Garage charging me for the old part?

[mrteach1973]

Hi

I just had the alternator fixed on my Lexus and the garage are saying if I want the old alternator to claim a refund from the company as it is faulty I have to pay them £160 for it!?

Is this common place?

Do the garage now own the old alternator?

Many thanks

[Phil xxkr]

No, unless you pre agreed terms and conditions that said you were part exchanging. Alternators are commonly refurbished and sold on for a good price. See eBay for examples. Did you buy new or refurbished? 

[Jaystar77]

They have probably sourced a refurbished unit on an exchange basis.  

If they don't exchange the old unit against the new unit then a surcharge would be required.

It's a good business model in that the old unit is refurbished and is sold on bringing another used unit in and the process can continue.  Seen it used on alternators, water pumps, brake calipers, even engines, etc.

[rich1068]

Sounds likely but the £160 seems very steep. I think the exchange value on the Lucas alternator I got from ECP for my LS was about £30.

[Malc]

6 hours ago, mrteach1973 said:

if I want the old alternator to claim a refund from the company as it is faulty

is this what you want to do then ?

under a 12 month old ?

otherwise it's more or less scrap to a novice BUT the garage who supplied the replacement now would have undoubtedly done it on the usual, common practice, exchange basis from their supplier .....  and if you want it that bad then maybe you could cough up the silly £160 ......  or do what everybody else would do .....  let the fitting garage send it back as the exchange unit ......  common practice .......... and that would usually reign supreme in any legal argument I would think

Malc

[mrteach1973]

42 minutes ago, Malc said:

is this what you want to do then ?

under a 12 month old ?

otherwise it's more or less scrap to a novice BUT the garage who supplied the replacement now would have undoubtedly done it on the usual, common practice, exchange basis from their supplier .....  and if you want it that bad then maybe you could cough up the silly £160 ......  or do what everybody else would do .....  let the fitting garage send it back as the exchange unit ......  common practice .......... and that would usually reign supreme in any legal argument I would think

Malc

The point is that the schedule of works states replacement and NEW. So an exchange indicates that they are correcting a problem they have caused by fitting a faulty item originally.

The item they replaced was originally fitted by another garage. It is them I have to send the unit too to get a refund.

Surely the surcharge and this whole  process needs to be clearly visible in their T&C's or the schedule of works for any one looking to use the garage for this kind of work?

[mrteach1973]

 

6 hours ago, Phil xxkr said:

No, unless you pre agreed terms and conditions that said you were part exchanging. Alternators are commonly refurbished and sold on for a good price. See eBay for examples. Did you buy new or refurbished? 

New

[Jaystar77]

Ah, that explains it, bit of an odd situation to be put into.

Would have thought the garage repairing it should have stated the exchange nature when quoting for the work. 

It might leave you out money if the original seller is only refunding their invoice once they get the faulty unit back?

 

[m4rkw]

Fairly common practice and I don't think "new alternator" is a deceptive term to use for these kind of exchange arrangements. Perhaps you should have gone back to the first garage as they would presumably be obligated to re-do the labour as well.

[Herbie]

I would have thought it very unusual to buy an alternator or a starter motor 'brand new'. These units are almost always traded on an exchange basis with the faulty one going on to be refurbished and stored back on the shelf for the whole process to start again with someone else.

And let's face it, there aren't a great lot of parts to either an alternator or starter motor so getting a refurb is like it's brand new anyway.

[Malc]

16 hours ago, Herbie said:

to buy an alternator or a starter motor 'brand new'.

alternator brand new would be available from the Main Stealer / Dealer I'm sure ......  but at what cost tho' 😲

I remember my 2006 Honda Legend alternator Brand New would have been about £1k and the refurb / exchange unit ( which I bought ) about £400 ......... and my Ls400 one about the same too

What did you pay for the alternator from the first garage ?  Was it  brand new  from the Main Dealer or ?

Malc

[Fortiswick]

At 16 I worked for a few months  at a gearbox refurbishers. A mechanic would bring in  the clients original gear box, we would strip it replace any worn or broken parts, then paint the gearbox in black paint making it look like a different unit and return it, typical cost to the garage £10. If  we couldn't do that within a couple of hours we would take another refurbed one off the shelf and add £5, the garage would then sell it back to the client for £30 to £45 plus fitting  (we are talking manual synchromesh boxes here).

That's basically how it works you either get your own component back refurbished  or someone else's, ether way you must supply a unit for exchange or repair.

That's the history, now to your problem: Many people  want the old part back (or sight of it) to ensure  a new unit is fitted (yep secret marks are suggested so you can check its really the old unit you are examining) and not the old one refurbished,  from their behaviour do you think that's what they have done?

 If you thought the alternator  was faulty then you should have asked the garage to test it so you would have a professional opinion and data to prove your case.

 I would advise, if its working then forget it and move on, but if you really want to pursue it then:

First read the invoice and any Ts&Cs very carefully to see if they can keep old parts as part of their service, if you've agreed to use them, you've entered into a contract and better off abiding by it than paying solicitors £1000s to contest it.

If not then...If they have quoted   you for fitting a NEW (meaning brand spanking new OEM or otherwise) alternator then the old one is your property, if they fail to return it it is theft. Inform them you are going to report it as a crime (expect no action from the police but maybe you can persuade them to issue a crime no.) and threaten to take them to the small claims court.

If they have quoted for fitting a refurbished unit,  they can take out your alternator refurbish it and refit it, or exchange it for a refurbished one. Your alternator has to be swapped so you surrender it for refurbishment or replacement, so no you won't get it back and what they are quoting you for is the retail price for a refurbished alternator.

If they have fitted a refurbished alternator and charged  you for a new one, then its time to get trading standards involved selling refurbished parts for new prices is  a rip off and illegal.

Then again they may have meant refurbished when they said new,  as in exchange the old one for a new (as in replacement) one, not newly made from scratch.

The clue is  what did they charge you? Was it a new part price or a refurbished one, no idea of the cost but knowing stealerships a new one would be  would be ridiculously expensive.

 Maybe ask for a stealership quote (ask them to break down the price into parts and labour) ask another garage   for the same quote and n breakdown, telling them it must be an OEM part fitted and compare prices with your guys.

[Phil xxkr]

11 minutes ago, Fortiswick said:

At 16 I worked for a few months  at a gearbox refurbishers. A mechanic would bring in  the clients original gear box, we would strip it replace any worn or broken parts, then paint the gearbox in black paint making it look like a different unit and return it, typical cost to the garage £10. If  we couldn't do that within a couple of hours we would take another refurbed one off the shelf and add £5, the garage would then sell it back to the client for £30 to £45 plus fitting  (we are talking manual synchromesh boxes here).

That's basically how it works you either get your own component back refurbished  or someone else's, ether way you must supply a unit for exchange or repair.

That's the history, now to your problem: Many people  want the old part back (or sight of it) to ensure  a new unit is fitted (yep secret marks are suggested so you can check its really the old unit you are examining) and not the old one refurbished,  from their behaviour do you think that's what they have done?

 If you thought the alternator  was faulty then you should have asked the garage to test it so you would have a professional opinion and data to prove your case.

 I would advise, if its working then forget it and move on, but if you really want to pursue it then:

First read the invoice and any Ts&Cs very carefully to see if they can keep old parts as part of their service, if you've agreed to use them, you've entered into a contract and better off abiding by it than paying solicitors £1000s to contest it.

If not then...If they have quoted   you for fitting a NEW (meaning brand spanking new OEM or otherwise) alternator then the old one is your property, if they fail to return it it is theft. Inform them you are going to report it as a crime (expect no action from the police but maybe you can persuade them to issue a crime no.) and threaten to take them to the small claims court.

If they have quoted for fitting a refurbished unit,  they can take out your alternator refurbish it and refit it, or exchange it for a refurbished one. Your alternator has to be swapped so you surrender it for refurbishment or replacement, so no you won't get it back and what they are quoting you for is the retail price for a refurbished alternator.

If they have fitted a refurbished alternator and charged  you for a new one, then its time to get trading standards involved selling refurbished parts for new prices is  a rip off and illegal.

Then again they may have meant refurbished when they said new,  as in exchange the old one for a new (as in replacement) one, not newly made from scratch.

The clue is  what did they charge you? Was it a new part price or a refurbished one, no idea of the cost but knowing stealerships a new one would be  would be ridiculously expensive.

 Maybe ask for a stealership quote (ask them to break down the price into parts and labour) ask another garage   for the same quote and n breakdown, telling them it must be an OEM part fitted and compare prices with your guys.

Perfect "full fat" explanation of my Cola lite one 😎