Questionwhose's at fault? Do you think their insurance company will rule in my favor?
I went to Valvoline on February 10th to get a routine oil change. This was the last time anyone touched my vehicle. On March 25 (Sunday afternoon), I heard this weird knocking sound from under my hood when accelerating. I right away drove to Valvoline to have them take a look at it, but they were closed. I though of Valvoline because they could look underneath and see if anything was stuck or jammed. My brother stopped by my apparent later that evening and took a look at it. He ruled out anything like the transmission or engine because there was no real difference as to how the car drove, just how it sounded.
The next day on Monday I took the truck to Quality Brake and Muffler to have them look at it. They had done some brake work for me on January 31, 2007. Jeff, the mechanic there told me the problem was my left front axel and said he could replace it. Jeff later called me back and said the truck was still making the noise after he replaced the axel. Jeff also sale he discovered my capdip stick for my transmission fluid was hanging off and 3 quarts of fluid was gone. He suggested I take it to DJ’s Transmission because this was their specialty. When I went to pick my truck up from Quality B&M, Jeff also showed me the dip stick had gashes in it from where it was being jolted and thrown around and all the transmission fluid build up from it coming out and evaporating over the past month and a half. He still charged me for the repairs, even though he fixed something that wasn’t broken.
I took my truck up the street from Quality B&M to DJ’s to have them confirm the noise as being related to the transmission. They confirmed that the noises were from my transmission operating with no fluid and some ball bearing within it drying out. He confirmed that fluid would have bee lost if the cap wasn’t on correctly. They quoted me $2K for a used transmission or $4K for mine to be rebuilt.
It was obvious to me that Valvoline left it off or didn’t put it back on all the way after they checked all my fluids during my oil change service. I contacted Valvoline, had the pull up their records to confirm that they checked all my fluids, and then told them what the problem was with my transmission. They said they would have to investigate the matter more before agreeing to accept responsibility. They are trying to put the blame on the guy who replaced my axel. He has nothing to do with it, because the noise started before he replaced the axel. I spoke with the VP on Friday, he said he would send someone out to DJ’s to take a look at my truck and make his final decision. Today they told me they were forwarding the case to their insurance department for futher invastigation.
Let me know what you think?
AnswerYou need to have as many people as possible that heard the noise verify that it was there before anyone else worked on it. That's the crucial issue, to make absolutely certain that you can prove the noise was there before anyone else touched it. A statement from the trans guys, and anyone else will help nail it down. If necessary, get notarised statements to make sure the insurance adjustor/investigator sees that you CAN isolate the origin of the noise/problem from any of the other work.
scotty
