Advice before towing car

[hegesi]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Delaware

We took our car yesterday for an alignment. When the tech took it for a test drive he damaged the engine . We could not drive the car. The manager asked that we leave it in the garage overnight and he would take a look at it. We will be getting it towed off the property today and wanted to know if there is anything we should do prior to the car leaving the property in case we decide to pursue the matter in court? After we have it towed, then what should be our next step?

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Delaware

We took our car yesterday for an alignment. When the tech took it for a test drive he damaged the engine . We could not drive the car. The manager asked that we leave it in the garage overnight and he would take a look at it. We will be getting it towed off the property today and wanted to know if there is anything we should do prior to the car leaving the property in case we decide to pursue the matter in court? After we have it towed, then what should be our next step?

**A: please tell us how a test drive could damage the engine.

 

[hegesi]

**A: please tell us how a test drive could damage the engine.

He over reved the engine when he took off. He actually left tire marks. In doing this, we think he might have broken the piston(s) and/or head gasket. We have not taken it to a mechanic yet. My fiance works on cars (has done a lot of work on this one) but does not want to touch it at this point. There is definitely something wrong w/it. You can hear something "clanging" inside the motor when the car is running. IT WAS NOT LIKE THAT WHEN WE ARRIVED THERE. We want to know what we should do before getting it towed to a mechanic.

 

[CraigFL]

I think, to show good faith, you need to let the place that broke it come up with a way and cost to fix it. After that, you should have your mechanic look at the vehicle at its present location to determine what he thinks is wrong and how much -- second opinion. Then, you need to decide who will fix it and work out who pays what - where.

 

[hegesi]

I think, to show good faith, you need to let the place that broke it come up with a way and cost to fix it. After that, you should have your mechanic look at the vehicle at its present location to determine what he thinks is wrong and how much -- second opinion. Then, you need to decide who will fix it and work out who pays what - where.

For 2 days the manager asked we keep the car there so he could take a look at it. We gave him until 4pm yesterday. At that point, he still had not looked at it. We contacted the corporate office and filed a claim which they submitted to their insurance company. Corporate also contacted the store. The store is claiming 'they did not do it'...the employee 'did not rev the engine'. The corporate office at that time told the manager not to touch the car. We had the car towed to the mechanic because the area the store was located is not a good place to leave a car out overnight. We had it towed to the shop that installed the motor (aprx. 3 years ago.) that is currently in it. The motor was imported from Japan and will cost a good amount of money to repair/replace. All we want is for the company to pay to repair/replace the engine. At this point, it seems like they are going to give us a hard time.

 

[Nativity]

Rough Situation.

Your best option is to have the Mechanic that has it now look it over see what the problem is and see if he can figure out how it would have been caused. After that is done and the Mechanic fixes the problem get your bills from him, get an Affidavit from the Mechanic and take that information and file in small claims against the store that caused the damage.

You may have a hard time proving they did the damage unless the Mechanic that has it now can figure it out some how but it would be your only likely option.

I'm going out on a limb with this one but if the place that destroyed the engine is near any other stores you could possibly, or a lawyer, contact a business near by that may have had a camera set up that may have recorded the other shop test driving the car.

 

[Rexlan]

It is unlikely that they "damaged" the engine by an over speed. All modern automotive engines have rev-limiters and it is pretty hard to damage them from an over speed. About the only way that can occur is with a missed up shift (to a lower gear) at a very high speed. Additionally, leaving tire marks is immaterial.

I would not put much faith in your "mechanic". These "mechanics" (for the most part) are hacks and really know very little about automotive engines ... sort of like boyfriends. They are not trained at spotting a cause of failure and most do not have the diagnostic tools that the dealership does. Their conclusions will have little weight unless they can qualify as an expert which is not likely. Dealer mechanics are better but they are part changers for the most part. However, they will have much more credibility that an independent shop because of factory training and support.

There are a multitude of things that could be contributing factors. For example, how many times have you done some "spirited driving", why did it need an alignment, incompatible modifications, poor gas, etc.?

I do not think you will have much of a case and you may end up spending a lot of money in addition to the repairs. If I took the car anyplace it would be to a servicing dealer for the make … not the “shop”.

 

[hegesi]

The reason for an alignment, I installed tierod ends(7months old only one was out of spec), as a part of my routine maintenance.
my data log shows the car bouncing off the rev limiter 7700rpm then immediately hitting 8999rpm, which is indicative of a missed shift. when the car was brought back to me,I noticed it wasn't running right.

The shop the car was towed to is the shop that installed the engine and transmission.
As for over speed, what huh? ECU speed limit is set at 180km but, if he needed to go 111mph to check my alignment then revving an sr20det to 8990 would take you to about 280km in 5th gear.

By the way, the company has a policy (in writing) that states they will do a full inspection of the car and notify us in writing if any work needs to be done.

And to Nativity...thanks for the information. There are other stores in the area. Delaware does not have a "Small Claims Court". Does anyone know what type of Attorney would handle this sort of thing since there are no "Small Claims" Attorneys in Delaware?

 

[Rexlan]

Good info if you have a data logger and can keep it unaltered so you can use that for the court.

Over speed is the normal term used for excessive engine ROM ... not across the ground ...lol. Those numbers do not mean allot by themselves. What is the limiter setting?

The important factor is how long it was at the over speed (9K). As I said, and you agreed, the only way is generally with a missed shift.

May have some bent pushrods or if roller hydraulic lifters you may have locked up a couple by over pressure in the sockets. With a severe over speed of long duration you can also bend a valve.

For SM court you don't need an attorney. What you have said here is what you need to tell the court. Having the data log will be a huge benefit. Frankly, I am surprised that the alignment shop wants to fight about it since you sort of have them by the rear. Good luck.

 

[hegesi]

where we are at now-URGENT!!!!!

After the insurance company investigate for 2 1/2 months they have decided to total loss the vehicle. They also refuse to pay for the diagnostic claiming 'they did not request this' and the spark plugs that were damaged. Now we have 2 options:
1-take the settlement
2-take them to court
We are unsure as to which is our better option. So, we are now faced w/many questions:
1-Should have the insurance company handled this as if it was an automobile claim or a liability claim against the company? Keep in mind we took the vehicle in for an alignment & came out w/a damaged engine.
2-I read that if we take them to court we can also charge them for time spent in dealing w/the insurance company, pre-judgement interest, & post-judgement interest. Is this true?
3-Will this be hard to fight now that the insurance company has proved the guilt?
4-The insurance company stated "Engine Damage" on the total loss letter. Will this be exceptable for DMV if we buy back the title?
5-What if we have the engine repaired at our expense before we except payment or take them to court?
6-When we asked for the status of the investigation they stated they did not have to disclose that. Is this true?

 

[hegesi]

Since no one replied to the post or to the PM's I sent. I believed the insurance company was on the right track with the decision they made, and decided to salvage my car for the total loss settlement. I take the letter the total loss agent sent me to DMV and well... the paper was not acceptable, missing quite a bit of information according to DMV. So after a few hours at DMV. I was pretty sure I didn't want to salvage my car. Also some new information came to light by way of the Total Loss Agent's supervisor, He told me that, A replacement engines' value was used to determine the cost of repair. Is using a replacement engine suitable action, when you don't even understand the damage to current engine. Maybe I can explain a little better, They never determined the damage to my vehicle to even say the damage repair exceeds the value of the car. But the replacement (LKLQ) engine would most definitely exceed the value of said vehicle.

Well, they knew how much I paid for the engine, because it was one of the first receipts I sent them, over 5 times.

Is there a limit to the free advice one can receive in a thread?