Is my old mum being ripped off here??

[Durzel]

A reputable garage would have said to OP's mum that they expected the costs would be close to or in excess of the value of the car, and asking whether they wanted them to continue, before doing anything substantial.

[PurpleTurtle]

This is what I hate about the scummy end of the motor trade.

I use a backstreet indy in Reading who are the total opposite of this - they go out of their way to save people money.

Regarding scrapping it, you've got to physically remove it from his premises, surely? You can't just tell the DVLA it is scrapped and leave it with him.

Otherwise the next thing will be some dubious 'storage' charges.

[jj.]

By chance this isn't a garage based in Southall/Nr Heathrow by chance is it...?

This sounds like an experience I had with the GF's car around 8 years ago. Which took a police/Sky TV investigation/Insurance Company and Trading Standards and a 6 month agonising wait/fight to get the car back.
jj

[Thats What She Said]

If we are being generous to the mechanic here, lets assume he has done some work on the car.

Lets assume that the headgasket had blown, and that he has replaced it (did he get the head skimmed, and can he provide an invoice for it?). He has probably now discovered that simply replacing the headgasket hasnt fixed the issue.

I think the Daewoo block on these is aluminium, so if it did overheat, it may have warped. In which case, it's scrap.

Whilst we're being generous to the mechanic, lets assume as a one man band, he's really busy, and probably not a very good businessman, so is very poor with paperwork/customer service. He likely believes an invoice is only provided when money changes hands.

I'd be going down to the garage and having a chat with him. Ask him what work has been done on the car, and bearing in mind the problem hasnt been resolved, what can we do about the costs. If the headgasket is £60, and his labour so far is 4-5 hours, £450 on a normal job wouldnt be unreasonable. However, as the car still isnt fixed, what can he do regarding the cost. £200 seems reasonable to me (providing he can evidence the work).

I'm not sure how he got to £1250 in his original quote, but that should have set the alarm bells ringing. I assume you/mum didnt phone around a couple of other garages beforehand to get some other quotes?

Also, I dont think your little trick of giving it to your Romanian mate will work. He wasnt the owner/RK when the car went in for work on it.

[InitialDave]

PurpleTurtle said:

Regarding scrapping it, you've got to physically remove it from his premises, surely? You can't just tell the DVLA it is scrapped and leave it with him.

In my experience, although it's no longer an option on the V5 to just send in as "scrapped", yes, you can tell them you've scrapped it and they'll update the records.

[wildoliver]

jj. said:

By chance this isn't a garage based in Southall/Nr Heathrow by chance is it...?

This sounds like an experience I had with the GF's car around 8 years ago. Which took a police/Sky TV investigation/Insurance Company and Trading Standards and a 6 month agonising wait/fight to get the car back.
jj

That was my first thought too.

[paintman]

Ankh87 said:

If he is failing to produce an invoice then there's no payment. So to me he seems that he's probably not paying his tax as well. So threaten all he wants but until the invoice is provided then don't pay. Police can be involved and can attend to get the car back.

End of the day there's no proof he's done any work or even looked at the car.

I doubt the police will get involved.
"Can a garage keep your car?
A garage that has repaired your car has what is known as a 'lien'. This is the right to keep the car until they’ve been paid for all work done.

If you take your car away without authorisation you risk both civil proceedings and criminal prosecution.
Apart from legal proceedings or leaving your car while any dispute is sorted out, the only option is to pay the amount demanded, marking the invoice as 'paid under protest'."
www.theaa.com/driving-advice/legal/car-repairs

[Hoofy]

swisstoni said:

Hoofy said:

0ddball said:

Hoofy said:

I'm going to take a slightly different approach. I am guessing your mum isn't local or you'd have sorted it out. Is it worth peace of mind to just pay £800 to make sure this guy doesn't harrass your mum down the line?

I know it's a bit "PH" but £800 isn't that much in the greater scheme of things assuming she can afford it.

Otherwise if it's really not worth £800, just leave it there and ignore them. They'll sell it for scrap.

And this right here is why these dodgy scammers try it on in the first place. They always find at least one mug.

The opposite. I am more concerned about my mother's welfare than £800.

Caring about your mum, and not wanting her to be ripped off by a crook, aren’t mutually exclusive I wouldn’t have thought

At some point you have to decide if it's worth the hassle or not.

I mean, my mother has the full British Gas homecare thing. To me it's a waste of money and I just get stuff fixed when it needs it. If something goes wrong, she tells me and I contact them to arrange an appointment. I do the same for my own house but without BG homecare - I just phone a plumber or gas engineer or whatever. Same st without the OTT monthly cost... but for her she sleeps better knowing that she has homecare!

Edited by Hoofy on Thursday 23 March 11:21