Garages 'profiteering' on fuel mistake costs
Date: 14/05/2008 12:00:00
Drivers who fill up their cars with the wrong fuel by mistake could be being ripped off by the resulting repair charges, a study suggests.
Auto Express magazine collected quotes from garages using researchers posing as owners who had filled their cars with petrol instead of diesel.
It discovered some mechanics wanted as much as £5,000 to sort the problem, which Auto Express described as "profiteering".
Magazine editor David Johns said: "Modern vehicles are much more resilient than many of the garages we spoke to would have us believe."
Garages could be quoting high prices to fix the problem because some
car insurance policies will cover the mistake and save the driver the bill.
But some types of policy will not cover damage caused by using the wrong fuel, potentially meaning the driver has to pay thousands.
Drivers who use petrol cars cannot mistakenly fill their vehicle with diesel as diesel nozzles are deliberately designed to be too big to fit.