MrB

Hi all

I recently had a catastrophic oil failure while on the motorway. The oil light was flickering on and off, and I decided to pull off and head home to get the car in the garage. Unfortunately, on the way back the car simply died, dead as a dodo, and had to be recovered back to a local garage who told me that the engine was completely seized and would need either several new (major) parts, or a new engine.

I decided to cut my losses at this point and move on to a different car, as the figures I was getting were astronomical for the repairs. The thing is, I discovered an invoice for an oil change done on the car (by the same garage or it's sister, unknown which) which states that they put in semi synthetic 10-W40 oil. I'm no expert on this, but reading around it would seem that they have put totally the wrong oil (about as wrong as they could have got it), and I believe they are at fault for the failure, as the engine is not designed for this type of oil at all. My question is, would I be able to make a claim against the company for the loss of the vehicle? The guy who took my old car in part ex has offered all of the remains of the engine for inspection, and is prepared to help in providing a report on the extent of the damage (£2100 in parts alone). I am fuming about the stupid error that they made, but I'm not going to put myself through a pointless battle (lots of other priorities right now).

Just some advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

MrB