[Deni30]

Car is second hand but still under 3month dealer warranty.  Erratic gear changes (slow and jerky) have seen it be booked in to auto transmission expert by the dealer.  He will pay for parts and repair but advises that the service required once the bit is taken apart should be covered by us $400 + GST.  I spoke direct with the mechanic who says that this is not an optional extra but has to be done in order to carry out the repair.  Dealer is saying it is not his problem.  Anyone have a comment about this.  Fair Trading have advised that they think it is all part of the same repair (but phone person is obviously not a mechanic....)

[tw2005]

Car is second hand but still under 3month dealer warranty.  Erratic gear changes (slow and jerky) have seen it be booked in to auto transmission expert by the dealer.  He will pay for parts and repair but advises that the service required once the bit is taken apart should be covered by us $400 + GST.  I spoke direct with the mechanic who says that this is not an optional extra but has to be done in order to carry out the repair.  Dealer is saying it is not his problem.  Anyone have a comment about this.  Fair Trading have advised that they think it is all part of the same repair (but phone person is obviously not a mechanic....)

So what exactly are they doing?

Hopefully it's a valve body replacement, because the VB itself wears out unless they are tooled and skilled in rebuilding them. Sonnax do specialised kits for repair not that I have any experience with it.

$400 for the service,Hmmm. Seems excessive.

My expectation would be the most you should have to pay would be a new filter and about 8 litres of fluid.(consumables)

They could replace the VB, reuse the filter and top up 2 -3 litres or the volume that drains out, but I would not want that.

Best practice would be new filter and complete flush.

Maybe $150 -200 in consumables.

$200 labour to do a flush? I don't think so

[Dazzler]

I'm certainly no expert, but common sense says if the service is only required because of the need for a repair then it should all be covered by the dealer.

[mickd]

A repair is a repair.
The process needed to do a repair , is all part of the repair.
It's not your problem that something has failed and has contaminated other parts.
Keep calm, don't sign anything,  don't agree verbally.
Most importantly,  contact some other EXPERT auto box repairers.
His expert is most likely his usual, cheap repairer that he uses all the time.

[beerman]

My valve body was done by the good people at Hyundai for free. That should be your guide.

That said the car was very new and from memory they only replaced the fluid that came out.

That said they replaced the valve body and that was it. That would be all that the dealer would be required to do as a repair.

As previously pointed out, depending on k's travelled it would be a good idea to replace the filters and fluid, but in my mind, it should be cheaper as they are doing other work.

Personally I would tell them to repair the auto only, and get a service elsewhere so that someone looks at the work of old mate.

I recently had a service/flush and it was approaching that price, which I thought was expensive, but I trusted the people doing it, so what do you do....

[nzenigma]

...the mechanic...says that [the service]...has to be done in order to carry out the repair. 

Hi Deni30,
I have broken your post down to language we could use in Court.

'The dealer has sold a vehicle with a transmission that has since failed and is no longer fit for purpose.'
The dealer agrees, inter alia that he is responsible for the cost of repair work required to make good the defective transmission.
 There is no evidence that the transmission needed to be serviced before the transmission failed'.

...the mechanic...says that [the service]...has to be done in order to carry out the repair. 

'The Dealer is therefore bound to pay for all costs that arise from the repair of said transmission.'

This is how you respond to the dealer and the message you take to Fair Trading or Small Claims Court.

[mickd]

That sounds like the language of "Lawyer".