Toyota Starlet (1990 - 1996) - Garage Taking too Long to Fix Car - Advice Sought

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Thu 12 Mar 2009 09:36
Garage Taking too Long to Fix Car - Advice Sought - daveweim
Hi, I would be grateful if people could provide me with some advice. My girlfriend took her old Toyota Starlet to a local independent garage that she has used for several years after she had a problem with it and the mechanic said that it needed a new head gasket. The garage had the car for around 6 weeks and when it was returned to her although the gasket had been replaced the work was not done satisfactorily as the car was drinking oil and blowing massive amounts of smoke which it hadn't done previously. She took the car back in and after a week asked for a courtesy car to keep her on the road and was given a somewhat battered old punto. It has now been two weeks and the garage have not contacted her about when the car will be ready. My girlfriend hasn't parted with any money but is now getting exasperated to say the least. She hasn't kicked up much of a fuss as she has always taken her cars there without a problem. Anyway she has had enough and has asked me to seek advice on how to approach the issue.

My feeling is that once the car has been fixed and she is happy that everything is fine she should only pay a certain percentage of the bill given that she has lost around two months worth of tax and insurance and not to mention the hassle of being without the car. She thinks that she may have to pay all of the bill and feels that she is in an awkward position given her long standing relationship with the garage. I am not sure of what her rights (if any) are in this situation hence me seeking advice from more knowledgeable people than I.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Thu 12 Mar 2009 10:39
Garage Taking too Long to Fix Car - Advice Sought - yorkiebar
Just talk to them?

They are obvioulsy having problems (of the car? financial? labour? parts?) and are probalby doing it between jobs to keep a bill down.

is this what she wanted?

But dont build barriers, talk to them see what the issues are and how can they overcome them?

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Thu 12 Mar 2009 15:51
Garage Taking too Long to Fix Car - Advice Sought - daveweim
Yes, we will go down and talk to them; I just wanted an idea of where we stood beforehand. Having being down there before when collecting the courtesy car it appears that the garage has taken on too much work creating a backlog. Then again, waiting almost two months for a car to be repaired with very little in the way of communication is a bit much.
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