garage bill queried

I sent my 98 bmw to a local garage to get 4 new shocks with full kits fitted prior to christmas. My gagage man had looked at the shocks first and quoted for the job.
When I collected the car and paid, the ABS warning light was on. He said an ABS sensor was probably left unhooked and to leave it back in and he would take care of it. Turned out he had to send it to a main dealer to diagnose the problem. He informed me he would do this test at no cost to me.
Main dealer diagnosed a fault in one sensor and asked if they should go ahead and replace it. My gagage man said yes without my knowledge and has since billed me for €240.
I have refused to pay on the basis that there was nothing wrong with any of the ABS sensors when i handed over the car and there was a fault when I got the car back. Also I was not quoted prior to the work being carried out.
Garage man says the sensor was "end of life" part as the car is 8 years old with 138,000 miles so he cannot say he was responsible for the sensor not working after rehooking it. He does admit car would not have been in dangerous condition if released without repair to ABS as brakes were working.
Am I right not to pay? Should I pay for the parts only as I have benifitted from their fitting? Should I pay the full bill?

I had this type of problem (at least similar) a couple of years ago - left my passat into vw garage to get front shocks replaced. They did that job and after the replacement the abs light kept flickering - left it back - they replaced the sensors and went to charge me - i said no way and didn't pay. They eventually agreed to that as they caused problem - spoke to another mechanic in same garage later and he said they didn't need to replace sensors at all -- turned out that one of them had been sprayed with oil when they replaced the shocks and kept false registering - he said it happens all the time and you just need to clean them properly.

Thanks Nai. Job was done without my knowledge so cannot confirm what exactly happened. I seem to be on shaky ground because car is so old, part could have failed anyway and I cannot prove it was their work that caused the failure.
But I guess you are saying dont pay. I think I will have to pay something. Any other views?

i had a problem 2 years ago with vw re a clutch in my old golf, it was less than 2 years old and less than 40000 miles on the clock, i said is there no gurantee and they said manufacturers don't say what the life span of a part is. so to say its at its life end is wrong unless he has facts to back it up offically from BMW.

i wouldn't pay either, he caused the problem so he can pay for it.

Ron, without trying to argue on his side, wheather the part was 2 or 20 years it could have reached the end of its life and that would not have been the garages fault despite their working around the part.

The only real hope is that I gave no authorisation to carry out €240 worth or repairs/replacement. Nothing else can be poved by either side.

BMW=Big money work

red17 said:

BMW=Big money work

Click to expand...

More like BMW=Big Money Waste. No offence intended towards BMW owners.

Thanks for reminding me folks but I buy 5 year old cars and keep for 3 years. I rekon much of the depreciation has already occured on such cars, even BMW's. Dont think they are any less reliable than any other make but certainly not any better I admit. Also with older cars I do not go to main dealers although this may have been a better option this time. The point is I dont mind paying 240 for a replacement part but am suspicious that I should not have had to. Am about to offer to pay for the part but not the labour in order to finish dealings with this garage for once and all. Do ye think this is the best option?

beaky-my best advice is to get in touch with the ODCA and see what their advice on the issue is-I can't say for sure myself what your rights are when repairs are undertaken without your authorisation (it seems to be fairly common in motoring circles).

I guess if you don't dispute the fact that the part needed to be replaced, you should pay for both parts and labour.

If you don't want the part, tell them so, get them to take it back and leave the car in the same position as if the new sensor had never been fitted.

I don't know if you can take the 'middle ground' so to speak, i.e. take the part but not pay for the labour.