A friend, to whom we sold our 1993 Citroen ZX 1.9D many moons ago, noticed a water leak coming from under the car, and so called out a nationwide recovery service, of which she had been a member for some 30 years.
Now, I'm afraid the details are a bit sketchy, but basically after 6 hours attempting to fix a small water leak, the car won't start and there is a suspicion that some terminal damage has been caused to the car by the recovery service.
The recovery service has now suggested to our friend that she pays £850 to have the engine stripped down to find the cause of damage, and if the damage is as a result of their negligence, they will pay for repairs.
Needless to say, a 15 year old ZX has a market value somewhat less than £850, even with today's inflated scrap values. But the thing is she loved this car. She is only the 3rd owner (my Mum and my wife being numbers 1 & 2), it is in immaculate condition (or was until the recovery service got their hands on it!), was economical, cheap to run, etc., and all she wanted was the water leak to be fixed so she could carry on getting to and from work, etc!
Letters have been going to and fro for 2 months, and she wants to threaten legal action (would have doen sooner IMHO). I have suggested CAB advice/help (for monetary reasons).
I think the Service should fix the water leak and return the car in working order (as it was before they started attempted repairs), but what do the Back Roomers think should be the solution?
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If water is leaking under the car as a result of the attentions of the recovery brigade, the most likely cause will be damage to the radiator or a hose.
Neither need be life-threatening, even to a banger and a damaged radiator will usually bear marks showing abuse.
Get the car to a trusted Independent for assessment and hopefully repair, then seek compensation. Tell the repairer to keep all damaged parts. Failure to start could simply be due to disturbed connections.
659.
Edited by 659FBE on 17/07/2008 at 16:46
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A bit hard to work out how trying to repair a water leak could terminally damage an engine and, re your last sentence, it wasn't in working order before they started otherwise they wouldn't have been called out! I think it strange that a recovery service would work 6 hours at the roadside trying to fix a fault; surely they would have quit and recovered it to your friend's home or an approved repairer of her choice. The details are a bit sketchy!
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"The recovery service has now suggested to our friend that she pays £850 to have the engine stripped down to find the cause of damage, and if the damage is as a result of their negligence, they will pay for repairs."
I can't see how she can ever gather enough evidence to box in the recovery co. sufficiently.
Move on, would be my advice.
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>>Move on would be my advice.
Yes, I know what you mean. But the car was in perfect working order before the small water leak, and as a result of recovery companies actions 'moving on' would leave her significantly out of pocket!
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Well the car was in working order apart from the small water leak. I too find it strange that they would take so long over what 'should' be a minor problem. Apparently they replaced one fitting that they thought was causing the problem, inc. jubilee clip, but the leak was "from further back" (friends words not mine - and she's not the most automotively-literate of people ;-) )
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Why would you call out a recovery service for a small water leak under the car? Had the car been parked somewhere (work for example) and not start? Had the car been started by your friend between discovering the leak and arrival of said recovery service. Without knowing the full details or inspecting the engine myself, I would suggest your friends car was not running before the recovery service got to it, wether she had attempted to start it or not.
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ZXs usually leak from the radiator or the radiator bottom hose which is not of very good design.
Either way a botched repair in that area shouldn't cause engine problems?
What damage is there? Why doesn't the car start any more?
Was it run without water causing the headgasket to blow?
More details needed.
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Yes, I am sorry for the lack of details.
I am told the car was running perfectly, was not overheating, but the owner noticed a water leak and called the service.
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Sorry, this doesn't add-up for me. Not doubting anyone's word, but could perhaps the 'sketchiness' in detail mean your friend found the car wouldn't start/run properly or had been playing-up , had a look, saw water & called the recovery service?
The recovery service has now suggested to our friend that she pays £850 to have the engine stripped down to find the cause of damage, and if the damage is as a result of their negligence, they will pay for repairs.
This sounds like they know the car has probably suffered a terminal engine failure of some kind & the water leak was a symptom & not an introductory cause. If the strip-down shows catastrophic damage from a running engine it proves the damage was caused pre-visit - since presumably the car didn't 'run' in their presence.
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Ok, so the leak was "further back".
As far back as the water pump maybe?
Caused the belt to slip or the pump failed & took the belt with it?
Maybe the car was 'working' initially but the failure happened while the recovery service were trying to fix the car?
It is all guesswork because there is not enough info :o(
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Frankly I think your biggest problem is the two-months that it's been dragging on for. Too much will have been forgotten.
I think the best she can hope for is some kind of goodwill payment - £250 would be plenty.
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Update.
The owner had an engineer look at the car. He diagnosed 'worn pistons and a problem with the cylinder head'. Looks like the car was about to expire anyway, and it was just coincidence that this happened when the Recovery Service were called.
The car is now headed for that great car park in the sky ...
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