Ruptured Brake Lines

[ADTek]

What is the name of your state? Massachusetts


I bought a 99 Grand Prix from a local dealer. The brakes were worn out and replaced under warranty. After several attempts to surface the rotors the General Manager (my boss at the time) had my rotors and pads replaced. The service department was mad about this and had a oil lube tech do the brake job. Everything appeared fine on the car. The brake job took place 9/03 and the car had 68,000 miles on it. The brakes were never worked on again.


November 2004 my front brake lines ruptured during a hard stop on the highway. At that point I lost all brake power and almost had heart attack. I brought the vehicle to another dealer and they discovered that my front brake lines were CRIMMPED by whoever had last work on the car. They explained that the hard stopped caused the lines to burst because they were crimped. They would have not burst if the lines were not crimped. They noted all this on my bill and I paid my $300.00 The car at this time now had 85,000 miles on it.

From working at the dealership I know that this was not beyond there service department even against their own employee. Another tech who was doing an alignment on my car asked me who did my brakes. I told him and he wouldn't disclose any further info. When my lines burst, i realized he saw that they had been crimped and did not care to correct the issue.

Do I have a case in small claims court? I am suing for $300. The dealer doesn't care to listen to me so small claims is the only way. Is there a tolling statue of limitations that may apply? Thanks in advance.

 

[You Are Guilty]

Your SoL hasn't run, but your problem is going to be that you'll need the "expert" mechanic from the second shop to come to court with you to testify as to what he found and his opinion as to the cause of the brake line failure.

Assuming dealership #1 even shows, they'll likey have 10 guys there to say your brakes were done properly with no crimps, as evidenced by the year's worth of driving you did with no incident, and even if they were crimped (which they weren't), it wouldn't matter since that didn't cause your brake line failure, which in fact, was due to improper maintenance and the fact that you rape little boys.
(OK, I just threw that last part in there to see if you were still paying attention).

Point being, its going to be a battle of proof, so make sure you're prepared beforehand.

 

[JETX]

And personally, I think the OP is going to lose this one.
Wonder what the OP will say when the defendant asks, "And how do we know that YOU didn't do some work on the vehicle yourself or have anyone else work on it in the year since we did it??"

 

[ADTek]

You make good points, but if my word against theirs. The tech and managers who were involved are no longer employed at the dealership.

What more proof can I provide other then another dealership saying it's there fault?

 

[JETX]

You make good points, but if my word against theirs.

Yep, and as plaintiff, the burden of PROOF is on you to show that the brake failure, a year after the fact, was due to THEIR negligence or malice. Simply, I think that will not be easy... or even possible to prove.

What more proof can I provide other then another dealership saying it's there fault?

And there is the start of your problem. From your post, that is NOT what they said!!! Your post said, "that the hard stopped caused the lines to burst because they were crimped." There is NO mention that this was caused by the dealership.... only that they "were CRIMMPED by whoever had last work on the car." It is YOUR statement that the last person to work in the car was the dealership. And there is simply no way you can PROVE that!!

And since so much time has transpired, there is really no way (in my opinion) that you would win this one (unless they simply failed to show up). But what the hell.... stranger rulings have been rendered by the courts.