Broken plastic in my car after work done by garage

[ElAlastair]

I had the cambelt and break disks on my car changed and when I got it back I found various pieces of broken plastic in the car. They're like plastic clips that have been snapped off.

IMG_3803.jpeg (1.46 MiB) Viewed 5174 times

Long shot, but does anyone recognise them, or think they're off the vehicle? Just wondering if it's damage, but I've looked over the car and can't see anything, so hopefully just some random plastic they left inside. I did mention it to the garage but they didn't know...

[RUM4MO]

Was it the rear brakes that were being worked on, if so, the garage might have needed to remove part of the interior trim to reach the handbrake cable adjuster if someone previously had adjusted the cable to try to resolve a handbrake issue.

[ElAlastair]

Yeah I had front and rear changed. Come to think of it I did find some of this broken plastic in the back of the car, but I've never knowingly had anything done to the handbrake cable. Would I be able to notice it anywhere?

[RUM4MO]

You would probably need to take the rear of the centre console apart to see if any of the clips have been broken off - but really, why bother, if they are from that area, the garage would only have taken it apart because they had felt the need to adjust the handbrake cable - possibly because someone had been messing with it in the past. Bottom line is, when you get a mechanic to work on your car, they will normally operate in a way that minimises damage to your car, if VW has made a mess of designing any parts that might need removing, so that they can end up breaking, then that is hardly your mechanic's fault, it would only be your mechanic's fault if you could prove that they had been clumsy - and that could take some proving.

[ElAlastair]

Agreed, if it was necessary, then so be it. It was more a case of I didn't want to randomly find some preventable damage 6 months' down the line, but based on everything I can't see that being the case. Thank you!

[Tinman]

Hi, Do you have arm rest and rear cup holder? If so I'm certain those are clips broke from the arm rest side or/and rear cup holder trim. The mechanic would have removed the arm rest / cup holder to gain access to adjust the parking brake cable.

[ciclo]

Having the official repair manuals helps prevent these things from happening, though not in every case...
These days, it's becoming increasingly common to see this kind of work done. It seems that smartphones do not increase skills outside of the office, living room, couch or bed.
The problem is that it's also becoming increasingly common to see infinite repair costs for jobs that can be solved for little money (pennies or whatever), so there's no room to fix these kinds of 'minor' mistakes and lose the juicy and succulent money of someone not very cautious.
That is -the usual trick for human survival- at a very primitive level and deeply rooted in poorly evolved predations... in summary, the richer, the more thief and the more foolish (Stupidiot).

In the A level 'underworlds' it is fixed with silicone, double-sided tape, hot melt glue, etc...
In the B level 'underworlds', a rope is tied generically, the final appearance is irrelevant.


As a meticulous 'enthusiast', currently I'm the only one who repairs and works on my cars with exquisite precision, the workshops are as far from me as the 'beyond' of the phrase 'to infinity and beyond'.

[Big Johnx13]

I feel your pain. Happens everyday. Someone will rip out the trim, break of the mounting tabs and use glue or silicone to fix or use the ones still intact to hold trim in place. PS. no one will you what was broken during the repair. My moms vehicle had a problem with the light switch. Instead of replacing the lightswitch the auto elc cut the dims lights cable at the back of the fuse box and connect the light cable to the park lights. So no park lights and lights permanenty on, doesnt matter which setting you choose. In the process of trying to remove the fuse box they cracked the dashboard at 2 places.

What you can do if you find the trim where the broken tabs was, is to superglue the tab back into place. Then you take bicard soda in small amounts and and stack it next to the tab and add superglue and repeat until you build up the tab support until it is trong enough to hold the trim in place. Sometimes there is no "meat" (material) left to repair or space too add any build up.