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I have a 1996 Toyota Curren.
My garage replaced the inner and outer cv boot on the drivers side front driveshaft.
Two days later, when the car was put on full lock, the driveshaft dislocated.
An MTA garage found the circlip pin holding the driveshaft was jammed in the hole and not in place properly.
My garage now claims they did not remove this pin during their work, working from the gearbox end of the driveshaft.
Is that possible?
Is it common practice?
Is that good practice when replacing a CV boot, not to remove the driveshaft from the CV joint and clean the joint properly?

Any help would be appreciated as the driveshaft dislocated again 2 days later and had to be replaced, despite the fact that the car had a pre-purchase inspection done and no CV joint wear eg clicking/vibration on the steering was noted.

This method of replacing a CV boot is possible and is common trade practise. Generally speaking, unless the old boot had been completely destroyed and the joint full of dirt and road grime, there would be no need to remove and clean the joint.
However, it seems too much of a coincidence for this to have occures so soon after the repair and it seems likely that the circlip of driveshaft groove may have been damaged during the repair.
Although it's not possible to say for sure, it does seem that the garage may be responsible.

Many thanks for that reply. I would appreciate a little more detail if possible:

How could the pin become damaged during the repair?

When the driveshaft dislocated could that cause damage which would lead to a further dislocation despite a new circlip pin being firmly in place?

I appreciate your help, this led to over a $1000 worth of recovery and repairs following this work and the garage claims they are not responsible for anything as they didn't touch the pin.

As I said, it's not possible to say for sure. Presumably, you have the old parts for inspection?
There are a few possible senarios, one being that the end of the shaft has been damaged causing the cilp not to be correctly retained. However, this would usually be if the outer had been apart, not the inner. As I said, it seems too much of a coincidence, and hopefully the old parts may be able to provide some clue.
I'm presuming the same garage has done both repairs?

Thanks again.

Unfortunately we shifted house in the 2 days following the CV boot replacement to over 3 hours drive from the garage.

So when the first dislocation happened I had the car recovered to our new local garage (thought the clutch had gone) where he discovered the jammed circlip, and replaced it.

2 days following this I'm on my first day in a new job 2 hours away from home and either garage when the driveshaft dislocates again. So had to get a third garage to recover and they decided to replace the driveshaft due they said to wear on the splines (assumed from the first dislocation)

It's an expensive mess, I am taking the original garage to the Dispute Tribunal trying to claim at the least the first recovery and repair (dislocation due to a jammed pin) but they claim they didn't disassemble that part which was the reason for my original question.

Cheers

I'm not sure what you mean by a jammed pin. There is a circlip holding the shaft into the CV, not a pin.
However, if you didn't give the first garage the opportunity to rectify the problem, or at least notify them of the problem, I don't know that you'll have a case at the Disputes Tribunal as the Consumer Guarantees Act states that you must give the repairer the opportunity to provide a remedy. Even though you were some distance from the original garage, you should have contacted them.
Also, if the splines were worn (not damaged) then maybe the garage has no responsibility anyway.

Hi,
The circlip was described as being incorrectly fitted so that it had not expanded correctly.

The splines were described by the second garage as being damaged and twisted (my substitute)

I realise that ideally I should have gone through them however I had no way of knowing that the failure was due to their work until the car was recovered to a nearby garage and the mechanic found and fixed it. (or so he thought)

I have been through the MTA with no success. Last resort!

OK, as you say, if the MTA has investigated, in this case the Disputes Tribunal is the last resort. Best of luck with your claim, however it may be difficult to win if the repairer wasn't notified or given an opportunity to investigate the problem.