Date:         Wed, 18 Aug 1999 17:58:56 -0400
Reply-To:     Paul Schiemer <schiemer@MAGICNET.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Paul Schiemer <schiemer@MAGICNET.NET>
Subject:      Re: bad mechanic / head gasket failure
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

> Sounds to me like your van was a ticking time bomb, and it just happened to
> blow on your mechanic. Not his fault. Most any mechanic worth his salt
> would have warmed the van up the same way.

Actually a good mechanic will get a vehicle to temp by driving it around the
block a few times.  He might find other things that need attention in the
process, and he can be sure this is the way the owner gets the vehicle to
temp (I mean, that IS what you do with a vehicle, right?)

Threatening suit is like pissing in the wind; a bit of relief but you get
some on you in the process.
Try NEGOTIATION first. Talk with the guy, explain you think it was an error
to let it idle for that long.
Although you aren't a mechanic, he might see it from your side for a change.

>I suppose that I could have fought the customer, but why?  Court time & costs
>would have more than outweighed the cost of the repair.  Karma said to do the
>right thing.

I had a similar thing happen; mechanic instigated part failure. It was an
error on his part, but a weak component on my car. He shouldn't have done
his 'test' in the way he did, but the part probably would have failed in a
few thousand miles anyway.  He merely hastened the failure along.
Could have gotten a few thousand more miles (ie months of driving) before I
had the failure and ultimate repair.

Tried negotiation; didn't work. The guy was adamant about it NOT being his
fault.  Didn't sue him, just told everyone I knew about what he did (we have
a club in the area with 400 members).
He tells me, years later, he should have eaten the labor (at least) on the
repair.  It wasn't worth it in the long run as he has heard a dozen times
about the thing he did to my vehicle.  He figures it just wasn't worth it to
be so proud and defiant.

Not only do I never go back there, I'm all the wiser now for the 'process'
of auto mechanic trouble shooting.  You gotta be proactive about it (or give
in to always being naive about the 'art' of fixing cars!)