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Tales from the Auto Shop: Oh Yes You Will Pay

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  • Tales from the Auto Shop: Oh Yes You Will Pay

    You, the SC, did not have your shiny new $6000 car inspected before purchasing it from a "reputable" used car dealership.

    Your timing belt snaps a month after you purchase the vehicle, and you have the type of car that if the timing belt goes, it can ruin the whole engine, but there's no way to test the engine until the timing belt is replaced.

    Dealership tells you to pound sand, they have no money and it's not their problem because we are an as is state.

    You have it towed to me and ask me to replace the timing belt in the hope that the timing belt did not crater the engine.

    You were warned that either way, this is a $1000 job, and more than likely it will not fix the car and you will still need an engine.

    We replace the timing belt, the engine was indeed blown, and you don't think you should have to pay us for the timing belt replacement why?

    I do have some sympathy, it's a sucky situation (which could have been avoided had you paid the $75 pre-purchase fee), but we did the work, we deserve to be paid.

    I'll keep you posted on how this one turns out.

  • #2
    I gotta say, your stories are up there with Argabarga's towing stories...

    I'd say "keep them coming", but I know how much of a pain SCs can be...
    Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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    • #3
      I'm guessing you'd be able to put some kind of lien on the car if the owner doesn't pay, or barring that, be able to auction it off like tow companies do.

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      • #4
        Thanks for a good story. I hope this fool gets that he screwed himself more than somebody screwed him.

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        • #5
          Awwww I don't know if I can get to Argabarga's status, but thanks MJR, that's a major compliment!

          dendawg: Yes, I can put a mechanics lean on the vehicle which would prevent him from selling the vehicle without paying me first. I can also take him to small claims court. He told me yesterday that is loan company is just giving him the title since the car is no longer drivable and it's cheaper for them to get him into a new car than try and collect payments on something that isn't drivable. His problem is, the car isn't worth much more than scrap, he's pretty much getting a different car, and doesn't care what happens to this one and he claims to not have the money to pay us.

          I am perfectly happy taking him to court if it comes to that.

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          • #6
            Quoth peach2play View Post
            Awwww I don't know if I can get to Argabarga's status, but thanks MJR, that's a major compliment!

            dendawg: Yes, I can put a mechanics lean on the vehicle which would prevent him from selling the vehicle without paying me first. I can also take him to small claims court. He told me yesterday that is loan company is just giving him the title since the car is no longer drivable and it's cheaper for them to get him into a new car than try and collect payments on something that isn't drivable. His problem is, the car isn't worth much more than scrap, he's pretty much getting a different car, and doesn't care what happens to this one and he claims to not have the money to pay us.

            I am perfectly happy taking him to court if it comes to that.
            For most jobs, do you require full payment up front, or will you take installments? Some auto shops will take installments on "large" jobs (i.e. "expensive" ones).

            If he won't do that...yeah...
            Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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            • #7
              I hope you get your money without having to go to court, but this asshat sounds like he's just too stubborn to do this...

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              • #8
                Wow, while that sucks for him, it sounds like it could have been avoided...Having had the timing belt replaced in a previous car BEFORE it went, would it have shown it needed to be done, if he had it inspected, or would a recommendation just have been made, based on how many miles, and the fact that its usually recommended at a certain mileage to have it done?

                Thankfully, my current car has a chain, whcih I don't think ever needs replacing. At least not from what i can tell, and my mechanic tells me.

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                • #9
                  We inspect the timing belts as part of the inspection and it would have shown as very worn, there was a chunk missing out of the side of this belt and it was very cracked. We would have seen this as part of the inspection, and let him know that he would need to get it fixed before he drove the car more than a couple of miles.

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                  • #10
                    Wow, that's a really bad one! I know people who have had timing belts fail that looked perfect, which is why I always replace mine on a schedule. At least on any cars with "interference" engines (which means that a fully-open valve and a fully-upward piston try to occupy the same space, with moderate to massive destruction as the typical result).

                    My old Hondas got timing belts (and water pumps, which are driven by the timing bent!) at 60,000 miles no matter what! Even if some of the manuals said 90,000 I was not about to take that extra risk. Especially when the cars were not very "old" and used parts weren't as cheap.

                    ... Then again, I think every vehicle our household owns now has a timing chain or a gear-driven cam, so no more timing belts for us.
                    “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
                    One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
                    The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Catwoman2965 View Post
                      Thankfully, my current car has a chain, whcih I don't think ever needs replacing. At least not from what i can tell, and my mechanic tells me.
                      It could. Some cars come with timing chains that don't run on metal sprockets, so the teeth on the sprockets wear out over time.

                      My mother had a car where she needed her timing chain replaced, and the replacement sprocket didn't come with metal teeth.
                      Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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                      • #12
                        A timing belt is the reason I went from "put gas in it and go" to "I'm going to rebuild this 83 Magna!" Many many years down the road. Sadly most folks have no clue about their car other than... gas goes here.
                        But the paint on me is beginning to dry
                        And it's not what I wanted to be
                        The weight on me
                        Is Hanging on to a weary angel - Sister Hazel

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                        • #13
                          Quoth dendawg View Post
                          I'm guessing you'd be able to put some kind of lien on the car if the owner doesn't pay, or barring that, be able to auction it off like tow companies do.
                          Per Pennsylvania state law, if someone refuses to pay their garage bill, the mechanic can seize the car and sell it to recover their losses. Anyway, replacing a timing chain is a LOT less expensive than replacing or rebuilding an engine. It's a pain in the ass, but very reasonable. If you follow your car's maintenance guide, and replace the belt when you're supposed to, it shouldn't give problems.

                          But, like others have said, they can (and do) fail. Some of you might remember an epic 3-hour drive home...involving some Triple-A location stupidity (they couldn't find me, because they hadn't updated their maps!), lots of colorful language, and a dead car. I left work early, and the car broke down. Not suddenly, but as I drove across the bridge, it was like the cylinders were shutting down. I made it across, down the ramp, and (thankfully) rolled the car to a stop on the sidewalk.

                          3 hours and a flatbed trip later, I got the bad news. Timing belt was trashed. But, it wasn't the belt that failed. No, the *adjuster* decided, at that particular moment, to screw with the possibility of me getting home early. The adjuster let go, which threw the belt off its pulleys...destroying it, and stranding my ass across town

                          I got *very* lucky in that the repairs only ran a few hundred bucks. Rather than blowing up the engine, it had shut down gradually. All of the damage was confined to the belt, the adjuster, and some scoring on the pulleys. The car was fixed, and other than the exhaust falling off...lasted another year before it was sold.
                          Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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                          • #14
                            Quoth mjr View Post
                            It could. Some cars come with timing chains that don't run on metal sprockets, so the teeth on the sprockets wear out over time.

                            My mother had a car where she needed her timing chain replaced, and the replacement sprocket didn't come with metal teeth.
                            Plus if you have an actual chain (looks similar to a bicycle chain) the stresses of the engine over time will literally stretch the chain by a bit (enough to throw off and cause problems)
                            I'm lost without a paddle and headed up SH*T creek.
                            -- Life Sucks Then You Die.


                            "I'll believe corp. are people when Texas executes one."

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                            • #15
                              As my father used to say: "you can change the belts at your convenience, in a heated/air conditioned shop with a TV and reading material; or have them fail without warning, usually in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere..."

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