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theboyz

Approx 11 March, the inner CV Boots replaced by The ***** **** *****. Also had the brake rotors, disc pads & a service. That same week, i had to return to The ******T***** as my car now had developed a very ominous shake. The whole car appeared to shake at approx 80Km/hr upwards but it was inconsistent. I returned back approx 13 March, the mechanic raised the car & diagnosed as a buckled R/R rim, which i had repaired at ***** *** , ******* & picked up on the 15th March. That evening along the Southern motorway the vibration returned. I took my car into a Ford dealership on the Saturday 16th March who once removed the plastic underside discovered grease possibly from the replaced CV boots & remarked " a cowboy job"
I since returned to The **** **** 18 March & my car has been under repair ever since. The mechanic mentioned that the CV joint is hexagonal & the boot they fitted was round. The mechanic made mention also that there were no inner CV boots in the country or Australia & they would have to be sourced from the UK taking a couple of weeks to arrive. Talking to the mechanic i think he was perplexed at the situation at hand. I left it with him. He did advise me that he had sent off the drive shafts for rebalancing & to have the CV joints rebuilt, but did not offer a quote.
I had a phone call Monday 8 April that my car was ready & a bill of $1700. I had no indication at any time of a quote that this would be the cost. I had another phone call following day 9 April that my car had since broken down again due to some welding issue. Another phone call on the 12 April saying my car was ready but the bill has not been finalised & that i would have to return at some stage to complete the job at hand.
Please help as i when i offered my car originally for the initial repair of the replacement of the inner CV boots, (both left & right), the CV joints were in no way in need of repair as my vehicle had no issues of any kind experienced once boots replaced.
Regards
Colin Boag
Apologies for the long email

Anon

It is likely that the inner CV joints were already damaged at the time you initially took the vehicle in to have the torn/leaking CV boots replaced. The vehicle would have been operating with damaged boots for a fair amount of time and have caused damage to the CV joints. The new boots/grease were fitted and it was two days later that vehicle went back for the shake - there was grease present even though the new boots were not completely sealing the joints and some grease was coming out. It wouldn't have been any worse off than it was previously.

If you took the vehicle to the dealer and told them to fix it without being specific with your instructions or confirming who would be paying for the work then according to the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) you will need to pay for the repair. If this is not the case and you requested the dealer to supply a repair quote before carrying out any repair then you have a case for the disputes tribunal. But you will need to pay for the repair first to get your vehicle back and avoid being charged hefty storage fees.