Who actually owes me the money?

[o8sp]

I had my car repaired after a car accident (not my fault) and it turned out that the headlight fitted at that time was not legal in this country! The garage that carried out the repair say that it is not there fault as they fitted the headlight in good faith and i need to claim themoney back from the garage that supplied it. They in turn say that they can't give me the money i should have taken it to them to get the problem rectified not my local garage.

I needed my car back and asked the garage it was at to fix it not realising i would end up hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

Who's liability is it and should i get the cost of the part and labour back since it was not my fault either?

[Barmaid]

Assuming your contract with the repairing garage was for all parts and labour, it is them who should repair and replace. If the supplying garage supplied it erroneously that is for the repairing garage to take up with them.

[bednobs]

how did you find out it was illegal? A headlight costs 100's of pounds?
I have some sympathy with the garage that said you should have taken it back to them to rectify (or at least called them about it before getting someone else to sort it out and them charging them)
In my (limited) knowledge of the law you didn't get agreement from the garage to get the work done then charge them for it, so you do not have a contract with them. I think you are going to have to pay as you chose to ask someone else to repair it

[bednobs]

ignore me, BM knows more than i do :)

[woofgang]

I would try your local trading standards office for advice.

[Barmaid]

Bednobs, I might be qualified but your answer makes more sense. Perhaps I have completely misunderstood the question.

[eyethenkyew]

If the garage fits a headlight which is incompatible with the other(s) on your vehicle, it is their responsibility for the error. They are simply trying to pass the buck to you to do their dirty work of having to contact their supplier - not your responsibility.

If they do not relent, gather as many details as possible, including names of who fitted the headlight, owner of garage etc, and tell them that you're contacting trading standards.

[o8sp]

The repairing garage was nominated by my insurer and have said it is nothing to do with them. I have since changed insurers but would it be best to go back to them and ask them to get involved? If i am determined to get my money back and they say it is not their problem woul di have to take them to small claims court?

Thanks

[bednobs]

i see what you are saying ety, but instead of saying "this headlight is incompatible, please make it right" the poster took the car elsewhere to get it fixed and is now trying to get the original garage to pay the bill (which they hadn't agreed to in advance) so i don't think it's enforcable. For all i they know the garage may belong to the posters brother, and he has now submitted a bill that is grossly inflated to make money out of the first garage

[bednobs]

the repairing garage have no proof they fitted the wrong headlight though do they, as it's now been replaced by the correct one by someone else.

[bednobs]

just so i can be clear, your question implies there are 3 garages involved
1) the garage (a) who supplied the part
2) the garage (insurance nominated garaged) who carried out the repair using the part from garage a
3) a local garage you then took the car to to get the problem rectified (c)
is that right?

[eyethenkyew]

Hang on...hang on....Ambiguity time!

My first reply was based on the assumption that the garage had merely fitted a headlight which was "not legal in this country". However, o8sp, are you saying that the garage replaced like for like? i.e. the one removed was identical to the one they replaced it with?

Because, if so, then you would have had a duty in the first place to inform them of the illegality of the one which they were replacing. In other words, unless they were so informed, then they had every right to replace the initial headlight with an identical one. What's your answer?

However, if the one taken out and replaced was itself legal on British roads, and the garage replaced it with one which was not, then my initial answer stands.

[o8sp]

yes that is correct. 2 vauxhall dealers and a repair garage. The illegal headlight was European and I have it in my garage for the garage to take back.

The error was uncovered when my car went in for mot without which i couldn't get my car tax. By leaving the car with the illegal headlight i would have then had to use my car without road tax whilst the supplying garage and repairing garage decided what the next step was going to be. I contacted the repairing garage before i went ahead with the replacement to see what they suggested and they did not get back to me until close of day by which time i had to get the work done.

[bednobs]

well then i think i go back to my original answer. Imagine you had your living room plastered, realised the plaster wasn't done right so got someone else in to fix it, sent the bill to the original plasterer and expected him to pay it. It is just unenforceable (in my opinion) The repairing garage may well have the responsibilty to put things right (as per BM's answer) but they don't have to pay you when you get someone else to do it. Again i stress this is just my opinion though. did the bill came to hundreds of pounds for a headlight change?

[Barmaid]

Now I understand. (Or at least I think I do). You had your car repaired by garage 1 who had a light supplied by garage 2. This was noticed by garage 3 who said it was illegal and had to refit?

This is the law. Essentially, garage 1 are in breach of contract. However, at law you have a duty to mitigate your loss (ie not incur more to put the damage right than you ought). The easiest way of doing this is to get garage 1 to repair. However, you are at garage 3 and you need your MOT/tax. Thus the easiest way to mitigate your loss is to get garage 3 to repair (given than garage 1 failed to call you back). Depending on the timing (ie if tax and MOT were due imminently) it could be argued that you had no choice, else to do otherwise would leave you without a car.

I would be inclined to tell garage 1 that you hold them responsible and try and claim the whole of the cost back. At the very least you should be awarded what it would have costs garage 1 to replace the incorrect headlight.

You can make a claim through the small claims online procedure. However, write a letter before action to garage 1 first.

[bednobs]

again, believe BM seeing as that she really is a bar person

[o8sp]

thank you all.