inside out and he reckons the job is quite tricky and needs some special tools to get it right. No need to be unpleasant to start, just say that in light of what's happened you'd like this specialist to do it and can they get the car over to him please.

Going all ballistic, as I'm sure a few others will recommend , won't help get it resolved.

If you can get them to admit they don't really know what they're doing at least you should thereafter be able to reach a compromise which doesn't include you not getting any work out of them in the future and gets your car sorted properly.

[E21_Ross]

i'd want compensation. take it to your mate, get him to write the bill to said garage. if they say they'd have fixed it for free, say you question their ability after they made such a bodge job on a part which could have risked the lives you and your family. might bill them for more than your mate charges for hassle etc.

Ross.

[Pistachio]

I once had a problem, after a prang was fixed, that the garage put all my directional low profiles on backwards so the car vibrated really badly…I had to go round to another tyre dealer to get them changed round guessing that they couldn't do a good job..so much for insurer approved repair facilities….

[Slade Alive]

Piersman2 said:

As you seem to know the garage well, ask them if they genuinely know what they are doing with the ball joint replacements as you've spoken to a specialist mate who knows them inside out and he reckons the job is quite tricky and needs some special tools to get it right. No need to be unpleasant to start, just say that in light of what's happened you'd like this specialist to do it and can they get the car over to him please.

Going all ballistic, as I'm sure a few others will recommend , won't help get it resolved.

If you can get them to admit they don't really know what they're doing at least you should thereafter be able to reach a compromise which doesn't include you not getting any work out of them in the future and gets your car sorted properly.

This^^^^^^^

Common sense level headed approach

[Proxy]

Slade Alive said:

Piersman2 said:

As you seem to know the garage well, ask them if they genuinely know what they are doing with the ball joint replacements as you've spoken to a specialist mate who knows them inside out and he reckons the job is quite tricky and needs some special tools to get it right. No need to be unpleasant to start, just say that in light of what's happened you'd like this specialist to do it and can they get the car over to him please.

Going all ballistic, as I'm sure a few others will recommend , won't help get it resolved.

If you can get them to admit they don't really know what they're doing at least you should thereafter be able to reach a compromise which doesn't include you not getting any work out of them in the future and gets your car sorted properly.

This^^^^^^^

Common sense level headed approach

+1 for this!