Hi Scotty hope you're doing well, i got a 2010 VW Golf GTI with 267,000 kms with an automatic trans. I got it serviced at a VW dealership at 264,000 kms and i reported a ticking noise coming from inside the cabin. When i went to pick up the car they told me they couldn't hear any ticking noises because of "the loud exhaust". 5 days later the timing chain isn't working as it is meant to as the car won't turn over and has zero compression (bad battery and starter motor have already been phased out as a possibility). Could the dealership be held responsible for this? As far as i know they didn't even attempt to diagnose the ticking noise, they just used the excuse that "the exhaust is too loud." Would love to hear someone's opinion on this.
Thank you 🙂
Edit** i have tried to sort it out with the dealership already but they deny any responsibility for the car not working.
No. You can't be responsible for something you didn't do. It's possible they just didn't want to work on it and that is their right. You can't force them to do it in a free society.
At the end of the day, as the owner, the vehicle condition is your responsibility.
What you should have done is solicited a second opinion somewhere else. In fact, you're probably better off skipping the dealership entirely.
That may be true, i probably should've added i paid extra for the inspection of the ticking noise, if it was a regular service then fair enough. But when you specify a problem and pay for it to be inspected specifically and all you get as an answer is "the exhaust is too loud" simply isn't good enough. I guess the lesson today is to never get your vehicle serviced/inspected at a dealership.
If they would have told you that they checked the timing then maybe - but as you described it, I would assume that NO.
Also at 264,000km, I don't think you'd be able to hold them liable for damage they do as they'd just argue that "it's the milage" and "things just randomly break on cars that old"
I'm honestly surprised they didn't say it broke because the milage because most likely that is why it broke. Just a shame it could’ve have been prevented if they had checked it in the first place. They just told me to come back at my next service and point out where the sound is coming from. Not much i can do about it now i guess...
Id say No. They didn't perform any work in that area so I dont see the liability.
No way. They didn't touch anything. You might as well say you can hold me or anyone else here responsible for it.
Them not touching anything is just as bad as breaking it themselves. When a ticking noise is reported on a car (especially a MK6 GTI which are notorious for having timing chain issues) any mechanic with half a brain would know something isn't right. Fair enough if they did check it and nothing was wrong, but when you pay extra money to get it checked out and all they come back with is an excuse that "they couldn't hear it because of the exhaust" just isn't good enough. If a guy was injured and you fail to call for help you might as well be responsible for his death, not much different to this situation.
You could try small claims court but you would be hard pressed to make that analysis of your situation stick in a court of law. The burden of proof would be entirely yours. They didn't do anything to your car. At the very best you would be entitled to the money you paid for diagnosis if they did not do anything, and once again the burden of proof is yours.
You had the option of taking it elsewhere if you were not happy with their efforts (or lack of same) and did not do so.
The comparison with walking by an injured person without helping is specious, frivilous, and without foundation or merit. People not helping each other may be distasteful but it is common and happens all the time, particularly in big cities, and in general is not actionable. In most jurisdictions there is no legal duty to render aid. Even in those that do, calling emergency service usually satisfies the requirement. You cannot otherwise be held responsible for doing nothing. Likewise, the shop that you are dealing with cannot be held liable for doing nothing.
In your case the most you can hope for is a refund of the diagnostic fee and you will probably need to take the owner to small claims court to make that happen.
Them not touching anything is just as bad as breaking it themselves.
On what planet?
If a guy was injured and you fail to call for help you might as well be responsible for his death, not much different to this situation.
Completely different. The result of not fixing your car is not death. Honestly which planet did you come from?
They did a bad job. That's all. The most you can ask for is your money back.
1. Sorry, no pay day. They are not negligent in this case
2. Have you ever tried to track down noises in a car with a loud exhaust? I have. And sometimes you literally can't track it down audibly because, yeah, the exhaust is too loud.
I have a 2004 GTO with a bored/stroked 427 LS, long tubes, high flow cats, BIG cam, SLP exhaust. You literally can't track down ANY ticking or pinging in that thing with your ears or otherwise. Those are the challenges that come with loud cars. If it is true, then it IS an acceptable answer. The one you want to hear? Likely not and yes it does suck, but it is what it is.
5 days later the timing chain isn't working as it is meant to as the car won't turn over and has zero compression (bad battery and starter motor have already been phased out as a possibility). Could the dealership be held responsible for this?
The burden of proof would be on you in a court of law to prove this, and good luck with that. Based on what you describe I don’t see them responsible especially if they did no work on or around your timing chain.
Them failing to get to the bottom of the ticking noise which i paid extra for it to be checked out, might have as well broken the car. If i'm paying more money to have a noise solved or at least diagnosed then you'd expect a better excuse than them writing on the report "couldn't hear ticking noise because of exhaust". Failing to do a proper diagnosis might have as well killed the car.
All you can do there is try to get your money back for the “extras” you paid for but was not done. Otherwise, there is no legal basis to hold the dealer accountable. That’s just the reality (and law).
The problem is that since you suspected something potentially serious was going wrong with the car and you were not satisfied with that shop's diagnosis, you had an obligation to mitigate your damages. In this case that means taking the car to another shop for another opinion, which you did not do.
@Daywalker and @ChuckTobias nailed it.
Also, they are affectionately called "Stealerships", not Dealerships! {black}:grinning:
The result of not fixing your car is not death.
It was a comparison to the car braking down, them doing a bad job is evident. Thanks for stating the obvious.
There is no comparison.
Negligence.
Yes, your negligence. YOUR car had a problem, and you didn't fix it. And then it broke. I would be absolutely ashamed to try to point fingers at other people. 😆