General D5 engine used without oil. Very sad :-(

[Davadava]

Hello there

I have received a private message asking for an update, but can't reply due to my low post rate.

Essentially taking dealership to County Court in Bath.

My solicitor (yes it has got to this stage) says that the contract between myself and the dealership has been breached.

This is far from a simple collision in law.

Apparently this was tested in case law when a snail was found in a bottle of ginger beer!

The dealership has refused to give me their solicitors details!

They refer me to their insurance broker, who refers me to the insurance company who treat it as as collision/RTA on the rare occasion that they reply to emails or phone calls.

Insurer promised hire tow car - never arrived.

Had it arrived it wouldn't have been allowed out of UK.

I could go on, believe me...

I look forward to my day in court.

[Bonefishblues]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson

...is the 1932 case which established the foundations of the law in this area, and the one that the solicitor will have mentioned (lest anyone's interested).

ETA
I'd bet a shiny shilling this won't get to Court.

[Simmy]

Originally Posted by Bonefishblues

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson

...is the 1932 case which established the foundations of the law in this area, and the one that the solicitor will have mentioned (lest anyone's interested).

ETA
I'd bet a shiny shilling this won't get to Court.

if both sides use a barrister they will bat the case around for 30 min at £600 per hr make a decision before they hit the court room and inform the relavant partys the decision . ask me how i know.... been there . and got the compensation

[Bonefishblues]

Their Insurers will be all Billy Big Bollox.

Until they aren't.

[Familyman 90]

Sod their insurers. Your contract was with the garage.

If the garage don't pay, its them you sue, and then its up to them whether or not they then claim with their insurers.

Going direct to insurers is fine if everyone is cooperating and being cicvilised, but when theyre not you take the responsible party to court.

[Bonefishblues]

The garage has insurance. The garage has a legal claim against it. The insurers will conduct the case under the terms of their professional liability insurance, seeking to minimise their loss.

[Fitzy73]

What a dreadful situation, any further news?

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Familyman 90

Sod their insurers. Your contract was with the garage.

If the garage don't pay, its them you sue, and then its up to them whether or not they then claim with their insurers.

Going direct to insurers is fine if everyone is cooperating and being cicvilised, but when theyre not you take the responsible party to court.

^^^ That.

Legally, the insurers only involvement is to cover the garage's liability. You do not have to accept anything that the insurers say - value of vehicle, view of liability etc. the garage has already technically admitted liability and you are quite entitled to recover all of your costs thus incurred.

As the car is 10 years old the £10k+ cost of a new engine will undoubtedly make it an uneconomic repair, but that shouldn't mean that the car will be recorded as salvage as it hasn't been in a collision and the payout is against the commercial liability of the garage for failing to provide services to the required standard.

Joining this thread late but a D5 engine allowed to tickover without oil for a short period will be fine - the stresses on the engine internals are de minimis at tickover compared to moderate to full throttle. When changing my oil I run my engine at tickover for 5 seconds after draining the sump to get the last 250ml of old oil out of the system. Provided the engine has recently been run and everything is covered, it's not a problem. I realise some folk will find this abhorrent but if you're going to disagree please back that up with some science or real life experience.

If driven though, the stresses increase dramatically but on an oil starved engine that's been driven the first component to go is more often the turbo - high RPM's + heat + no oil leads to their demise quite quickly. Next is usually the big ends & main bearings - at that point the engine it toast unless it gets a strip and rebuild as the oil ways will be full of swarf. Simply replacing the shells is bodgery.

[Bonefishblues]

I don't think that's quite correct.

The garage's liability insurance will contain clauses that effectively put the insurers in the driving seat v-a-v how any legal claim is managed, including their fighting or settling the claim, at their option.

Whilst the party named in the action is the garage, you will always be fighting/negotiating with the insurers.

[sv70]

This story is incredible, in the first instance it's incredible that the dealer admitted liability, that should have been the end of the story,- car should have been returned in the same state as before the **** up, or a replacement car- like for like, but for it to get this far is beyond belief and a total hang my head in shame for that particular dealership- they must know that any misgivings will be on the forums and expose them for what they are, and i am sure they will lose custom from this episode far outweighing the price of an engine that they screwed up. It's like getting a builder to re-point your brickwork-he sends an untrained chap with a grinder to do the raking out of mortar but he's clumsy and digs into every single brick and the builder says-'it will be ok we'll point it up it'll be right-[ No it won't] The dealer should have done the right thing by the customer and not let it get this far in putting this poor chap through the mangle -shame on you, and i hope this works out ok for davadava, it's no wonder people are looking for independent garages, and this revelation will no doubt be losing the main dealerships more custom - rightfully so.