Inflammatory ??I'm a forum member just like you and will try to help anyone I can on here , why should I revel from someone's woe ??
Solicitor ? No , I'm a car technician and worked in an independent garage for near thirty years
I'm generalising here ..... why do people go on eBay or where ever and find there own parts ....main reason is to save some money ....why are some of the eBay parts cheaper than others ....main reason .... they are sub standard , corners have been cut , quality control is much poorer if any .
I was on a technical seminar the other week with Lemforder suspension components , they had dozens of Chinese copy suspension parts...ball joints suspension arms and so on that where down right horrendous in there construction
So folk buy said parts then talk them to there local garage and ask them to fit them , how can the repairer warrant a job and give due care and diligence to an item that they have no clue where it's come from .
As I said in my other post the book stops with the repairer if something goes wrong ....and it does .
Quick story
Friend of mine in Kent has his own independent garage , guy comes in off the street asks him will he fit a suspension arm to the front of his E class Merc , he wouldn't of done in normally but against his better judgement he fits it to 'help the guy out ' , job done sends the guy on his way .
Couple of weeks later an insurance engineer calls at my friends place asking about the job on the Merc , he ask what's the issue .... the front suspension had collapsed the car has veered over the road and knocked someone's garden wall down and done extensive damage to the car . The ball joint had completely pulled out of the socket by the way
My friend thinking well the owner supplied the part ' not my problem then '
How wrong was he , little later, solicitors letter through the door for court proceedings against the repairer for damage to the car and rebuild costs off the wall , hire car costs , injurys and stress .... all the usual solicitor rubbish .
My friend speaks to his insurance for liability .... yes you guessed they will
Not pay out as he did not supply the part , long story short the owner of the car wins the case , judge said words to the effect , the repairer is the expert in his experience he should of known better , the owner could of made that suspension arm in his garden shed , £16k bill for repair to the car , rebuild the wall , hire car costs , but he was ' helping the guy out ' after all so silver lining and so on
Suppose what I'm getting at here Dave is that repairers who fit customers own parts are leaving them selves exposed if things go wrong , suspension arms , ball joints , any braking parts are all safety critical .
Can I just ask and be honest ,the caliper you got off eBay that may or may not seen the ecm off is there a big difference in the price of the specialist TRW caliper .
Again I'm out here to gloat over someone's bad news , just trying to get across how it works from the repairers point of view .
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