Just my luck! (warning L-O-N-G post!)

[Gunther]

Evening all. Thought I’d share some of the typical ‘luck’ I have…

As some of you will have seen from previous posts, my car is being Dinitrol’d. I was told that it would take about 5 days to do and that I’d have a courtesy car until it was done. Well, I dropped the car off a week last Monday (25th March). The drive up was horrific with torrential rain and really poor visibility. I got there safe and sound and was given the courtesy car - an '06 Honda Jazz. I’m not fussy so long as the car goes, and the drive back was actually ok. (It had stopped raining which was typical). I was a little worried about the car not drying properly before being treated but was reassured that the garage is an official Dinitrol garage. As the week progressed I got more excited to pick up the car. After hearing nothing by Thursday, I rang up and was told that the car had been washed underneath, but the treatment hadn’t been started but would be ready in the middle of the following week (this week). I was disappointed but thought that at least the car would be dry so no chance of any moisture being sealed in. I asked about the cost - I was told when I first booked it in that it would be about £1k depending on inspection - I was told that whilst there was some rust starting, it was generally in good condition so would cost between £600 - 700. I was happy with this!

This Tuesday, I was driving to work and heard a horrible clunk, then a bang and then heard scraping. Luckily, there was a car park about 30 yards away and I scraped my way into it. I got out and went round to the back. The exhaust had only partly fallen off and had folded backwards and had pulled the rear bumper partly away from the car. What a nightmare!!! (see attached pic). I had appointments at work and as it was early in the morning, the garage wasnt open. TBH, I wasn’t sure what to do… so I decided to leave it there until I could contact the garage when it opened. The 2 bits of good luck was that this had happened about 200 yards away from home and my Mrs wasnt working and didnt need her car. I rang the garage as soon as I could and explained the situation. They initially decided that they would recover the car, fix it and then return it to me but then decided that they would buy a new exhaust and fix it at the roadside. I agrred to meet them back at the car at 1pm.
I got to the car just as they arrived. I then saw that the front nearside tyre was flat!!! The exhaust was fixed in double quick time and the spare tyre was put on. They looked at the tyre and said that the puncture could be fixed and that it wouldnt need a new tyre. I asked about my car and was told that it would be ready without fail at the end of the week and that it had taken a bit longer as a recent frost had damaged the pump on the car lift at the garage. Typical.

I the drove to a nearby tyre shop and was told that the puncture couldnt be fixed and that a new tyre was needed as the tyre wall on the old tyre had collapsed… great. I paid for a new tyre. The garage advised that the rear tyres were cracked and perishing!!! They said that the car would be ok to drive but i should sort them asap. To be honest, after spending money on a new tyre for a car that wasn’t mine, I didnt want to spend another £100+ on more tyres. It did cross my mind that when I returned the car, the garage was 50 miles away and that most of the journey was on either a motorway or A road - so fast roads on potentially dodgy tyres. Putting these thoughts aside, I then drove back to work. On the way to work, I heard some banging noises coming from the back of the car. I thought that it was probably the tools that had been used to take the flat off and put the spare on and that they were rattling around the boot. When I got to work, I tidied the tools away and went about my day. At the end of the day, I drove home. The knocking sound was still there… I thought that maybe the exhaust was loose and as the car had been checked over when the exhaust was fixed, then it would be ok. I rang up the garage to arrange a pick up time on Friday and was told that they were putting the car back together and that it should be ready by Monday!!! They also said that it would cost £800 so a minimum of a £100 increase on the original price - just my luck again…

The following day I drove it a short distance and the knocking was still there so I limped home and have not driven it since. A quick google tells me that the knocking sound may be a suspension issue. Or worse… I have tried contacting the garage to ask them if its safe to drive the car to them but cant get hold of them. Again, typical.

As an aside, if you’ve managed to make it this far, what are your thoughts about driving with with cracking and perishing tyres and a knocking sound that may be a suspension issue…? I’m thinking that I don’t want to risk driving it and will get a train down to get my car and leave the garage recover their car…

[ast]

After reading that, I would have no faith that the garage has done much of a job “rust proofing” your car, except making it look all black and dripping. Sounds like a back street garage. Obviously “official dintitrol garage” doesn’t actually mean that much, if its one you picked from the Dinitrol website.

Its a knackered old Honda, one MOT from the scrapyard… Knocking sound is probably worn out drop links or a loose ARB. Not your problem. So the car had no spare tyre?

Presumably after increasing your bill by £100, they will take £100 off because you brought a new tyre for them. Though I’m guessing for a £500 Honda, they would have gone the used tyres rroute at £20 a corner. Have you actually inspected the tyres yourself, and checked the date codes.

£900 seems rather excessive.

[Dean_S550]

Sounds a right pain, sorry to hear your misfortune. A garage really should loan out a perfectly roadworthy car with no excuses. If they can’t maintain their own vehicle to a decent standard, one that paying customers will be using… well… I certainly wouldn’t let them loose on mine. In any case I hope you’re happy with the job they’ve done when all said and done.

This undersealing game is pretty pricy considering it is mostly just a mask up and spray up with some spot treatment of rust here and there - quite a lot of the jobs i’ve seen done still managed to get it on the exhaust, brake pipes, heat shields, shocks etc. despite being masked up, and aren’t what you’d call pretty. I’ve no doubt there are some perfectionists out there that do a bang up job, but not all are worth anywhere near that money in my personal opinion.

[Gunther]

Thanks for the replies. To be honest, I’m feeling a little sick… all sorts of things have gone through my head… are they stalling because its been damaged? Have they messed up the installation? Have they lost screws etc… when putting it back together? How well will they put it back together? Do they even know what they’re doing…? The garage is an approved treatment centre and has good reviews. Maybe it is just my luck…

In case anyone is wondering, I’m not risking driving the car back. I’ll catch a train up and tell them to recover it.

[ast]

How does one review the effectiveness of an undersealing service?

Do any of them offer guarantees? How can they.

I’d look up the MOT history of that Honda; see how many advisories it has. Or maybe no advisories due to tame tester…

[Gunther]

Work is guaranteed for 3 years.

Last advisory for MOT was in 2022 and was as follows;

Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):Front Windscreen wiper blade defective (3.4 (b) (i))Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint has slight play (5.3.4 (a) (i))Rear Tyre slightly damaged/cracking or perishing both (5.2.3 (d) (ii))Offside Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge cracking (5.2.3 (e))Nearside Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge cracking (5.2.3 (e))corrosion on suspension component and rear axleBrake hose has slight corrosion to ferrule front and rear (1.1.12 (f) (i))condition of suspension bushes

There was nothing in 2023…

[lordrobs]

Maybe I like to give the benefit of the doubt too much but I’ve had garages in the past give me some real lemons of courtesy cars. One that sticks in my mind was an old Escort that if given more than 50% throttle would rev up to the redline in 4th gear because the clutch was so goosed. Unfortunately courtesy cars tend to get abused and small garages can’t simply keep palming them off every 6 months as “Approved used, ex demonstrator” like the main dealers do.

As for the delays… maybe they’ve taken too much on? Maybe the lift being out of action has scuppered their schedule? Maybe they had some regular customers with ‘urgent’ jobs and loud whining voices so they bumped your car and prioritised theirs? None of which is your problem and none of which is good business but I wouldn’t instantly assume that this will mean they’ve done a bad job.

[MickAP]

Takes me back to the time we had a courtesy car whilst on holiday.
We arrived at our holiday cottage in Dorset on a Saturday afternoon and relax👍
Sunday morning get the car out of the garage provided to load up for the day. First turn of the wheel clunky and scraping noise from the front, the spring had broken and had pierced the tyre. Calls our breakdown service and they sent a local ish operator to recover the car. Three hours later I was handed a Peugeot 406 estate as a courtesy car with a full tank of petrol. They went round it with me to check it over, TBH I pointed out the panels that didn’t have dings in them rather than try those that did, it was easier. It wasn’t very clean inside or out.
Anyways for a couple of days I’ll go along it with it, Sunday PM to Monday AM when my car should be fixed, new springs front and a new tyre.
Discovered the Peugeot s handbrake didn’t work during but everything else seemed ok, just dirty and well used about it.
Returned to to fetch my car as the they rang to say it was ready on the Monday PM. What I discovered before I paid up for the repairs were scrapes on the lower front bumper (could only have happened by unloading off the recovery truck I reckon) and a scrape/ding by the passenger door handle, I wasn’t pleased at all.
What followed was a trip to the local body shop to get my car repaired (the repair/recovery garage arranged that) it took until the Friday of that week to get it sorted and my car back.
I’ve never had, thankfully an holiday like that again, it didn’t spoil what we had planned to do but put a downer on it by worrying about our car.
Car sorted, the bill for the suspension half price, to they offered as free service too, I declined as I do my own. They also didn’t want me to put fuel in the courtesy car when returning, so free fuel free car on loan most of the week. The paint job was a A1 too, so was the repair.