Okay Veeky Forums, I really need your guys advice, opinions, and input on this. About a week ago I had new tires put on my vehicle while I was in the process of getting it ready for inspection. The shop told me that I could do with a brake change but it wasn't necessary. Then said I needed new wipers and to fix my muffler to pass inspection. About a week later while driving my wheel came off my vehicle and the front end collapsed. I called the shop and they towed it back and remounted the tire. However, when the vehicle collapsed I lost brake pressure, the wheel caved in part of my quarter side panel, and the body punctured the tire. The shop is refusing responsibility for the damage, and has now even stated the reason for the wheel falling off was the vehicles age. They are refusing the cooperate with me and have been incredibly disrespectful in all of my dealings. I have backed off and am now setting up and attorney. Do any of you have related experience in this kind of thing? Had wheels fall off after it was at a garage? Had to sue a garage? Any related info or input would be greatly appreciated guys. I am just really stressing out about this.
Suing an Auto Shop
it seems like someone messed up and didn't tighten down the lug nuts but
prove it was their fault the wheel came loose
prove it wasn't someone else trying to steal a wheel or mess with your car
had something similar happen once, got new tires and drove off, a day or 2 later felt a vibration and stopped, tire looked fun so i checked the lugs and they weren't tight enough so i tightened them up and had no issues
Proving no one tampered with it is easy enough. I live in a rural area and full blown /k/ in regard to my property and possessions. As far as province they are at fault, doesn't it go with out saying? The lug nuts backed out and popped off and fell out and they were the only people to service the vehicle in the past six months. So either a) they fucked up and din't do it right, b)they fucked up and damaged something, or c) they failed to identify and notify me about a critical issue with my vehicle. They are liable either way correct?
Ive encountered this situation a few times. One time while walking up to my aunts house, I noticed, on my cousins car, one of the wheels only had 1 lug nut on it. I walked into my aunts house and told her and my cousin, and they had recently had the rear brakes done at a shop down the street. This same shop also worked on my mom's car at one time, and when she was trading said car in, I noticed that it was missing a lug on one wheel.
As I said. At original servicing the only things they said wrong were my wipers and muffler. And that my pads and rotors "could" co with a change. Who fucking runs a business like this?
best of luck OP
I doubt you'll get anything, and from the sound of it the lawyer will cost you more than replacing your POS car.
Post pics of vehicle
>I have backed off and am now setting up and attorney.
This is something shops have been sued for in the past, and really the shops insurance should be covering the damage. By talking to an attorney, you're already doing the right thing.
I had a tiars shop put my MTs on my pickup truck a while back, and they put em on tighter then a slipknot on a nigger.
9/16-18 is strong though.
Prolly same thing happened, but Your lugs were weak and broke off
>I have backed off and am now setting up and attorney.
Decent idea, I am an in-house attorney and whenever customers sue us we're basically forced into settling if the amount demanded is only a few thousand dollars.
>redneck hick drives a beater
>beater falls apart
>sue mechanic
woah
it seems to me like your proof would only make sense with the underlying assumption that youre not just trying to screw the shop out of money. because as far as they know you wanted a new car so you loosened the lug nuts so the wheel would fall of and you could sue them for money for it.
Some are just interested in a percentage of profits gained in a settlement. That's what I'm shooting for.
I didn't have my phone on me at the time to take any, not really any sense in taking them now that vehicle is not embedded in the road.
Thanks, that is what I hope happens.
Lugs and bolts were all relatively new. No reason they should have failed. They just weren't on tight enough.
In house for a garage? Or just a business? I could really use some more advice if you don't mind.
Get lost user. By truck is old but it isn't a beater. Some dirt and corrosion on the under body has little no bearing on its worth or condition. Also, because why am I a redneck?
How do you mean? I was never looking for compensation other than repairs to damages done. Now that they have been cunts about it I am looking for monetary compensation but that's besides the point.
Well, first of all, the lugs/bolts you have, are they intended (tapered correctly) for the wheels you have on?
If not, that's going to be the shops easiest way out of your lawsuit.
But in reality, because a week passed before the wheel came loose, the shop isn't going to be liable for anything. Any court will immediately assume anything could have happened to the vehicle in that time, and they'll pull on the fact that most incorrectly installed wheels tend to start coming lose pretty much within the hour, if not that same day at most.
Then the shop will turn around, counter-sue you for defamation and possibly fraud.
If I were you, I'd just never go to that shop again... it's not a matter of principle, it's just that you're going to fight a losing battle here.
Had it been the same day, hell yes.
Also, check their paperwork, they may have covered their own ass extra by adding a simple little footnote : Wheel torque requires re-check within X kilometers.
Honestly OP you don't have a case. If the lug nuts weren't properly torqued you should have been able to tell almost immediately upon driving the vehicle and turning it. If you've driven the car over several days like this before the wheel came off occam's razor comes down to YOU loosening your lug nuts to commit fraud against the shop, rather than the wheel magically staying on the car up until this point with loose lugs. Even in the event that you're telling the truth (and believe me I believe you, because no one would make a thread like this if they were actually trying to commit fraud) but you have to think of this from an outside or even the opposite perspective. "This fuckass is trying to sue us X amount of days after we serviced his car claiming a wheel came off" It's really just an absurd situation.
What says at the very end however is EXTREMELY important. Check your receipt and their footnotes on the work done to your car. That's your only smoking gun in this, otherwise you're probably SOL
SOUNDS LIKE A SCUMBAG SHOP TO BEGIN WITH SO THEY MIGHT ALSO BE INCOMPETENT ENOUGH TO NOT TORQUE DOWN YOUR LUGNUTS
>YOU GOTTA BUY WIPERS TO PASS INSPECTION
CLASSIC SCAM
Actually, if it's a safety, then yes, the wipers have to wipe without obstruction to visibility within the drivers FOV, that includes streaks. The windshield also cannot have any stickers, chips or cracks in that area either.
>Your wheel fell off because it had an unsafe level of wear
>Also we passed you for inspection
Really makes the ol noggin ponder
Actually, you might have a point there.
If it was a proper signed safety, and it was in fact corrosion/some kind of wear that caused the failure, and that wasn't noted, then that's something he might be able to go after the shop for, as they passed the vehicle even though it wasn't safe.
However, if it wasn't a true safety, then no.
Lugs are the right ones for the vehicle. All twenty have been in use for four years with no issue. I get that, but at the same time there was less than 100 miles on the odometer between the service and the accident. I drove from the shop home, back into town and home once, than was on my way out again when the wheel came off. Maybe 60 miles total. And no, I crawled over the receipt looking for little things (because there comments about my brakes and muffler had me suspicious) and there was nothing about that.
See above. Odometer can confirm I barely drove it. I've already reached out to several mechanics regarding this issue (including the impartial tow truck driver/garage owner from a separate institution who agreed with me). I even have an eye witness that saw the accident and helped me get a tow truck. I know it unlikely but I think I have some what of a case.
Wipers weren't even bad. Passenger side was streaky but functional. They are just scumbags.
Yeah and that was something I brought up with them. If the vehicle was to old or in to poor of shape, why did you agree to the work and then let me leave? Coming back at that point after the fact still makes them liable. Saying after an accident that the vehicle you JUST inspected isn't safe is sketchy as fuck.
>In house for a garage? Or just a business? I could really use some more advice if you don't mind.
A corporation that sells automobile parts and services.
1) File a complaint with your state AG's office, specifically the consumer protections bureau. If they respond denying the claim, the state isn't likely to investigate. What it will do though is indicate that you're not going away quietly.
2) Consider filing with the BBB. The BBB has no power to make them do anything but when the complaint is registered they will have to file a response, otherwise it will effectively result in a negative remark being in their file.
3) Have your attorney send a litigation hold and a demand letter.
4) Consider filing in small claims court if you don't have an attorney. The shop won't want to attend and there's always a chance of a default judgment.
Thanks a bunch for the info. I will definitely follow through on all of that. I have no intention of letting them get away with this. If not for my sake than for other people who might have the issue with them in the future.
No problem, I've never worked for a business as small as a garage but at my company it's a numbers game. As long as I can save money on some of the claims or complaints we get, I've done my job.
What state are you in?
WV. And it isn't a chain. But I have already raised enough shit online between reviews and social media that it will effect their profit in a town this small. Maybe that will motivate them.