Garage problems

[jackjackjack]

Long story short, I took my car to a garge with dpf failure and in limpmode. They diagnosed the car whilst i was there with their systems. Next day I get a call saying the car not starting and the ecu is fried. They said the car wasn't starting and tried jump starting it, then took the ecu out and is scorched. They are saying it ain't their fault and saying someone else ha tried mapping it before and ruined it, which they have not!

Do I have any legal rights in regards for them paying to get it fixed?

Thanks

[rigga]

Jump starting and a fried ecu ....methinks they have done it, bet the car they jumped off was running.

[Du1point8]

how do they know it was mapped if its fried and just happened to get fried under their care?

[johnfm]

The garage has an implied contractual duty to you to provide their services to you using reasonable care and skill - you woul dneed to prove they have breached this, but you would have a breach of contract claim.

You also have a claim in negligence - they have a common law duty to you. THis would be a claim in tort.

In both, the issue is upon who the burden of proof falls:

do you need to prove they caused the damage;

or do they need to prove they didn't.

I think you need to prove that they damaged the ECU. THis will be a matter of opinion, and I guess your position will be that, apart from the warning lights showing some error codes, the ECU was working to the extent that the car was able to start etc before they damaged it.

Tricky one though - but you need to stand your ground.

I expect your 'weapon' is that if they do not agree to replace the ECU, you will replace it and then chase them though small claims court.

Note- you went in there with a car showing error codes - so you aren't necessariloy entitled to a new ECU with no issues. However, they can hadrdly provide a working but slightly buggered one - so the most commercial solution would be they pay, say, 80% of cost and you pay 20%.

Good luck though- they will deny liability all day long.

[aw51 121565]

jackjackjack said:

Long story short, I took my car to a garge with dpf failure and in limpmode. They diagnosed the car whilst i was there with their systems. Next day I get a call saying the car not starting and the ecu is fried. They said the car wasn't starting and tried jump starting it, then took the ecu out and is scorched. They are saying it ain't their fault and saying someone else ha tried mapping it before and ruined it, which they have not!

Do I have any legal rights in regards for them paying to get it fixed?

Thanks

, the ECU was ruined before they got their hands on it, which is why you drove the thing to them and they could interrogate the ECU for fault codes... Sure, they're right!



Sarcasm apart, it was delivered to them in working condition (OK, it was in limp home mode etc, but it still functioned as designed) and now it's died in their care. They are also saying the ECU is "scorched" upon external examination, and have admitted jump starting it (have they said why they did this??). Draw your own conclusions .

Hint: it's not your problem, and you're entitled to a working car back; they have public liability insurance should they need to use it, non?

[Benrad]

The ECU was working perfectly, showing fault codes is what the ECU is designed to do so straight replacement of the ECU is owed. Fixing the DPF fault as part of the claim is obviously not possible though