Legal Question in Consumer Law in Virginia

Car repair done wrong

I took my van to a shop because it was missing & check engine light was on. They said it needed plugs, wires, and coil pack. $435.00. I drove it 2 miles and engine light came on & started missing. Called shop he said injectors were also dirty and he cleaned them for free hoping that would work, but it didn't and the parts would be $1,000.00 to replace them & he would ''work with me'' on the labor since I paid for the tune-up.

I took it to another shop for a second opinion about the injectors. They spend time checking the injectors & said they weren't bad. I told them to find the problem. They said the ''gaps'' on the plugs, the first shop replaced, were 1/3 of what they should be. They had to regap all the plugs to be sure that was all that was wrong. $365 for labor. It's been running fine since.

I went back to the first shop asking for $250 back. He offered $100. Is the first shop responsible for any of the $365 to fix the incorrect gaps.


Asked on 5/18/05, 6:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Car repair done wrong

Yes, the first shop might well be responsible for

work that either they did not do or did in an unworkmanlike, i.e., defective manner which as a consequence required you to go to a second shop to get it done as it should've been in the first place and spend an extra $365.

The problem here(as in so many of these kinds of cases) is with your proof. You could certainly file your claim for damages in small claims court but then you would have to roundup the necessary expert witnesses(competent in regard to the kinds of repairs which were done or should've been done) to testify in your behalf that in fact the work was not done properly by the first shop and therefore you are entitled to at least some measure of damages.

Securing one or more of these kinds of experts to come and testify in your case might not be easy.

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Answered on 5/18/05, 1:20 pm


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