MK4 Mondeo Nightmare! Finance Immoboliser

[logan.king]

Hi guys, Sorry if this isn't the correct place to post.

I'm having the worst luck at the minute, I've brought a MK4 mondeo 2009 from Copart which was sold to them by an ex-finance company. The condition that the car was sold as on copart was runs and drives.

So on the day I pick the car up It seemed the battery was dead, I thought nothing of it, its been sitting around a couple months I'll take it home give it a jump and everything should be alright.

I tried jumping the car, all that happens is the ignition comes on windows open etc car wont start. After contacting the finance company that sold the asking if they had the immoboliser, they said they had an engineer come out but the black box had already been removed. This engineer was from a third party company and didn't bother rewiring by the looks of it, I contacted this company after speaking to the finance company and getting their details. The company said because the box was already removed they wouldn't have done anything.

Now I'm left with a car that has had a black box removed and not re-wired for the car to work as normal. I am stressed out as you can imagine. I've been ringing back and forth and not one of the companies want's to take responsibilty and keep passing me on saying to contact the other.

I think it will be the case of me having to pay an auto electrician to take a look and it sound's quite costly. I've looked for anything that looks out of the ordanairy and have noticed two plugs with nothing connected in between, these are located in the foot-well and in the compartment with the OBD port.

Any help would be really appreicated on either how to deal with the companies or how to resolve the issue.

Images of sockets:

[logan.king]

[andymc]

just get an auto electrician

[ecsrobin]

Do you have a link to the copart listing?

[GreenV8S]

logan.king said:

The condition that the car was sold as on copart was runs and drives.

I've never dealt with copart but I'd be surprised if they don't have a procedure for dealing with cars that turn out to be substantially miss-described, as this one clearly is.

[logan.king]

andymc said:

just get an auto electrician

Firstly I would like to exahust all options, this shouldn't be something I should have to do because of their dodgy dealings. If I can find the issue it'll help out with the costs for the electrician, any ideas on how much it could cost?

[logan.king]

GreenV8S said:

I've never dealt with copart but I'd be surprised if they don't have a procedure for dealing with cars that turn out to be substantially miss-described, as this one clearly is.

Well I did complain about this but down the phone they said it should have been tested by one of their technicians when I picked it up, they never advised me on this and they said anything could have happened since me taking it away.

Also with this being the issue there's no way the car would have been able to run on arrival to copart. It may have been but during the time there some one must have removed the black box and now it won't start. It seem's fishy to me.

Edited by logan.king on Friday 28th December 16:05

[logan.king]

ecsrobin said:

Do you have a link to the copart listing?

Yeah, heres the link.

https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/51393768?resultIndex=...

Let me know what you think

[Nickp82]

Did you use your own Copart account as it seems fairly cut and dry according to this?

https://www.copart.co.uk/Content/uk/en/Member-Prot...

Though I realise getting hold of the right person to enforce the above may not be so easy

Edit - actually it looks like as the issue was not reported at time of collection, they will not want to know (as seems to be the case)

Edited by Nickp82 on Friday 28th December 16:13

[Steve91]

I've never dealt with Copart before, but the listing states that the car runs and drives, so it should be a simple case of going back to them and saying it does neither of those things.

[logan.king]

Nickp82 said:

Did you use your own Copart account as it seems fairly cut and dry according to this?

https://www.copart.co.uk/Content/uk/en/Member-Prot...

Though I realise getting hold of the right person to enforce the above may not be so easy

I've just read through and it say's the claim should be made before leaving the facility:

"If the vehicle is collected from our facility by you or anyone on your behalf the claim should be notified to the General Manager of the Copart facility at which the vehicle is being collected prior to the vehicle being removed from the facility."

Due to it sitting for so long I assumed it would just be the battery. I can try ring up on monday and see if there's anything I can do with this.

[steveo3002]

Id trace back the wiring from the white plug that's taped up, should be able to suss what they cut into then repair it like for like...as for the grey plug maybe a Mondeo forum could help or see if you can have a look at one in a breakers that let you roam

[GreenV8S]

logan.king said:

Well I did complain about this but down the phone they said it should have been tested by one of their technicians when I picked it up, they never advised me on this and they said anything could have happened since me taking it away.

Sounds like they've slipped up twice then. They didn't test it and it was released to you in non-running condition on the assumption it was a minor problem but clearly on investigation was much more serious. Either way it's their problem and I assume they have an escalation procedure to resolve it,

[logan.king]

steveo3002 said:

Id trace back the wiring from the white plug that's taped up, should be able to suss what they cut into then repair it like for like...as for the grey plug maybe a Mondeo forum could help or see if you can have a look at one in a breakers that let you roam

I have no experience with electrics in cars, If worst case senario I have to take it to a garage to get it fixed any idea how much im looking?

[logan.king]

GreenV8S said:

Sounds like they've slipped up twice then. They didn't test it and it was released to you in non-running condition on the assumption it was a minor problem but clearly on investigation was much more serious. Either way it's their problem and I assume they have an escalation procedure to resolve it,

I hope so, it's been a right nightmare ringing around all the time. I will ring on monday and speak to a manage about this and hopefully have an update. I don't really know what else to do.

[C. Grimsley]

logan.king said:

I have no experience with electrics in cars, If worst case senario I have to take it to a garage to get it fixed any idea how much im looking?

The wiring will be spliced I into the original loom, if you can do a puzzle you can sort this, remove some trim and follow the wires back to where they are fitted, remove the added wiring and match what’s left colour to colour, where are you located?

Carl

Edited by C. Grimsley on Friday 28th December 17:06

[paintman]

Shows as an R (run & drive) on your listing.
"Run and Drive

Run and Drive At the time the vehicle arrived at Copart’s location, Copart verified that the vehicle started, could be put into gear and was capable of moving forward under its own power. There is no guarantee, representation or warranty that the vehicle is in roadworthy condition or can be driven lawfully upon the highways in any state or country. There is no guarantee that the vehicle will start, drive, or move forward under its own power at the time the vehicle is picked up at Copart’s location or when it is delivered to a Copart Member. It is the Members sole responsibility to ascertain, confirm, research, inspect and/or investigate the vehicle prior to bidding o n it. Once the vehicle is removed from Copart premises the Members accepts the vehicle “as is”."
https://www.copart.co.uk/Content/UK/EN/Support/FAQ...

Be interesting to see how you get on.

ETA. You seem very clued up on 'finance company immobilisers' and who to contact. Are you a motor trader?

Edited by paintman on Friday 28th December 17:26

[normalbloke]

That looks like somebody has nicked a module from your car!

[logan.king]

C. Grimsley said:

The wiring will be spliced I into the original loom, if you can do a puzzle you can sort this, remove some trim and follow the wires back to where they are fitted, remove the added wiring and match what’s left colour to colour, where are you located?

Carl

Edited by C. Grimsley on Friday 28th December 17:06

Thanks for the reply! Like I said i'm not to clued up around the whole car electronics, does it look like a big job for someone to fix?

I'm based in Coventry/Leicester but the car is parked at a friends in Nuneaton for the time being.

[logan.king]

paintman said:

Shows as an R (run & drive) on your listing.
"Run and Drive

Run and Drive At the time the vehicle arrived at Copart’s location, Copart verified that the vehicle started, could be put into gear and was capable of moving forward under its own power. There is no guarantee, representation or warranty that the vehicle is in roadworthy condition or can be driven lawfully upon the highways in any state or country. There is no guarantee that the vehicle will start, drive, or move forward under its own power at the time the vehicle is picked up at Copart’s location or when it is delivered to a Copart Member. It is the Members sole responsibility to ascertain, confirm, research, inspect and/or investigate the vehicle prior to bidding o n it. Once the vehicle is removed from Copart premises the Members accepts the vehicle “as is”."
https://www.copart.co.uk/Content/UK/EN/Support/FAQ...

Be interesting to see how you get on.

ETA. You seem very clued up on 'finance company immobilisers' and who to contact. Are you a motor trader?

Edited by paintman on Friday 28th December 17:26

Thanks for the response. I understand the terms that if the car is stated to be in a running condition on arival to copart there is no guarantee that the car would run when delivered or collected by me, BUT with this problem the car wouldn't have been in a running state when it arrived. OR it was in a running state when it arrived. The engineer/copart removed black box while it was in the yard and didn't bother fixing it. Surley this isn't acceptable? They could list every car as runs and drives when it arrives and just yank out a few wires and say oops not our problem sorry.

Hopefully all gets resolved.

I'm not a motor trader, I hardly have much knowledge about this, its just been a lot of phone calls chasing people and getting snippets of information along the way