Car Repair

[Bivvysenior]

My friend who runs a small garage is worried, as he is being threatened of being sued in the small claim court for a repair to a car he carried out 2 years ago. It is the first time he has been approached by this old client.
My question is can this client persue a claim even after 2 years since the work was carried out? Is there a legal or agreed time limitation on warranty provided for repairs?
My friend offers a 3 month warranty on all his repairs and 12months on parts he supplies . I am talking about a car that was at least 10 years old with excess of !00000 miles when the repair was carried out .
Any advice appreciated.

[TonyV]

In my opinion no. If the claimant persists then your friend will have to go to small claims court and see claimant derided by magistrate. You freind can counter sue for costs involved in attending the hearing

[Buenchico]

You can pursue a claim for negligence for up to 6 years after the relevant act (or for up to 6 years from the date when the negligence became apparent).

So if your friend, say, failed to properly secure some nuts (by, for example, fitting locking nuts) and something dropped off the car two years later (having gradually worked itself loose over that period of time) then he could be pursued for the cost of any damage or injury resulting from his negligence.

However, other than such a claim for negligence (which would seem not to be what is being alleged) the car owner hasn't got a moggy-in-Hades chance of winning a court action against your friend.

[TonyV]

Chris I would refer the mechanic to Haynes rather than hades lol
https://haynes.com/en-gb/

[Bivvysenior]

Many thanks for all your quick responses I will feed back when I know more..

[Peter Pedant]

wait and see
then wait a bit more

The claimant has to show his claim - which is gonna be in contract or ort ( negligence ) - your fren' doesnt have to show anything

as BC would have pointed out
the first step is an LBA - wait for that and see what it says
( letter before action ) - all sorts of twists and turns - if there isnt one of them then you can apply to have the whole action chucked out.

so - yes there are a variety of actions the claimant could bring
none of which look like runners -
yes there is a bar for certain actions ( 6 y for negligence )
and there is also a common law doctrine of laches ( delay ) which works against the claimant

wait and see

[New Judge]

"...your friend will have to go to small claims court and see claimant derided by magistrate."

He won't see that. Magistrates do not preside over small claims courts. They are a branch of the County Court system. As well as that the claimant must make efforts to resolve the matter before resorting to court action. From what you say no such efforts have been made.

[Bivvysenior]

My friend has now written to the client asking for more details of his complaint in order to investigate and respond.
Many thanks to all for all the advice very welcomed