Ask Me Help Desk - Bad brake job

I am new to this site so any comments would be greatly appreciated. I took my old 96 Mustang to a dealer ship last Wednesday to have my back brakes fixed. I drive a stick shift car so these type of cars are notorious for rolling back on hills. I only instructed them to fix my back brakes not the emergency brakes. Anyway, Sunday morning my car rolls out of my drive way and hits a pole across the street. I didn't see this happened as I was asleep in my house at the time. I woke up to see my car across the street against a light pole. Of course, there was damaged done to my back bumper and driver's side car mirror. I didn't call the police because this happened on private property at the time. Probrably a mistake not to do this. There were not other cars or people involved. I did have my emergency brakes on when I parked my car. I am assuming that faulty brake work contributed to the my car's rolling and hitting a pole. I took the car back to the dealer ship and left the car with them for a couple of hours. They called to report they could find no problems with the brakes or any lines cut to contribute to the accident. Finally, I called the police 4 days later to file a report. I only have liability insurance but not coverage for collision. I want to take them to small claims court but don't know if I have a leg to stand on.

You would have to take the car to another service center to have the work inspected.

If the other service center can find anything done incorrectly, or wrong, and is willing to put it in writing or testify in court, then you might have a chance.

Without being able to prove they were negligent or the repairs were done incorrectly, you really don't stand a chance.

"I think they caused this to happen" is not going to do you any good in court.

Yes, the last, very last place you wanted to take it back to was the original dealer, ( if there was anything wrong bet it is fixed now) you needed t take it to a separate different dealer

Let me see if I understand the situation correctly. You have a car of a type that is "notorious" for rolling on hills when parked with the emergency (parking) brake on. You take the car to a shop and have them fix the back brakes, but specifically tell them not to work on the emergency brake. Subsequently, the car rolls out of your driveway while the emergency brake is on and is damaged. What is your basis for thinking that the brake work contributed to the situation? I could see you having a case if you asked them to work on the emergency brake, but you specifically asked them not to. Therefore, if there are problems with the emergency brake, I don't see the repair shop being responsible at all.

Seeing as you know the problem of rolling backwards of your particular car - why didn't you put some sort of chocks behind the wheels each night? Sorry, I don't see you winning a suit about this. You'll just have to pay for the repairs yourself. Why wouldn't you have them look at or adjust the emergency brake on this vehicle? That's one of the things I would have had the shop done anytime I'd have my car taken there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rprophitt

I am new to this site so any comments would be greatly appreciated. I took my old 96 Mustang to a dealer ship last Wednesday to have my back brakes fixed. I drive a stick shift car so these type of cars are notorious for rolling back on hills. I only instructed them to fix my back brakes not the emergency brakes. Anyway, Sunday morning my car rolls out of my drive way and hits a pole across the street. I didn't see this happened as I was asleep in my house at the time. I woke up to see my car across the street against a light pole. Of course, there was damaged done to my back bumper and driver's side car mirror. I didn't call the police because this happened on private property at the time. Probrably a mistake not to do this. There were not other cars or people involved. I did have my emergency brakes on when I parked my car. I am assuming that faulty brake work contributed to the my car's rolling and hitting a pole. I took the car back to the dealer ship and left the car with them for a couple of hours. They called to report they could find no problems with the brakes or any lines cut to contribute to the accident. Finally, I called the police 4 days later to file a report. I only have liability insurance but not coverage for collision. I want to take them to small claims court but don't know if I have a leg to stand on.

Obviously the emergency brake - which you gave instructions not to "fix" - didn't hold and that was the cause of the accident.

I see no liability on the part of the mechanic.

I am a little surprised that you took it back to the same dealership to be inspected after the accident (I can't imagine they would have said, "Yes, you're right, we made a mistake") but I think the problem was the emergency brake which they did not work on.

A Police Report would also have done you no good - unless someone is disputing how the car was damaged.

You know, it's stories like this that make me despise my job...

Quote:

Originally Posted by rprophitt

I only instructed them to fix my back brakes not the emergency brakes.

Okay, so they did what you asked... so far, so good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rprophitt

I did have my emergency brakes on when I parked my car. I am assuming that faulty brake work contributed to the my car's rolling and hitting a pole.

... what? How can you even say this is their fault? They didn't work on the parking brake system! They worked on your service brakes, which obviously weren't being used when the vehicle rolled because there was no one in the car to apply the brake pedal.

Do you have a leg to stand on? No. You're trying to sue them for not fixing something that you asked them not to fix. You already stated that you know your vehicle rolls on hills; you should have left it in gear and used the e-brake as a back up.

Most parking brakes employ the use of the back brakes, however, in the absence of some type of evidence that the brakes had been improperly worked on or otherwise negatively affected by the dealer you have a problem since the dealer could always argue that perhaps you did not engage the parking brake properly.

Furthermore, most stick shift cars can be left in drive when parked so as to prevent them from rolling back if the parking brake fails.