In 2025, a Queensland man’s ute ran out of fuel.
His fuel gauge was showing four bars, about a quarter of a tank. The low fuel light wasn’t on.
ezylegal took the business that fitted the fuel tank to the Magistrates Court of Queensland on a no-win, no-fee* basis. Once the claim was filed, the business made an offer to settle, and our client accepted.
At a glance
- Problem: A badly installed long-range fuel tank made a ute’s gauge show a quarter of a tank when it was empty.
- Claim against: The business that fitted the tank for the ute’s previous owner.
- Legal basis: Negligence, in the Magistrates Court of Queensland. No contract with the installer was needed.
- Result: The installer offered to settle, and the owner accepted without a hearing, on a no-win, no-fee* basis.
A tank he didn’t buy, a problem he inherited
Our client bought the ute second-hand. Months earlier, a long-range fuel tank had been fitted for the original owner.
Long-range tanks are common on utes in regional Queensland, where the next servo can be a long way off. A fuel gauge you can’t trust is more than an inconvenience. It can leave you stranded.
After the ute ran dry, our client had a mechanic investigate. They found the tank had not been installed properly:
- the fuel sender unit, the part that tells the gauge how much fuel is left, was fitted incorrectly
- the float inside it was bent
- a fuel line inside the unit had come loose and was drawing air
- the fuel system was contaminated with metal welding beads
The inspection and diagnosis alone cost him thousands of dollars.
Can you sue a business you never hired?
Sometimes, yes. A negligence claim doesn’t need a contract.
This is where most people would give up. Our client never paid the installer anything and never signed anything with them. The work was done for someone else.
That doesn’t stop him having a claim. A business that does work on a vehicle has a duty of care to do it properly, and that duty can extend to whoever owns the vehicle next. If the work hides a defect a later owner couldn’t reasonably have spotted, and that owner suffers a loss because of it, they may be able to claim against the business in negligence.
ezylegal filed a claim in the Magistrates Court of Queensland on that basis, seeking his diagnosis costs, interest and legal costs.
The outcome
Faced with a properly prepared court claim, the business put forward an offer to settle. Our client accepted, and the matter was resolved without the need for a hearing.
A small claim is still worth fighting
At traditional hourly rates, a claim this size is usually written off. The legal fees can eat the whole amount before you get anywhere near a courtroom.
ezylegal is built to change that. Rachel, our AI paralegal, handles the research, drafting and preparation in a fraction of the time, and a real Australian lawyer checks, signs off on and runs every matter. That keeps the cost down, so a few thousand dollars is worth recovering.
If you’re facing something similar
If you bought a second-hand vehicle and found that earlier work on it was done badly, such as accessories, modifications or repairs, you may have a claim against whoever did the work, even though you never dealt with them.
Keep:
- your mechanic’s report, including photos of the faulty work
- every invoice for inspection, diagnosis and repairs
- anything showing who did the original work and when (service books, receipts, stickers)
Selling a vehicle doesn’t wipe the slate clean for whoever worked on it. Strict time limits apply to negligence claims, so get advice early.