Dumb car situation

[PokerBob]

I took my car in to get an oil change. I have been to this place about 5 times in the last year or so. When I return to pick up my car, I am told that the plastic lever that pops my hood open has broke off when they tried to open the hood. I am then told that they will look into getting that part to fix it and will call me when it is in. I get a call a few days later, and I am told that due to the age of the vehicle (1999 Honda Civic with 145k miles), they are not going to fix it for free. It will cost me $175 or so. My play?

[The DaveR]

[Beesnuts]

They broke the latch and I think they should pay for it. If it wasn't broken before you went in, then I dont see how its anyone elses fault but theirs

[IronFly]

dont use these mechanics again, thats for sure.

[IronFly]

also, you can fix it yourself with google and a part from the junkyard

[Bostaevski]

So long as you truly believe they broke it, then I would stand firm and insist they pay for that damage.

I had a similar thing happen once. My damper pulley broke on my car and it had sort of chewed a hole in the timing cover. I went to a mom & pop small town mechanic. They had to replace the damper pulley, timing belt, timing cover thing, etc etc. When they replaced the timing belt, they did not clean out all the chunks of timing cover in there so when they started the car, the new timing belt got tangled with the chunks and snapped off and basically blew my engine up. They had to send the motor to seattle to be fixed. They "generously" did not charge me for any more labor but I agreed to pay for all the extra costs including the damage to my engine (don't ask me why). I regret that I didn't demand they absorb all the additional costs. 2 weeks later my car starting driving like crap. I took it to a dealership this time and explained I just had a new timing belt put on. They said it was clearly not installed correctly, was [at this point] ruined, and needed to be replaced again. This time I DID call that first mechanic back and say "hey you're paying for this new one". He agreed to pay and was really a nice guy about it - I didn't have to make any threats.

[Slow Play Ray]

[ QUOTE ]
also, you can fix it yourself with google and a part from the junkyard

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this is the only correct answer.

[jackflashdrive]

Your move depends somewhat on whether or not this was an independent repair facility or a 'jiffy lube' type facility.

If this was an auto repair shop the owner will generally make the mechanic who broke your vehicle pay for the part (my father is a mechanic and has had to pay for totally unavoidable/unforseeable damage to a customer's car that occured in the process of moving a disabled vehicle from one area of the shop to another). Go up the chain of command asking each successive person "Who broke the hood prop? Did I break it?" until you get to someone who can roll this [censored] downhill on someone else. Obviously if a mechanic broke the rod he has a great incentive to simply tell you that you are responsible ($175 is about a third to a half a weeks pay for an auto mechanic in many places).

I'd suggest you keep the fact that you have had 5 oil changes out of the discussion with anyone but the owner. The mechanics and shop foreman could give a [censored] if they never change your oil again.

If this was a 'jiffy lube' then you should similarly go up the chain of command. However, I doubt a corporation can or would take the money out an employees paycheck for damaging a vehicle. You might have to go pretty high to get authorization.

You are DEFINITELY not responsible for this repair.

[PokerBob]

I called back today and the manager confirmed that they would not be responsible for fixing it. Awesome.

[NicksDad1970]

Is this a chain type place?