Taken for a ride...

I took my vehicle (BMW 320i Automatic) to ASAP motors and advised them that the head-gasket had blown because the oil and coolant was mixing. However the vehicle was not overheating, but I do know from previous experience that coolant and oil mixing is a blown head gasket 90% of the time. After assessing the car, they advised that after doing pressure tests and cylinder head tests that the head gasket didn't show any signs of blowing but recommended doing the Oil Cooler, Upper radiator hose, water junction hose, side water feed hose, radiator service, oil cooler seal kit, bypass hose, radiator flush + labour. This came to a total bill of R18000. I got the vehicle back, had it for 7 days and the vehicle was still mixing oil with coolant. They did another pressure test and advised that indeed the head gasket had blown. This was after I already paid a total of R 18000 worth of repairs to routed back to square one. But now I had to pay another R.25,000 to fix the gasket issue.. I sent Marco an email and got a phone call which turn into an argument. I honestly feel misled by ASAP motors and do not see them as competent service mechanics. I feel that they have taken advantage of the situation and failed to provide a fair solution. When I argued I wanted my money back, they then threw it back in my face that I signed a document when I got the vehicle back from them that states the following....

Report 1. No Sign of blow head gasket at time of testing, customer to please monitor if oil is still mixing with the water and return +5 days for a check over (oil cooler and hoses replaced only) and discussed with the customer we needed to replace the oil cooler and hoses first as they were an issue.

It costs roughly around R25k to R30k to overhaul the engine I know because I shopped around but I went to ASAP motors because they were just down the road from my house. My point is the following, why not just quote that from the beginning. But no, they made a play for the situation and intended to make a total of R.43000 to fix the issue... This is exactly where I started to realize that things are starting to look super *****.

I would not recommend this mechanic to anyone, and I would caution against all future customers to never sign a waiver or never sign any document when collecting your vehicle from them, they will surely throw it back in your face and treat you like your an idiot. The least they could do is refund for all the labor, I understand parts cannot be replaced... But why should I be held accountable for the labor if they were misleading from the start. I doubt they will, they will just phone and argue, because in their eyes, that's how they do fair business.

So yeah, I've been taken for a ride and just wanted to share my story and make a public record of this because I would hate for people who are in the same situation as I am to become victims of this.