Like many Australians, Chris Ward makes a living from his car. He is a hire car driver and his office is a 2013 Holden Caprice he bought new from a leading dealership in December 2013.
In November last year the car lost power. Chris took it to the dealership, whose tech staff told him there was nothing wrong. Last month, driving from Canberra to Sydney on the Hume Highway, the Caprice lost power again, this time seriously and dangerously.
On the ninth day the techs found a hole as big as a 5c coin in the valve. Despite the fact the car was Chris's money maker, there was no urgency to get it back on the road. Three valves were replaced. On the 14th day, Chris was back on the road.
Now, a reasonable human being would think that taking 13 days to fix a problem that was no fault of the driver would entitle Chris to some sort of compensation. Well, initially his Holden case manager thought so, too. But then she went on holidays and finally, the new case manager made the very generous offer of a $267 service.