hi i bought a second car from a garage 1 and a half year ago,,last night the timing belt snapped has the garage got any legal responsibility,,

The garage are not responsible for a car 18 months after they sold it. Is the warranty expired?

yes,,the sad thing is im still paying for car,,would i be better getting another car or a new engine

Probably easier just to buy a reconditioned engine. What make/model is the car?

fiat brava 1600 automatic 1998

Just put reconditoned fiat engines into google to find suppliers. But you are probably looking at £1000 plus VAT.

Its your car. Its up to you to know what service is due when. A timing belt is not a lifetime component, its a service item. If you didn't get proof when it was last changed, you really should have looked into having it done sometime in the last year and a half since you bought it. The Fiat Bravo/a 1.6 has a relatively cheap timing belt to change, but is also a very unforgiving engine with the intervals. It needs doing regularly and with Fiat, it should be done before the interval is up, not after.

You could have a trusted mechanic pull the head off and see what damage you've done. You might get away with a new head and timing belt/tensioner. If it's damaged the pistons you're looking at a whole engine. Depends how much you like the car really. But the parts are not hard to come by for Bravo/a.

With a second hand car that's a 1998 to boot, you can't expect the garage to have a crystal ball and know if your timing belt might fail. You need to know when it's due to be changed and take care of it yourself...

in reply to trbsm1,,i know it is responsibility to have my car checked,but as the car has only done 45000 miles i was going to get done it at 55000,,and i know the garage doesnt have a crystal ball,thanks for your advise but it was not needed

Well, you asked and got an answer. I'm sorry you didn't like it. But your car is 10+ years old and you bought it second hand. Trying to screw some independant into putting an engine in your car because its never had a cam belt in 10 or more years is frankly appauling to me. Most manufactures will recommend that such things be done by a certain number of years rather than miles on low mileage cars. Its 5 years on this car. You might as well call up Fiat and tell them you want them to pay for it since it hasn't done the first interval mileage yet. I understand having your car majorly fail when you're not expecting it is a terrible deal, but its no one's fault, and I find it a bit disgusting how quick everyone is to try and blame someone else for a situation they could have avoided by reading a service schedule or researching an owner's forum and just finding out the exact answer. So really, you asked a question in a public forum so you should be prepared to hear from the other people who will agree that somebody who just sold you a second hand car should be responcible for this, and from people who work in the automotive trade and are fed up of trying to be honest and still having to deal with people who will get in their face and try to push the blame back on them when it was the owners responcibility in the first place...

excuse me but i am not trying to screw anyone i only asked if garage were legally responsible and for your information the timing belt was changed by the garage before i bought it,so the belt only lasted for 18 months,so to my knowledge the has had 2 timing belts since new..so that means according to you the car should have lasted another 3 and half years not 18 months...i do not wish to discuss this matter any further as i am getting the car fixed..