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Should this garage pay me compensation after keeping my Audi A6 Avant for over a year?

I first emailed you in June 2011 and lastly in Feb 2012 regarding a broken cambelt on my Audi A6 Avant 2.5TDI quattro and the repair work needed thereafter. To remind you, Chingford Audi neglected to change the cambelt when they should have done at the 80,000 service and claimed that I should have told them they had forgotten to do this. I wanted to let you know that the car was finally returned to me on Monday 20th September 2012 after Chingford Audi spent all that time trying, and eventually succeeding, to get the car running.

As you can calculate yourself, they had the car for over a year. During that time it was taxed and most of the time insured at my cost. Do you think I should pursue this matter regarding compensation for them having the car all that time not offering a courtesy car, keeping it insured and taxed? To jog your memory, Motor Codes did get involved and suggested I pay £2400 as half of the original repair bill, which I did.

Asked on 27 October 2012 by AG. Via email

Answered by Honest John
Well, now we know how well Motor Codes represents the interests of the consumer in a situation like this. I don't know if you have signed something that makes what Chingford Audi did a "full and final settlement". If you did, then you can take no further action. If you didn't, there's always the Small Claims Track of the County Court. I’d like to hear of some cases where Motor Codes backed the customer, because over the last three years I have not heard of a single one.
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