In Oct 2003 I had my 1971 VW Super Beetle's engine rebuilt by a recommended VW repair shop. Spent $2500 for the rebuilt. After 3 months I had my first problem with the rebuild. The shop stood behind their work and fixed it. OK ... new rebuild and stuff like that happens. Shortly after that another problem ... and the shop again fixed the issue. This went on for 2 years. It seemed like the shop was more than willing to help but nothing never seemed to really get fixed. The VW continued to cost me money and was never right. I complained to the shop and I would get the standard answer ... you're driving and old VW ... that's what they do. Admittedly I knew nothing at the time. So I went in search of real answers or someone else (another VW shop).
I joined a local vintage VW club. GREAT people that are very knowledgeable. Retired VW mechanics, current VW mechanics, drag racers and folks who just love their VW. Found out by them that my expert isn't very good at rebuilding VW. Not good news. Anyway ... I continued with the club and made friends with several members. One guy kind of adopted me ... my VW Dad. We discussed what was wrong with my VW. It was leaking a lot of oil (which I knew and was checking and adding as needed). Last winter we pulled my motor for a quick rebuild.
MY REBUILD ... went well except for the fact that we found out the original rebuild that I paid $2500 ... was a bad, incomplete and overall sloppy job. Incorrect parts were installed which caused this motor to have a very limited life. I went back to my original invoice and what I paid for wasn't installed in my motor. Example: I paid for a 100 cam ... he installed a 120 cam. The only way I found this out was by rebuilding the motor myself with a TON of help from my VW Dad & club members. Basically ... how I understand it ... the 120 cam is something that installed in a RACE MOTOR and not something you plan on driving for reliability. They can work but it requires a ton of extra heavy duty parts ... which weren't done. My motor just beat the crap out of itself due to this cam error. (Sorry for the sake of time I can't possible begin to explain all the other things that went wrong and had to be re-built, replaced and machined). My club members tell me that it happens all the time. A shop tells you one thing and installs what they have ... instead of what's on your invoice/what you paid for.
It's now 2009 ... and I would like to sue the shop for what they did to me and my VW.
Questions:
Is it fraud? Because of the cam issue? (According to NJ: 6 years on statue of limitations)
Is it property damage? The shop did damage my motor by doing a bad incorrect rebuild. (According to NJ: 6 years on statue of limitations)
Can I take this to small claims court? I've got about $1500 in parts in MY rebuild. Would like to sue for the entire $2500 from the original rebuild ... since I had to undo all the things he/they did wrong.
The shop was sold to the employee who I was dealing with. During my engine rebuild he told me he ran the place ... now he's an owner as well. The shop has the same name ... just LLC has been added. Could that stop my lawsuit?
I joined a local vintage VW club. GREAT people that are very knowledgeable. Retired VW mechanics, current VW mechanics, drag racers and folks who just love their VW. Found out by them that my expert isn't very good at rebuilding VW. Not good news. Anyway ... I continued with the club and made friends with several members. One guy kind of adopted me ... my VW Dad. We discussed what was wrong with my VW. It was leaking a lot of oil (which I knew and was checking and adding as needed). Last winter we pulled my motor for a quick rebuild.
MY REBUILD ... went well except for the fact that we found out the original rebuild that I paid $2500 ... was a bad, incomplete and overall sloppy job. Incorrect parts were installed which caused this motor to have a very limited life. I went back to my original invoice and what I paid for wasn't installed in my motor. Example: I paid for a 100 cam ... he installed a 120 cam. The only way I found this out was by rebuilding the motor myself with a TON of help from my VW Dad & club members. Basically ... how I understand it ... the 120 cam is something that installed in a RACE MOTOR and not something you plan on driving for reliability. They can work but it requires a ton of extra heavy duty parts ... which weren't done. My motor just beat the crap out of itself due to this cam error. (Sorry for the sake of time I can't possible begin to explain all the other things that went wrong and had to be re-built, replaced and machined). My club members tell me that it happens all the time. A shop tells you one thing and installs what they have ... instead of what's on your invoice/what you paid for.
It's now 2009 ... and I would like to sue the shop for what they did to me and my VW.
Questions:
Is it fraud? Because of the cam issue? (According to NJ: 6 years on statue of limitations)
Is it property damage? The shop did damage my motor by doing a bad incorrect rebuild. (According to NJ: 6 years on statue of limitations)
Can I take this to small claims court? I've got about $1500 in parts in MY rebuild. Would like to sue for the entire $2500 from the original rebuild ... since I had to undo all the things he/they did wrong.
The shop was sold to the employee who I was dealing with. During my engine rebuild he told me he ran the place ... now he's an owner as well. The shop has the same name ... just LLC has been added. Could that stop my lawsuit?
