How liable are auto mechanics for wrong inspections?

Question:
I bought a car two weeks ago, after having it inspected by a professional shop. They rated the rear breaks at 40% and "found no fluid loss in brake hydraulic system." Now another mechanic found (and showed me) evidnece of a brake fluid leak, and the rear shoes at 15%.
Fixing these is almost $300, and leaking brakes sound like a serious safety issue. What if I wouldn't have gone to this other mechanic?
What can and should I demand from that shop... sue them for millions? get the fix for free? nothing?

Answers:

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Generally speaking (at least here in Australia) if you purchase a car privately there is no warranty that the seller is obligated to provide you with. Should it be discovered that the seller sold the car knowingly with a dodgy roadworthy / safety certificate there there are all sorts of legal ramifications that will go back to the seller and their mechanic should an event occur.

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In addition to this, if you wish to try and recover some sort of costs from the first mechanic, you should present him with the report from the second one who found the problems he missed. It is also not a good idea just to get items repaired and then present the first mechanic with the bill expecting him to pay. At best I would suggest going back to the first mechanic and asking him to fix the problems. If you only paid for an inspection initially, obviously you would also need to pay for the repair costs either way, so there would be not much point in suing for millions (I'm in the insurance industry and it's actually that sort of attitude that drives up insurance premiums for everyone).

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On the legal side of things, had you only relied on the first inspection (that stated the brakes were essentially fine), driven the car and had an accident as a direct result of the brakes failing, the mechanic would be legally liable, and you could then sue their public liability insurance policy which should (if they are reputable) have a section of cover specifically for testing and vehicle inspections.

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if you bought the car at a dealership they are usualy responsible for any repairs due to a failed inspection unless when you were filling out the paperwork you signed off saying they were not reliable

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Hard to say. You might want to return and talk with them see if they can do anything. If not then you can go to court. But for 300 bucks I wouldn't waste my time. The thing here is nothing happened. You didn't get it a wreck and hurt yourself or someone else. You may get the repairs covered but I would be surprised. They can say " well how do we know if you didn't drive around with the parking break on?" or "you rode the breaks".

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word of mouth stuff like that is not worth your time... just let the other guy fix it and forget about it...
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