Motor trade question?

[daj]

I was just wondering if anyone is in the motor trade could pass comment at some events that have happened this week and I am rather shocked to be honest . Basically chap at work had been having issues with his Mini and pretty obvious issues like drinking oil,rattling , Smoking etc. He did take it into BMW themselves who basically said that because it had a modified exhaust they wouldnt touch it? So having a very well reputation BMW Indy nearby we both took it down there. I was with him when he dropped it off and can guarantee he told them EVERYTHING.

Next day spoke to him and surprised and happy for him that he was told most of the running issues was due to the mapping off the car somehow not being correct , there was no oil leak and given it a big service , road tested and all was good.

I was pretty horrified to receive the news that 3 days later he was stuck on the road side having had a pretty serious engine failure which included the fire brigade putting a fire out!! :shock:

This is what I cant get my head around , The car is back at the garage and had an insurance assessor round due to the fire but they said they will only cover anything that has been damaged through the fire (Not engine!!). The engine has seized and completely f.u.b.a.r with the garage advises about 5k to replace it.

Now what I don't understand is there is absolutely no responsibility for the garage? even the assessor said unless you have £££s your not going to get anywhere? now i could understand if this had happened after a no problem car just having a service and being fate but this is something that blatantly has been missed after going in with such issues?

Dont want to boo boo the garage either , I have used them for both our cars without any issues and again they have a great name in the area.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Re:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/indus ... fire-fears

What model and year was it?

 

[daj]

Hmmm that's interesting reading it's a 2008 cooper s which does fall in the category to be at risk , I do believe the fire was result of engine seizing from the assessment but deff going to pass this info on. Cheers

 

[Robbied196]

Not trade, but for what its worth...

1. I'm retro...... so its not a mini

2. Have they informed their insurance about the exhaust mod?

3. Car fire normally equals write off, especially by the time the fire brigade arrive. Been there, done that! 15 mins is one hell of a long time when a car is on fire. Are the insurers saying they will only compensate part of the damage? I can't get my head around that either

 

[highlandsflyer]

Re:

My wife recently returned her Beemer Mini after a lot of issues. It seems they just don't take care of business like they do for your average M6 purchaser.

 

[Midlife]

Has the car been re-mapped then? I'm more of a Subaru person but my insurance company would look on my re-mapped engine as not their concern....... All mods declared by the way to my insurance company

Shaun

 

[daj]

Re:

People seemed to be getting hooked up on if it's been modified or not which isn't really in my eyes the concern , if I took a race car to a garage with engine issues and they spent my money going through it and then telling me it's fine for it to seize a couple of days later from issues that you took it in for (oil leaking and blatant engine noises) I'm guessing seized from oil starvation I am just amazed they can wash there hands and not have any even slightest responsibility ?

Maybe it's just me!!

 

[suburbanreuben]

Re:

I can see their point. It has a modified exhaust so has obviously been modified to some extent; the question is how much? It could be highly modified and mapped to within an inch of it's life. They could run the standard diagnostics and come up with nowt as some sensor signal has been changed/deleted. They have no idea what has been changed so far easier to palm it off to the guy who did the modifications

Ignor me. I'm answering the wrong concern...
Where's me brekky..?

 

[spike3]

To give you an answer from a more legal point of view rather than simply looking to address blame, it comes down to whether your friend had "accepted" the car or not.

Whoever they bought the car from is in the clear as your friend paid to have the car remapped thus accepting the car as it was, as they were prepared to spend money on the car. The car is also now different to how it was when they bought it. So the dealer is in the clear.

In my opinion it is a different story for the garage that serviced and re-mapped the car. This garage were asked to find the cause of the problems with the engine and your friend presumably took their advice on what was wrong in good faith and paid good money for them to fix all know engine problems and re-map the car.

"If you ask a garage to service or repair your car and it is damaged in the process, or fails to function for a reasonable time after repair because the work has not been carried out properly, then the garage is in breach of contract. You are entitled to claim compensation for any loss or damage arising from this breech." (Pritchard, The New Penguin guide to the law, 2004, p.423)

However, the onerous is now on your friend to prove that the work carried out by the garage did indeed lead to the engine fire and that it was not as a result of another undiagnosed fault or that your friend did not cause the fault by ignoring warning signs from the car telling him to check the engine.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Re:

The OP doesn't actually say the car has been re-mapped; just that the mapping is off. Whether that is factory spec or not is unclear, though the exhaust may well cause it to run too lean/rich