Ask an expert

Hi there,

I recently had an extremely unsatisfied experience with an AA auto centre. I would like to check with my current evidence, what is the best way to solve this problem? Here's the story:

My car accidentally broke down on the highway on the 23rd of December, 2019. I then called AA road assistance to tow my car to an AA auto centre for fixing. By the time I towed the car there, the engine was still working but with a bit of noise. I then left my car to the mechanic at AA Auto centre to fix it for me. After approximately two weeks, the mechanic diagnosed one of the engine cylinder's compression rate was very low, only 100psi, but the other three cylinders still worked fine. The mechanic then informed me the car engine was internally damaged and advised me to sell the car as replacing a new engine was too expensive and might not worth to do this. By this time, the car engine could not be initiated anymore. I asked the mechanic for the reason why the engine could not be initiated anymore because even if only three cylinders were working, the engine should still be able to initiate, he couldn't give me a clear answer but just saying the engine was broken and he didn't know why. The mechanic then offered me he could help me to sell my car to someone who buys car spare parts and said he could sell it for me for $400 and I need to pay him $100 for diagnostics. I did not accept this offer.

On the 17th of January, 2020, I asked another mechanic from another company to diagnose my car again, this mechanic found there were approximately 20 Litres of water in the fuel tank and the car engine was not broken. There was also no damages on the car that may cause water went into the fuel tank. After this mechanic cleared the fuel systems, the car started working a day after.

So from here, what we do know now are:
- When I dropped off my car at the AA auto centre, the engine was still working. When I picked up my car from the AA auto centre to another mechanic, the engine wasn't working anymore.
This proves by the time I dropped the car to the AA auto centre, there was no water or there might be very few of water in the fuel tank as the car engine would never work if there were 20 Litres of water in the fuel tank. Therefore, the 20 litres of water went into the fuel tank during the period the AA auto centre was repairing my car.
- The mechanic at AA auto centre did a serious misdiagnosis almost caused me selling a car in good condition as spare parts.
- The mechanic at AA auto centre could not answer my question "why the engine couldn't be initiated if three cylinders were still working"

What we do not know now are:
- How did 20 Litres of water go into the fuel tank?
- Was this a sabotage? an accident? or maybe it rained too much and the cap of the fuel tank was off so 20 litres of water went into the tank (although I don't think this is possible)?

I then went to check with the mechanic at the AA auto centre and try to find out what might happen. The mechanic told me he did not know how the water went into my car and it was not his responsibility to look after my car as it was at the car park so anything could happen so I shouldn't ask him this question.

However, as a consumer, if I take a car for repair, I do not expect any additional damages or sabotages happen on my car and it is the service provider's responsibility to look after it during the period of repairing.

Thanks for your patience for reading this, it would be great if you could provide me with any recommendations on this case.

Cheers

Hi there,
As there are a few factors in this query from original breakdown to diagnosis, I recommend you complete a customer feedback form so your query can be addressed through the appropriate departments and the manager over the centres can assist in your query. https://www.aa.co.nz/contact-us/email/