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?

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

dont use these mechanics again, thats for sure.

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

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.

They acknowledged that they broke it.

Remind them of that. When they bring up the fact that it's $175 to replace tell them you don't care if it's $1 or $10,000. You brought the vehicle there in working condition you only expect it returned to you in the same condition (+ new oil)

I would try and be tactful and remind them that you've been there 5x in a year and HOPE to use them for many more years.

I also think "my play" is so 2006

Yeah this is the right play.

Also, any big city will have some kind of auto shop certification body which is usually run by the BBB or something similar depending on locality. They usually don't help much but in a case this clear I think they would actually help if the shop gives you trouble.

this is the only correct answer.

wow. so, you are saying that the shop has no obligation here whatsoever?

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.

I think it's kind of a borderline case. If they forced it when it was jammed, or did something else stupid, they definitely should fix it, OTOH, if it was warn out and they just happened to be the ones operating it when it broke, its kind of questionable whether they should pay for it. The trouble is, only the person who broke it knows which it is, and he's likely to lie if he did something foolish.

True but I believe it's already been stated that they said they were to blame.

This is actually kind of a close call.

As cars age, plastic parts naturally become brittle and weak. Anyone who's ever done work on a car knows that you're guaranteed to break some small brackets/plastic parts etc. Sometimes you just can't help it.

HOWEVER, this is the hood latch, which is usually quite a solid piece. I'd probably offer to pay 1/2 the cost of the part, and get all of the labor for free.

after doing some research, i get the impression that putting in a new one of these things is a pretty big chore. i suspect that if it was a $30 part that would require 15 minutes of labor, i wouldn't be in this spot.

No, that's Plan B. Plan A is to tell the shop that broke it that you will pay for the part, but that it is their obligation to install it. If the cost of a new part is too high to suit OP, then OP should inform the shop that he'll find one at a junkyard and bring it in for the installation.

So, I guess that would actually make the quote above Plan C

The key here is what kind of work they usually do for you. As mentioned before, if they lose your $30 per job business, they'll live with it if t means not paying $175 to fix your car.

I WATCHED a moron at a Jiffy-Lube type place break my hood release, and they wouldn't pay for it.

Start taking the bus? Seriously though I would throw a big stink about this. My guess is they won't care and you'll have to eat it, but I would definately get my moneys worth making them feel like [censored]/make it clear I will never be back and will tell friends etc.

Clearly the shop should replace the part for you free of charge.

I've never done anything with a car's hood latch so I don't know how much trouble it would be.

I once had repairs done to my car's passenger side door and window. When I picked up my car the power window didn't work. They said they would take care of it. I hounded them for 6 months and they never did jack [censored] (this is quite a long tale, I won't get into it).

They were recommended by my insurance company (which paid for the repair), and I complained to them about it. The mechanics still gave me the run-around. I wasn't going to go through the expense of litigating over a window motor, so eventually my dad and I just repaired it ourselves.

I would definitely call and complain and tell them they should fix it for free etc. But if they screw you over you probably don't have much you can do other than complain to the Better Business Bureau.

edit: I also no longer use that insurance.

I don't understand this attitude. You get pleasure from making people feel bad, $175 worth of pleasure?

What? I thought mechanics made like $50/hour.

more like for a cheap part and simple fix, it just isn't worth the trouble. if it was something major they would never see the end of me until i was compensated.

the thing is, i doubt this is a simple fix. if it was, they very likely would be willing to do it.

was this a jiffy lube by any chance?
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...be_damage.html


Do you still have the owner's manual, or can you get one?

I did some casual googling, I found this:

No idea if it is actually easy or hard.

http://www.drivewire.com/replacement...handstrut.html