Motorist cries foul

Mandla Morare took his car for a feeder pipe replacement with a full tank, but it came back half-full

PETROL is expensive and motorists want to use and account for every litre

Mandla Morare took his car for a feeder pipe replacement with a full tank, but it came back half-full.

What infuriates Morare is that he was only given a R100 voucher to compensate for the fuel that was allegedly drained from his car.

He sent us a desperate e-mail pleading for help.

"I need your assistance to recover the petrol I believe was stolen from my car while at the dealership," he said.

Two weeks ago he filled the tank of his Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 V6.

He drove the car for 88km when he realised there was a leak in the fuel injector feeder pipe.

He said the leak showed when he switched the engine on.

"I immediately parked it at home and used my wife's car," he said

On May 16 he organised for the car to be towed to the CMH-Alfa, a Fiat dealership in Hatfield, Pretoria, for repairs.

His tank was still almost full when the car was taken to the garage.

He was advised that it would cost him about R2600 to replace the feeder pipe.

But when he fetched the car four days later no additional mileage was registered, yet his tank was half empty.

"The capacity of the petrol tank is 60 litres and costs more than R600 to fill," he said.

When he queried this, he was given R100 in compensation, , he said.

"I am not getting any clear explanation about the rest of the petrol," Morare said. "The Workshop manager offered me R100 worth of petrol, which is just a drop in the ocean compared with my loss."

He said the workshop manager promised to investigate the matter through CCTV cameras before giving him the R100.

The dealership promised to comment once it had finalised the investigation.