QLD Mechanic Put Turbo in Mazda When Not Needed

[dfcdean12]

I recently took my car to my usual mechanic. My car had no power when going up hill. He had previously cleaned out the diesel injectors. He advised me that I needed a new turbo for my car at $1700 plus labour. This would fix the problem. After he put the new turbo on, he phoned to say he had test drove the car and it wasn't the turbo, the car was still the same. He then told me it was an exhaust problem, telling me I would need a new exhaust. The next day he phoned to say it was not an exhaust problem and he couldn't fix it so he would take it to the local Mazda dealership for them to look at.

Mazda had my car for 31 days trying to find the problem, they even sent an engineer from Melbourne as nothing showed on their computer. Finally they found out it was an injector problem and it would cost $3700. I went to Mazda to pick up my car when completed, paid my money.

My usual mechanic has now just sent me a bill for $2000 dollars for the turbo that he installed, also with pictures that he claims are the old turbo in a bad state of repair. Also just sent me a text tonight saying he has taken legal action against me, and if I don't pay he will affect my credit rating for any future credit as a non payer.

Where do I stand? Obviously going down the legal route will be expensive, do I have to pay this bill legally?

Thanks

 

[Ivy]

@Sophea can you assist with this enquiry?

 

[Sophea]

Hi dcfdean12,

This is a complex situation and is not clear in terms of who is liable for what. If it was put before a judge, the judge would need to determine, what was your contract for with the first mechanic? Based on what you have advised you took your vehicle to him and asked him to determine the problem causing lack of power. Therefore the contract was for diagnostic services to determine the source of the problem. The next question would be, did he undertake this service that he was contracted for with due care and skill as would be expected of someone with his qualifications. This is the difficult bit. The fact that it also took Mazda a while to figure out what it was indicates it was a difficult problem to diagnose. On the other hand, he didn't diagnose the problem but rather provided unnecessary replacement parts as part of his trial and error diagnostic method. You have received some benefit from his work, however not exactly the benefit that you contracted for.

If I were in your situation I would feel similarly slighted, and would be doing all I could to try to avoid paying him. I am not 100% sure whether his threats of affecting your credit rating have any merit or not. If he were to obtain a legal judgement against you and you didn't pay it, then yes that may go on your credit rating, but short of that I don't know whether he has the ability to do anything that would affect your credit rating in the absence of a court judgement. Maybe someone else knows a bit more about this??

You may also have remedies under the Australian Consumer Law. I would check out this document:
http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au/conte...loads/industry_guides/motor_vehicle_sales.pdf , and then contact the Office of Fair Trading in Qld, as they can hear complaints etc regarding businesses providing services and products.