Advice needed on car issue!
Discussion
Hi All,
I have a 2017 Mercedes E coupe and a long story short, the electric boot wiring loom has failed. Mercedes may be able to fix it but if not its a new one which is £680 plus labour so a circa £1000 bill.
I bought the car from an independent dealer in July which came with a 3 month aftermarket warranty. That expired on the 8th October and I couldnt get the car booked in (with an independent Merc specialist) until today so cant call upon the aftermarket warranty.
I’ve been looking at the CRA and it seems to say you are protected for 6 months from purchase but looks to be if I can prove the fault was present when I got it which I cant prove as its more recent.
Hence I just wanted to ask if there’s any recourse with the dealer I got the car from or is it purely down to me to foot the whole bill?
Any advice would be greatly welcomed!
I have a 2017 Mercedes E coupe and a long story short, the electric boot wiring loom has failed. Mercedes may be able to fix it but if not its a new one which is £680 plus labour so a circa £1000 bill.
I bought the car from an independent dealer in July which came with a 3 month aftermarket warranty. That expired on the 8th October and I couldnt get the car booked in (with an independent Merc specialist) until today so cant call upon the aftermarket warranty.
I’ve been looking at the CRA and it seems to say you are protected for 6 months from purchase but looks to be if I can prove the fault was present when I got it which I cant prove as its more recent.
Hence I just wanted to ask if there’s any recourse with the dealer I got the car from or is it purely down to me to foot the whole bill?
Any advice would be greatly welcomed!
Might be this issue? https://pmmonline.co.uk/technical/autodata-solves-...
mcpoot said:
Within 6 months of purchase there is an assumption that the failt existed at the time of sale. The burden of proof lies with the seller to prove otherwise.
I agree with your second sentence, but in this instance surely the boot wouldn't have opened correctly at the time of purchase if the fault existed at that time.SFTWend said:
mcpoot said:
Within 6 months of purchase there is an assumption that the failt existed at the time of sale. The burden of proof lies with the seller to prove otherwise.
I agree with your second sentence, but in this instance surely the boot wouldn't have opened correctly at the time of purchase if the fault existed at that time.The Motor Ombudsman - if the issue occurs in the first six months after buying the car, it’s up to the selling dealership or garage to prove that it was of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described when they sold it to you.
Citizens Advice - You’re legally entitled to a repair if something goes wrong with the car.
Because you bought the car in the last 6 months, the law says it must have been faulty when you bought it.
If the trader says the car wasn’t faulty when they sold it to you, it’s their responsibility to prove it. If you don’t agree with this proof, you might need to get your own evidence.
Thank you so much for all your replies and I really appreciate it!
It started with the soft close boot not working when the boot closed. I presumed it was the motor which is a common fault on Mercedes I am told. It then transpired it wasn’t that and the motor is fine and the diagnostic was throwing up a fault code with the wiring.
I have messaged the dealer (who were great during the buying process) and have agreed to chat tomorrow about it so will post how it goes and fingers crossed it doesn’t have to go down the formal route. I am hoping not as there was no immediate pushback but you never know what will be said tomorrow.
The boot was working when I got the car but I guess its difficult to know if the fault within the wiring was there already or not. When the indie was looking at it today, when moving the wires around it would suddenly work and then not work at all, then rendering the whole electric closing mechanism inoperable. If it had been the motor I was going to take it on the chin, but now it needs main dealer intervention (not cheap) and could be a £1000+ bill it changes things for me.
It started with the soft close boot not working when the boot closed. I presumed it was the motor which is a common fault on Mercedes I am told. It then transpired it wasn’t that and the motor is fine and the diagnostic was throwing up a fault code with the wiring.
I have messaged the dealer (who were great during the buying process) and have agreed to chat tomorrow about it so will post how it goes and fingers crossed it doesn’t have to go down the formal route. I am hoping not as there was no immediate pushback but you never know what will be said tomorrow.
The boot was working when I got the car but I guess its difficult to know if the fault within the wiring was there already or not. When the indie was looking at it today, when moving the wires around it would suddenly work and then not work at all, then rendering the whole electric closing mechanism inoperable. If it had been the motor I was going to take it on the chin, but now it needs main dealer intervention (not cheap) and could be a £1000+ bill it changes things for me.
I live in Suffolk. The Merc indie I took it to couldn’t go any further with it as I believe it needed some sort of diagnostics to isolate the exact issue which they didn’t have access to. May need to come back on that after checking….head was swirling after he told me it was the wiring loom or at very worst control unit and had to be main dealer! Either way they weren’t able to do it and no reason not to disbelieve him. Have a really good reputation and didnt charge me anything for todays visit.
LunarOne said:
Where are you located? This is the kind of thing that someone with a little electrical and mechanical knowledge is likely to be able to fix in an hour or two with either cheaply available parts or no parts.
Exactly this. Main dealers are always likely to give you a sizeable quote on the basis that just replace stuff and don't really do such repairs.And who'd be a used car dealer - sold in good faith one would hope, out of warranty and now being called upon to foot the repair bill. Hopefully won't eat too much into his margin...
Merc indies are quite variable IME. Some of them are 'good as far as they go', ie they will fix what they can well and cost-effectively, but if an issue's outside their knowledge they'll umm and ahh and talk about four-digit bills and going to a main dealer.
It does sound like an issue that the right specialist could probably sort fairly affordably. So maybe look around for another place to take it for a second go?
It does sound like an issue that the right specialist could probably sort fairly affordably. So maybe look around for another place to take it for a second go?
Thank you that’s really helpful. I hadn’t considered an auto electrician so will find one in the area and see if they can take a look. Also really good to know that Merc indies can vary. Never dealt with a specialist indie for a car before so will bear this in mind in the future certainly.
Based on the issue a new harness does seem like a sledgehammer to crack a nut so will go down this other route to try and sort it.
Thank you again
Based on the issue a new harness does seem like a sledgehammer to crack a nut so will go down this other route to try and sort it.
Thank you again
LightweightLouisDanvers said:
An auto electrician rather than a Mercedes main dealer would be my first thought.
Exactly my first thought too.A good one will have probably done this repair on numerous occasions and will take very little time to trace and repair the issue.
Bootlid wiring problems are much more common than you may realise - Jag XF estate, F11 5-series, Phaeton, ContiGT are a few that immediately spring to mind.
What exactly is the problem? Does the boot open? Is it just the button that you press and the boot closes by itself, and you can use your foot to open the thing?
If the boot opens but the fancy stuff is not working, I’d take it up with the supplying dealer and threaten small claims court etc, and leave it until resolved unless the boot doesn’t open.
As for a shop, find one that has a Star Diagnosus subscription, but if it is a part that is classed as chassis critical, only Merc will be able to code it.
If the boot opens but the fancy stuff is not working, I’d take it up with the supplying dealer and threaten small claims court etc, and leave it until resolved unless the boot doesn’t open.
As for a shop, find one that has a Star Diagnosus subscription, but if it is a part that is classed as chassis critical, only Merc will be able to code it.
The boot closes electronically but then there’s a soft close motor which fully closes the last part. When it doesn’t the lights on the boot arent level with those on the rest of the boot which is why I first noticed it.
I did message the dealer to explain the issue and they replied to say it was past its three month warranty that came with the car and it would be unethical and unfair on their other customers if they were to assist further so wouldn’t be doing so. What I did do after this message is check the aftermarket warranty and as someone here has said, the wiring is not covered! So not sure where that leaves the dealer on that basis?
Thank you so much to those again for the suggestion of an auto electrician. I looked around and spoke to one today. He agreed replacing the whole loom sounds too extreme and suspected there could be one or two wires that may need replacing and he can do it. Got to wait around 3 weeks to take it in and he will consult with the Merc indie I saw to get more info as he knows them. No problem waiting 3 weeks to get it booked in and sorted.
So just deciding on next steps. I guess wait to see if its a big job in 3 weeks or hopefully a tiny one, but if its big then take it back up with the dealer?
Also, interestingly as a side note, the electrician told me he’s had 9 Range Rovers in over the last 3 months with failed electric boots. LR made the wiring looms too tight so the wires snap and LR wanted to charge those customers £2500 a time to replace and fix!
I did message the dealer to explain the issue and they replied to say it was past its three month warranty that came with the car and it would be unethical and unfair on their other customers if they were to assist further so wouldn’t be doing so. What I did do after this message is check the aftermarket warranty and as someone here has said, the wiring is not covered! So not sure where that leaves the dealer on that basis?
Thank you so much to those again for the suggestion of an auto electrician. I looked around and spoke to one today. He agreed replacing the whole loom sounds too extreme and suspected there could be one or two wires that may need replacing and he can do it. Got to wait around 3 weeks to take it in and he will consult with the Merc indie I saw to get more info as he knows them. No problem waiting 3 weeks to get it booked in and sorted.
So just deciding on next steps. I guess wait to see if its a big job in 3 weeks or hopefully a tiny one, but if its big then take it back up with the dealer?
Also, interestingly as a side note, the electrician told me he’s had 9 Range Rovers in over the last 3 months with failed electric boots. LR made the wiring looms too tight so the wires snap and LR wanted to charge those customers £2500 a time to replace and fix!
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