Broken brake caliper...

[cnut]

In an emergency I had to use my local garage rather than an Alfa specialist. The brakes on my Alfa 147 GTA failed due to an incorrectly located brake hose which was rubbing on the CV boot.

The garage changed the CV boot and ordered the correct hoses when they contacted me saying they had a problem with one of the front brake calipers. The brake caliper had a seized bleed nipple (common fault with Brembo's) which they managed to remove but it stripped the threads in the caliper itself.

They then took it to a local machining shop (without my knowledge) who bored out a larger hole to fit a bigger bleed nipple. When they connected everything up they found it was leaking at the nipple. Which is when I was contacted.

I then found a company online that specialise on brake caliper refurbs etc. I sent it off to them when I got a call yesterday to inform me that the caliper is wrecked. They said that whoever rebored it jumped straight to M12 whilst they should have gone to M10 and then helicoiled it, by going to a larger bore there was not enough material left on the caliper to hold the bleed nipple in place properly. Annoyingly if the bleed nipple was left in place and then sent to them they could have fixed it no problem.

So I have had to order a new brake caliper which is over £500. Do I have any legal rights on this issue?

I am yet to pay anything to the garage as it stands.

Thanks

Phil

[markjmd]

This should be covered by your Alfa specialist's professional indemnity insurance, which they should be claiming off after they've sourced you a new/replacement caliper.

[cnut]

It wasn't an Alfa specialist I used, it was a local garage instead. I have paid for the new caliper myself.

[markjmd]

said:

It wasn't an Alfa specialist I used, it was a local garage instead. I have paid for the new caliper myself.

Sorry, juggling too many screens and keyboards to catch that part properly. You'll want to claim the cost of the caliper back off the local garage in that case, and they'll need to claim back off their insurance (if they can be bothered, after factoring-in the excess etc).

[cnut]

markjmd said:

Sorry, juggling too many screens and keyboards to catch that part properly. You'll want to claim the cost of the caliper back off the local garage in that case, and they'll need to claim back off their insurance (if they can be bothered, after factoring-in the excess etc).

Do you think I will have a challenge proving it was their fault that company they used to rebore the caliper caused the damage?

How do I go about claiming?

I'm not a confrontational person but I don't think it's right that I should have to pay £500 out of my own pocket to fix an issue that could have been avoided.

[markjmd]

said:

markjmd said:

Sorry, juggling too many screens and keyboards to catch that part properly. You'll want to claim the cost of the caliper back off the local garage in that case, and they'll need to claim back off their insurance (if they can be bothered, after factoring-in the excess etc).

Do you think I will have a challenge proving it was their fault that company they used to rebore the caliper caused the damage?

How do I go about claiming?

I'm not a confrontational person but I don't think it's right that I should have to pay £500 out of my own pocket to fix an issue that could have been avoided.

It's not right, and that's exactly why garages and other businesses that offer services to the public have to carry insurance. Your car and its caliper were ultimately in the charge of the garage when the damage occurred, it's up to them to put it right, and no self-respecting business in that position would try to dispute this. If they then try to claim their money back from the reboring company (which from the way you've described things, they would be fully entitled to do), then that would be up to them.

Have you tried walking in there with a copy of the invoice for your replacement caliper, and asking them to refund you for it? That's exactly what I'd be doing. If they absolutely can't be persuaded to do that, then an MCOL claim would be pretty much guaranteed to be found in your favour.

[cnut]

markjmd said:

It's not right, and that's exactly why garages and other businesses that offer services to the public have to carry insurance. Your car and its caliper were ultimately in the charge of the garage when the damage occurred, it's up to them to put it right, and no self-respecting business in that position would try to dispute this. If they then try to claim their money back from the reboring company (which from the way you've described things, they would be fully entitled to do), then that would be up to them.

Have you tried walking in there with a copy of the invoice for your replacement caliper, and asking them to refund you for it? That's exactly what I'd be doing. If they absolutely can't be persuaded to do that, then an MCOL claim would be pretty much guaranteed to be found in your favour.

Thanks, your advice has been excellent.

No I haven't and it makes it even harder to do when they are a nice bunch of guys who have a really good reputation around here. I don't want to be difficult but I have let them know I have ordered a replacement caliper and I have told them my frustrations and the feeling that I have been wronged. As yet they haven't offered anything but I will mention that I will take a MCOL claim if they are not willing to refund me and I suspect they won't put up a fight...

[the cueball]

said:

they are a nice bunch of guys who have a really good reputation around here...

if they are so nice then I would think they would help it sort and refund you for the damage they caused to your vehicle when it was with them.

They, or the people they sub-contracted the work to fked up. They need to sort it.



My local are decent people, they scraped my alloy when putting a new tyre on it, and admitted the damage, asked to keep the wheel and got it all sorted without me having to even ask.

Anything less than that isn't acceptable IMO.

[cnut]

the cueball said:

if they are so nice then I would think they would help sort and refund you for the damage they caused to your vehicle when it was with them.

They, or the people they sub-contracted the work to fked up. They need to sort it.



My local are decent people, they scraped my alloy when putting a new tyre on it, and admitted the damage, asked to keep the wheel and got it all sorted without me having to even ask.

Anything less than that isn't acceptable IMO.

That's true, I really need to start seeing things for how they are.

[cnut]

Result, they have agreed to refund me the price of the caliper! Thanks everyone for your help.

[the cueball]

Easy as that.

Glad you got it sorted and they done the right thing.

[cnut]

the cueball said:

Easy as that.

Glad you got it sorted and they done the right thing.

Cheers, yeah I was surprised, they didn't put up a fight at all but they are decent guys who strongly rely on their reputation which is mainly word of mouth and something like this could be quite damaging to them if they decided to fight it.

One thing I have learnt over the years is to not go in all guns blazing with situations like this as it tends to make matters worse.

[anonymous-user]

Good to hear of a garage doing the decent thing when it goes wrong, far too many would have shrugged their shoulders and left the OP out of pocket.

[t400ble]

Having messed with Brembo calipers, fair play to the garage for trying to resolve the issue
They are rubbish
Swapped all bleed nipples on my mates R8 to titanium in an effort to resolve future issues

[Boosted LS1]

For future reference, calipers can always be repaired. They're just lumps of metal that can be welded, threaded bored, honed etc. It's not rocket science just a case of knowing the right people.

Glad the OP had a good resolution.