I have some questions regarding what I can do to the dodgy mechanics that endangered my car and possibly life with their shoddy workmanship... If anyone has experience in similar situations to the one below, please post.

The story:

I am planning a trip down the Great Ocean Road this weekend so I decided to get the rattles in my car checked out to make sure they aren't serious or dangerous.

I went to a mate's workshop to get him to whack it on the hoist for me... When we were wiggling stuff to locate the source of the noises we noticed some serious problems with the work done by a mechanic I had taken my car to.

The nuts and bolts on the lower end of the shock absorbers (on both sides of the car) were loose. On the right hand side one nut had actually fallen off and was missing with the bolt partially out. The left hand side had the nut right at the end of the bolt and wasn't far from dissappearing as well. I took some pictures because I happened to have my camera, from a uni site excursion, in the car.


Pic 1: Right hand side rear showing loose nut.
Pic 2: Left hand side rear showing bolt on its way out.
Pic 3: Left hand side rear showing where the nut should be. Notice the dirt meaning the nut has been gone for a while.

The only stuff I have had done to the Cressida's suspension is getting lowered springs and new shock boots fitted. This work was done on 18/03/04 by a company I shall name rewoperyT and nobody has touched the car's suspension since. It hasn't even been on a hoist between then and today.

Nuts don't just come undone unless they are left loose... I may not be so annoyed if it wasn't on BOTH SIDES... That means that the rewoperyT mechanics definitely didn't tighten them properly. My car was not roadworthy because of this and I would assume that it is a legal obligation for them to point out unsafe aspects of the car to me let alone be the cause of the unsafe aspects!

If the shock absorber had disconnected at the bottom, not only would I have no dampers and be bouncing all over the place but it could possibly foul the wheel or CV or ... and lock up sending me into a spin. Now it may seem unlikely that I would die, but it definitely is not unlikely the shock would come off... It was a matter of time not a matter of whether or not it would happen. One bolt was already coming out!

What should I do?
What have other people done in these situations? Can I claim my money back?
Is this a good chance for me to start my extortion career?
I have laryngitis at the moment so I was waiting until my voice is at maximum yelling power before I go and confront the cnuts.

[Updated on: Fri, 27 August 2004 06:24]

I wonder what VACC would think about it if I told them?

The suspension was the last thing I ever got done at (nice try) because they were fucking wankers and the boss was a complete tightarse.

I had to go and buy a new nut and also spend time at another mechanic's workshop fixing the problem.

[Updated on: Fri, 27 August 2004 07:32] by Moderator