On 14 June I took my 2005 1-litre Vauxhall Corsa to a local Vauxhall garage, as it had developed an oil leak that needed investigating. I was told the car needed a new timing chain, breather hoses and oil pressure switch. The bill for this work was £673.25 which I paid by credit card and collected the car three days later. A few days later, on 20 June, the vehicle started to make a noise in the engine, which became worse over the next few days. I booked the car in again with the garage on 2 July for further investigation. On 5 July they phoned to tell me the car needed a complete new engine at a cost of £3200 for both the engine and labour. I wasn't happy with this, so I employed an independent from a DEKRA Expert to investigate. They concluded that, "It would have been good engineering practice to advise the owner to include further stripping and diagnosis prior to the repairs being undertaken, as it is very common for engines to suffer damage and subsequent bearing failure due to low engine oil".

I sent a letter quoting the goods and services act to the garage and my credit card company requesting they pay me damages of £673.25. The garage refused to pay and I took the car away. A week later I had a call from the garage offering me a rebuild of the engine. They offered to deduct the £673.25 from the overall cost. They said I would have to pay £750. I negotiated it down to £600. I picked up the car on Friday 20th August and paid the £600. On 21 August the car broke down on the M25, a day after I picked it up from the garage. The engine started making a knocking noise and white smoke began to pour from the exhaust.

I think that this is incompetence on the garage's part and that they have failed again under the supply of goods and services act. I have drafted another two letters which I am going to send to the managing director of the garage and also to the Vauxhall head office. I am requesting appropriate damages. Do you think I have a case?