DENNIS O’SULLIVAN
Do not write an NSF cheque then start complaining about what your mechanic did or didn’t do, Dennis advises a Burlington woman.
QUESTION
I had left my 2005 Dodge with this garage over the last weekend to fix a rough running problem. They fixed the problem by replacing the plugs and ignition wires.
What they also did was rip the driver’s door molding and they will not take any responsibility for that. I know when they were trying to get the door opened, over that freezing rain time, they forced the door to open and damaged the door molding.
I confronted the manager of the garage and they denied doing the damage and refused to do anything about it.
Can you help me get the garage to acknowledge their mistake and replace my car door molding? Anita from Burlington
ANSWER
You became the judge and jury with your car problem by writing a cheque with insufficient funds in your account for the repairs that were done to your car. It was only when the garage called you to tell you that your cheque did not clear at their bank that you then told the garage that you cancelled the cheque because of the damage to the door molding.
The garage told me that the cheque was not cancelled by you but was denied because of insufficient funds, which could result in a chargeable crime against you. The reason that the garage is disputing the damage to your car’s door molding is that your car was brought into the garage the night that you left it, so that it would be clean and ready for the technician in the morning to look at. If the car was in the shop overnight, there isn’t any way that the door molding could have been damaged as a result of the door being frozen shut.
I believe that you have concocted a story about a damaged door molding just to justify for the insufficient funds in your bank at the time that you wrote the cheque. I suggest that you immediately make good the money that you owe for the car repairs before the garage takes out a mechanical lien on your car. When you have done that, I may look further into your story about the damaged door molding.
QUESTION
I am at wits end as to what I should do about my car’s key fob, stolen during a break-in at my home. There were many things stolen from my home while I was away with my family and one of the things that was taken was the key fob to my 2014 BMW.
I just found out that it is going to cost me around six hundred dollars to have two keys fobs reprogrammed to my car. I told my insurance company about the stolen key fob and they told me that the key fob theft would have to go through my car insurance, which has a one thousand dollar deductible and they will not help with the cost.
I was annoyed with their response so I told them that I will do nothing and that it will cost them a lot more if the car gets stolen. They told me that it was my responsibility to see that my car is secure. Can you give me some guidance on this? Clare from Guelph
ANSWER
You are responsible for the security of your own car but I think that it would be in the best interest of you and the insurance company to come together and make sure that your car is not vulnerable to theft since someone already has the key fob to your car.
I think that you would have a good argument that the key fob was not stolen from your car but was stolen during the break-in of your house. The key fob therefore should be replaced under your house insurance. In that case, you would only have to pay for one of the key fobs since the insurance would pay for the one key fob plus getting it programmed.
You have not told me who the insurance company is and some insurers have completely different interpretations as to what is or is not covered under their policy.
Try going a little higher up in the chain of command at your insurance company and see if you can come to a satisfactory ending.