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Mechanic exchanges parts of my Baleno without informing me

First, he told me that he put brand new parts, then he told me that he simply exchanged my damaged parts with new "old" parts. When I asked him to take me to the place where he got the parts changed from, he changed the topic.

BHPian manmeetd recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello, I own a 2018 Maruti Baleno, and I was recently involved in a small crash.

While coming down a multi-storyed parking, my car's brake refused to work. There was a left turn right after the slope into the next lower floor. I ended up banging the front-right wheel into the wall. On inspection, I realised that there was water on the slope and the brake did work. Due to the water, the tyres slipped and car didn't slow down.

I called my SA telling him that I was stuck on the fifth floor of a parking with my car. My car was making weird noises whenever I tried to turn it and I was skeptical about moving it to the ground floor. My SA didn't call me back after promising to do so in some time.

I found a small garage close by and the mechanic promptly showed up. He told me that the link rod was bent. I'm a bit ignorant about what's inside the car but eventually I was told the shock absorber, the link rod and another part was "replaced." No approval for exchange or anything was sought, no estimate was given even after many requests. I'm fully convinced I got ripped off by this person. First, he told me that he put brand new parts, then he told me that he simply exchanged my damaged parts with new "old" parts. When I asked him to take me to the place where he got the parts changed from, he changed the topic. I had had a long day by then and I paid and left.

The car works fine, I test drove it. I'm planning to take it to the Nexa service centre to get it inspected and to get the fender fixed. However, the mechanic told me that he exchanged the parts. I'm convinced that he didn't exchange anything and just straightened the parts himself. But in case he did, then I've a shock absorber that rightfully doesn't belong to my car. Would this affect my car's warranty?

Here's what BHPian abhishek46 had to say on the matter:

Not sure about the warranty, but those items will surely affect your psyche & peace of mind.

Since you are already planning a visit to the service centre, you could claim insurance, and replace all these suspected damaged items.

Secondly, get the braking system checked. A little water should not cause brakes to not work altogether.

ABS should have kicked in, and there should have been controlled deceleration.

Lastly, take this as a learning, and move on.

The key takeaway should be to call Maruti Road Side Assistance (not the service advisor), and wait for them to arrive, rather than involving unknown repairmen.

Here's what BHPian Dr.AD had to say about the matter:

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. But good to know that it was just a minor accident and the car is driving fine now.

I am not sure what exactly happened. Your car was stuck on the 5th floor of a parking lot. So did this mechanic fix it there on the spot or he somehow moved it (drove it) to his garage? Where did the parts exchange take place?

While he was exchanging the parts (I assumed it all happened the same day since you mentioned it was a long day), did you see what he was doing? I believe it is not easy for him to lie to you about whether he simply fixed the old parts or exchanged to new parts if you were there seeing what was going on. Maybe I am missing something.

Please do not trust the work of this mechanic. Even if your car is driving fine, go to Nexa and get it fixed by putting all original parts.

In case you are indeed driving on some aftermarket suspension parts or worst, suspension parts wrongly fixed, then yes, Maruti/Nexa have all the right to refuse any warranty on that. However, if you go to them and tell them what happened and explain that whatever fix was done was a "temporary fix" to get you out of that accident, it might be OK. Tell them to restore all parts to either original parts or OEM approved new parts and they will reinstate the warranty.

I hope you did not pay a lot of money to this mechanic. I hope it is a small sum that you can forget as a bad experience and get your car completely inspected and repaired with OEM parts by Nexa again.

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