Broken Gear Selector
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Discussion

SwanBon93

Original Poster:

36 posts

57 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
quotequote all
I purchased a Mercedes AMG C-Class in January from a garage. 2014 Diesel with 96k miles. I have barely covered 1000 miles since January.

On the weekend it wouldn't go into 1st or second gear, only 3rd. Long story short, limped it to a garage.

They have quoted me £2,666 to replace the 'snapped' gear selector

My two questions to you lovely people:

1. Does this quote seem expensive?

2. Is this something that would/should have been checked by the garage who sold it to me? or is the snapping just a freak accident? I have barely used the car since I was sold it

mattyprice4004

1,342 posts

205 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
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Did the car come with any kind of warranty?
I think the quote for the work seems a little high - a selector mechanism should be a lot less. I'd try a quote from an independent Mercedes specialist.

ScoobyChris

2,307 posts

233 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
quotequote all
Had this happen on my Mk3 Mondeo in 2006 and I lost the use of 5th gear. Replacement was somewhere between 500 -1000 quid at local Ford dealer and WarrantyDirect covered it and picked up the bulk of the bill. Garage said they'd seen it a couple of times on Transits but it was pretty rare.

Be surprised if the dealer who sold it would have noticed - mine failed quite suddenly.

Chris

sherman

15,315 posts

246 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
quotequote all
Did the garage give you a warranty?

If not 9 months is a long time to go back and complain about a car with almost 100k miles on it.

I would get a quote from specialist to see if its cheaper.

How would you expect the seller to have noticed a gear selector was going to break 9 months later if when they sold it to you it went into gear and drove fine?

SwanBon93

Original Poster:

36 posts

57 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
quotequote all
sherman said:
Did the garage give you a warranty?

If not 9 months is a long time to go back and complain about a car with almost 100k miles on it.

I would get a quote from specialist to see if its cheaper.

How would you expect the seller to have noticed a gear selector was going to break 9 months later if when they sold it to you it went into gear and drove fine?
I think it had a 3 month parts and labour warranty. I know 9 months is a long time, but haven't really driven it. I'll ask around for some more quotes, but guess it wont be dramatically cheaper in other places.

I don't know much about cars... like, does the gear selector gradually degrade, or is it a sudden, random breakage? If its the latter, I agree they wouldn't and couldn't have known

chickenbarns

135 posts

51 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
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SwanBon93 said:
sherman said:
Did the garage give you a warranty?

If not 9 months is a long time to go back and complain about a car with almost 100k miles on it.

I would get a quote from specialist to see if its cheaper.

How would you expect the seller to have noticed a gear selector was going to break 9 months later if when they sold it to you it went into gear and drove fine?
I think it had a 3 month parts and labour warranty. I know 9 months is a long time, but haven't really driven it. I'll ask around for some more quotes, but guess it wont be dramatically cheaper in other places.

I don't know much about cars... like, does the gear selector gradually degrade, or is it a sudden, random breakage? If its the latter, I agree they wouldn't and couldn't have known
Shop around. Looks like a common problem on your car.

-CB

dbdb

5,247 posts

204 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
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The work may well be significantly cheaper if done by a specialist. When the brake hydro unit failed on our BMW, the main dealer quoted over £2,000 to fix it. I felt that was unreasonable and asked on the BMW section of this forum for a recommended specialist in my area - which was Darren Wood. IIRC they charged under £500 to fix it - and it has stayed fixed. The Mercedes section of this forum may be able to you recommend a good Mercedes specialist garage in your area - that's what I would do.

Krikkit

27,938 posts

212 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
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SwanBon93 said:
...Mercedes AMG C-Class in January from a garage. 2014 Diesel with 96k miles...
LOL.

SwanBon93 said:
On the weekend it wouldn't go into 1st or second gear, only 3rd. Long story short, limped it to a garage.

They have quoted me £2,666 to replace the 'snapped' gear selector

My two questions to you lovely people:

1. Does this quote seem expensive?

2. Is this something that would/should have been checked by the garage who sold it to me? or is the snapping just a freak accident? I have barely used the car since I was sold it
What are they actually quoting to fix? Is this the gear selector in the cabin? (In which case get a used one?)

Is it removing the gearbox and fixing a broken selector fork?

If the former it feels like a rip-off, the latter probably not.


SwanBon93

Original Poster:

36 posts

57 months

Tuesday 30th August 2022
quotequote all
Update: Garage I purchased it from is going to take a look at it and have assured me they can do it a lot cheaper than the previous quote. Especially seeing as it is only just out of the 6 month warranty and less than 1k miles later. Hopefully they are decent!