Court cases and cambelts

legal updates

The evidence showed that it was the failure of the crank pulley and not the cam belt that was the actual cause of the damage.

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This is always a tricky area as if you sell a car which is overdue a cam belt change, you could arguably be found liable for any damage from it failing.

Especially if you have advertised the vehicle as having a full service history or if you claim to have serviced the vehicle ready for delivery. One of our dealers was in court recently against a customer who was trying to claim that the damage to her engine had been caused by the cam belt being overdue a change.

However, in this case, the evidence showed that it was the failure of the crank pulley and not the cam belt that was the actual cause of the damage. The customer’s own report from her chosen garage was very helpful to us in proving that. If we didn’t have that report, we could have commissioned an independent report to back up our defence.

However, in this instance, it wasn’t necessary and the judge dismissed the customer’s case in its entirety.

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Nona BowkisHead of Legal Services / SolicitorRead More by this author

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