Car mechanic error sets car on fire?

" My response would be that they mangled a battery installation so why should they be trusted to sort it all out."

Legally, they have a right to “make it right” so the OP has to give them that chance. But the OP can then have the work inspected after by an independent mechanic to be sure it was done right and should inform the shop that they intend to do just that.

Here is another avenue, contact your own insurance company if you have comprehensive insurance. They should be willing to have it repaired and then they take care of the legal work on getting compensation back from the shop or their insurance company. You will have to pay the deductible up front, but if the two insurance companies come to an agreement, then your insurance company has to return the deductible back to you. Call your agent, that is what you have been paying them for.

I agree with Keith. While people love to say don’t let them touch the car, if you expect them to pay, you have to give them ONE chance to correct the problem. Then you are free to go to someone else and have the work done and file a claim against them for the cost.

@Bing: that’s probably true, but I think this is a different situation. There was a clear deception here, far beyond the obvious mechanic error. Mistakes do happen, and those mistakes can be corrected adequately. Satisfactory corrections happen all the time as we know. And we openly appreciate any shop that does the right thing and tries to make amends when they’ve gotten something wrong. We’d probably all give a positive recommendation to any shop that made a sincere effort to do so.

But attempting to deceive a customer in this way is an entirely different situation, one that’s much harder to fix because it shows the business is not trustworthy. That’s different than the mechanic making a mistake. I don’t fault the mechanic, I fault the management.

If the company had admitted the damage and come clean with the the OP, starting with providing a new battery and then a complete electronic assessment, then let them give it a try. But that’s not what they did. Instead they actually expected the OP to pay full price for a battery that was potentially damaged, and they told the OP everything was fine when clearly it was not. That’s the part I find inexcusable. And that’s why I would not bring the car back to them, regardless - I just would not trust them. I think Keith’s idea about simply handing this over to the insurance company is a far better solution.

Let me fall in with those who say stay away from that shop. Letting the car leave in that condition is totally unacceptable. I wouldn’t trust them to check my oil. While mistakes will be made, even in good shops, before the car is returned it should be totally repaired and cleaned up so well that the customer wouldn’t know that a mistake was made except that the shop owner tells them.

And don’t most shops have CO2 extinguishers? Fire codes required that we have a chemical extinguisher at every exit but I had a CO2 hanging from every tool box and on every wall in the building.

WOW! Thank God you did not have them top off the fluids as well! It could have been a total loss!

Just sayin’ if it goes to small claims, the Judge is going to ask if the list of problems was brought to the vendors attention and if they were given the chance to correct the problems. If you say yes but they refused the Judge will smile at you. If you say no, the Judge will frown and not likely to see your side. The best vendor defense is that they never told me about the problem. If you don’t care if they pay at all, no big deal, but if you want to eventually collect something, take the proper legal path.