Radiator cap came off after service at auto shop. The shop denies responsibility.
Hello, I am looking for some advice after my car overheated following a radiator service I received at Valvoline. Let me preface this by saying that I don’t have a lot of car knowledge so please forgive me if I use the wrong terms.
I drive a 2011 Hyundai Sonata.
Last Wednesday I went to Valvoline to get my oil changed. They recommended that I also get my radiator serviced. I agreed. Everything seemed to go smoothly with the service.
On the following Sunday (just 4 days later) I was driving down the highway when I got an alert on my dashboard saying that my car was overheating.
I pulled over immediately and turned off the car. There was smoke coming from under the hood and fluid splashed on the top of the hood.
I was too scared to drive the vehicle or pop the hood, so I called a tow truck. The truck driver looked underneath the hood for me and found that the issue was I had no coolant and the radiator cap was off. The cap was still sitting in the engine bay. He towed me to the nearest gas station where I bought some coolant and refilled it.
The car is driving fine now. I called Valvoline to file a claim in hopes of getting a refund for the radiator service that I assumed led to my car overheating. I got a call back from Valvoline the next day. I spoke with the assistant manager and he told me that he had checked the cameras and confirmed that the technician had fastened the cap correctly. He told me that the radiator cap coming off was likely just “wear and tear“ and not something they were responsible for.
This seemed very suspicious to me. It seems odd that my radiator cap which has been working fine for years suddenly has issues with “wear and tear” mere days after getting my radiator serviced.
Any advice on how I should proceed?
Is there a way I can verify their claim that my radiator cap is actually worn out and unreliable?
Is it possible that they may have done some damage to the cap even if they did tighten it correctly?
Isn’t it part of their responsibility to ensure that the entire system is secure and functional (including the cap) as part of the service they provide?
Any advice or insights are appreciated.