whos problem?? Wheel falling off.

DallasXR6 · 29-03-2011, 07:14 PM

mate of mine just had a heap of insurance work done after he was involved in an accident and the car came into contact with the kerb.. Almost all the front suspension plus 1 rim was replaced...

Today when picking it up, the repairer warned him that he should get new wheel' nuts as the old ones did not fit his new rim ( rim was slightly diff, as his old ones are out of production..)

Coming home, as he was pulling into his estate, his front passanger side wheel fell off!!!!! After calling hi parents, he called me as i live around the corner.

Having aloook, the studs on the hub look fine, but the was no rim!!!

Where does reponsibilty fall?? Should the repairer have released it if it wasnt safe or 100% right!

PHANTMXR6 · 29-03-2011, 07:21 PM

Correct. Fault is with the repairer.

They have a duty of care when releasing a vehicle to a customer.

kinksta · 29-03-2011, 07:22 PM

I would think the repairer for letting the car leave the shop, but at the same time they did warn the occupant. I'm not sure.

Racecraft · 29-03-2011, 07:25 PM

Repairer!

A different rim meant they over looked the price of replacement wheel nuts and a small loss of a few bucks on the correct wheel nuts for the hub!!!

DallasXR6 · 29-03-2011, 07:27 PM

for his sake im hoping the repairer does take ownership of fault.. From what i saw as it was going onto the tow truck, new front bar, front quater panel, rotor ect not to mention any possible damage from the force of it all fallin on the front strutsand sliding along on what i think was part of the sub frame..

stang65 · 29-03-2011, 07:32 PM

if it was insurance let them sort the repairer out.

yift · 29-03-2011, 07:58 PM

i do this type of work for insurance companies (mechanical work for panel shops). the responsibility is on the repairer. he should contact the repairer, if the repairer doesnt come to the party then he should contact the insurance company.

nstg8a · 29-03-2011, 08:02 PM

is it also acceptable that one rim now requires a different style of nut to the other wheels? what happens if you have to use a spare?

ThaFlash · 29-03-2011, 08:11 PM

more to the point but not to sure myself, if the repairer is a licenced rwc tester, he wouldn't be allowed to let the car go without repairing it.

GavL · 29-03-2011, 08:26 PM

I would be contacting the insurance company and making a complaint. If the repairer has overlooked this kind of thing once, who's to say they won't do it again after the car is repaired for the second time?

I'd be making sure if goes somewhere else...

svo supporter · 29-03-2011, 08:48 PM

If you take your car to a mechanic and he fails to do the oil filter up resulting in all the oil spilling over the tarmac and you stuffing your motor, are you going to cop the costs of the repairs yourself?

Same principal as this thread. Repairer didn't fix the car properly, so he is at fault

InfernoSR · 29-03-2011, 08:50 PM

Straight to repairer, then insurance...

xisled · 29-03-2011, 10:08 PM

If it was insurance work. Your friend will have to lodge a second claim and maybe pay the excess again, depends on what the insurance company decides.
If the repairer is found to be at fault and your friend had paid the excess, he may get it back.

The problem with the repair shop is that they will only repaired what the insurance company has authorized them to do, nothing more.

IMO your friend will have pay for the damage because he was driving the car at the time. Just get him to lodge another claim with his insurance company.

XB GS 351 Coupe · 29-03-2011, 10:52 PM

Car was not repaired correctly, if they can not get the right wheel the least they should do is get the correct wheel nuts, as it is not up to you to chase that up.

Realistically if they can not get the right wheel, they need to try harder or change all wheels, so they all match, as the car started with matching wheels, so it should end with matching wheels.

All wheel nuts and wheels should be the same, as you should be able to rotate your tyres or fit your spare without having to worry about wheel nuts.

NAFairlane · 29-03-2011, 11:02 PM

Since when do the wrong wheels nuts cause all 5 to fall off? if they fell off they werent done up tight to begin with. All of the responsibility is on the repairer. That car should have never been driven unless it was safe, i'd contact the repairer and the insurance company.

iliov · 29-03-2011, 11:16 PM

Repairers fault no doubt

The Outsider · 29-03-2011, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NAFairlane

Since when do the wrong wheels nuts cause all 5 to fall off? if they fell off they werent done up tight to begin with. All of the responsibility is on the repairer. That car should have never been driven unless it was safe, i'd contact the repairer and the insurance company.

read again

one wheel only

still not ideal

barra265t · 29-03-2011, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Outsider

read again

one wheel only

still not ideal

hahaha.. i think he meant all 5 wheel nuts, not all 5 wheels

XB GS 351 Coupe · 30-03-2011, 11:38 AM

Thats because the car only has four wheels

DallasXR6 · 30-03-2011, 11:54 AM

just heard that they have offered to fix it all, free of charge,

Gav, will let him know that he should let insurance mob know

DallasXR6 · 30-03-2011, 11:56 AM

ill try get a pic up for those interested to have a look at

LTDHO · 30-03-2011, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xisled

If it was insurance work. Your friend will have to lodge a second claim and maybe pay the excess again, depends on what the insurance company decides.
If the repairer is found to be at fault and your friend had paid the excess, he may get it back.

The problem with the repair shop is that they will only repaired what the insurance company has authorized them to do, nothing more.

IMO your friend will have pay for the damage because he was driving the car at the time. Just get him to lodge another claim with his insurance company.

No not at all!

Good to hear it is all fixed.

How does a wheel fall off anyway?

Dezza · 30-03-2011, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LTDHO

No not at all!

Good to hear it is all fixed.

How does a wheel fall off anyway?

It can happen. It's happened to me before on the EA.

ray38l · 30-03-2011, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LTDHO

How does a wheel fall off anyway?

i have had it happen twice. First time i was about ten and the whole family were going to the shopping centre when the front passenger tyre on the Mitsubishi L300 van fell off at 60kph. It went pretty high in the air and ended up smashing someone's rear window. Turned out the tyre place didn't do the wheel nut up tight enough.
Second time was about 2 months ago when i had a flat in a 94 Toyota corolla and put the stock tyre back on. I didn't realise there was a rubber around the centre of the hub which was there for the bigger mags. The rubber stopped the wheel from going on flat. I got all the way to my driveway then the tyre fell off going underneath the car. Had to replace all the wheel studs.

barra265t · 30-03-2011, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

Thats because the car only has four wheels

Hmm.. if you count the spare wheel, there's five. The spare wheel can easily 'come off' if not tied down..

LTDHO · 31-03-2011, 08:16 AM

Wow.
I had a rim come loose and the vibration was obvious enough for mr to pull over and tighten the nuts. I can't see how a wheel would come off,

Thanks for the senarios.

sudszy · 31-03-2011, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstg8a

is it also acceptable that one rim now requires a different style of nut to the other wheels? what happens if you have to use a spare?

Im guessing that the wheels were aftermarket and that the car had only four of them and the spare was perhaps just a stock rim, otherwise they would have just put the spare on to replace the damaged one if it was impossible to replace?

Also most probably what happens in these cases is that the repairer's quote is accepted by the insurance company and the repairer then aims to make a profit out of the venture(that's what they are there for). And yes, they made a mistake in assessing the damage to the wheels and not factoring in that just one could be replaced

Yes, the correct thing to do would be to replace the whole set with near identical ones, just like they have to respray nearly the whole side of the car when someone keys it etc.

As for letting the customer drive off with wheel nuts that didnt fit properly, that is criminal negligence, the repairer is very lucky that no-one was killed or injured as a result.

The customer should have refused to take it at that stage, but were perhaps under the impression that the problem was just one for the long term, ie the nuts may damage the rim, be hard to get off etc, rather than not survive the trip home.

Ive been there with this type of thing, front end damage, went to get the car from the repairer where they had claimed they'd "fixed everything", and immediately recognisied the spare wheel was on the car, looked in the boot to find the damaged wheel was now my spare! , they obviously get away with it with some clients. (there was a list about a page long on other things they tried to get away with too)

EB# · 31-03-2011, 09:34 AM

First mistake: The repairer not completing the actual 'repair job' and thus offering a non-roadworthy car.
Second mistake: The owner being advised as such and actually taking the vehicle on the day.
Both parties stupid.

xisled · 31-03-2011, 11:57 AM

sorry double post.

xisled · 31-03-2011, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LTDHO

No not at all!

Good to hear it is all fixed.

How does a wheel fall off anyway?

Well in this case the repairer has taken responsibilty, which is good. But many repaireres out there would say go back to the insurance company and not there problem. I seen this happen over and over again while working in the motor claims indusrty, the insurance company would make the person lodge a second claim for the damages and only cover the wrong part fitted to the car in the first claim and the new damages would be covered in teh second claim.

But the repairer has taken it upon them selves to repair the car. Which is great, not many would.