That's right - it ate thru the wire that goes to my rear wipers and the local MINI agency wants over $8000 to repair it ...
Not covered by warranty of course - looks like insurance will cover it though.
To be fair, that includes 50 hours work on replacing the rear wiring harness. They have an alternate fix - repair/splice current wire with 10 hours labor for "only" $1200 (@ a labor rate of $119.95 an hour )
Guess which one the insurance agency wants to go with.
MINI people said they have heard that mice seem to like MINI wiring .

 

Can you see the where the wire was chewed? Just solder it yourself.

 

Here you go, about .50 and about 15 minutes. What the heck? $8000. dollars??

What the heck happened to my picture?

 

+1.

I would also hunt the mouse down and use it for target practice. Stupid mouse.

 

I wouldn't kill the mouse. A mouse that effective can do sabotage missions for the CIA. Or at least eat through the dealership's alarm system.

For $8K, or even for $1200, I'd be in my garage with the soldering iron and a flashlight looking for them tasty half-eaten wires.

 

$8,000 !!! A clutch job doesn't even cost that much. Fix it yourself, or better yet, delete the crappy rear wiper.

 

The dealership is screwing with you. You can buy another car for that much.

 

The majority of the cost is the time it takes to get at the wiring harness which is apprently buried deep into the wheel well... they say.
Plus soldering it would still require redoing the electrical system - re-booting the computer or whatever.

 

bzzzzzz.

BS alarm just went off again.

 

If there's another MINI dealer or a shop that does import work nearby, I would have them look at it and get a second opinion. But if your insurance is going to cover it, I guess it doesn't really matter unless you have to pay the deductible.

 

Oh man... If the MINI dealer told me $8k to fix a wire, I would seriously fall on the floor laughing right there at their feet. Seriously, I'm holding back laughter right now. Tell them they've got a deal if that includes a new engine, a set of those matte black JCW wheels (R105 ?), and a sack full of gold.

 

 

Wow. 8000$ I can go take a course or a workshop, buy my own tools, buy my own parts and do it myself and have spare change left. Even 10 hours to splice and repair the wires? Their messing with your head.

 

...and maybe another $2K to change the wiper blades?

 

$8K to replace a prefabbed harness, and or $1200.00 to repair a wire!!! Bull Puckey. I'm qualified/certified to solder and repair wiring to aerospace spec's.
I've worked on the wiring on everything from nuclear weapons to nuclear reactors, and that is just a nonsense figure.
50 hours my rear end. I'd do it for beers and hot wings on a saturday.
What a crock.

Sorry for the rant, that just really kinda got me.

 

That just sounds crazy. I don't think there is even $8,000 worth of electronics and wiring in the whole car is there? 50 hours!!! Isn't that about how long it takes to build the car at the factory? I think I would have to contact MiniUSA and have a talk with them. The dealership sounds like they are trying to pull a fast one. Well that is my opinion anyway and I may be wrong.

 

The wheel wells aren't that deep.

There is no need to 'reboot the computer' when one solders a wire, and if there was, that consists of removing the negative terminal, stepping on the brake, waiting ten minutes and reconnecting the terminal.

 

If you're interested in how long wiring harness work takes, check out Edge's thread (it's very, very long) where he replaced his wiring harness. He gave no $ figures and while it isn't exactly the same scenario, if they were going to fully replace the harness it is apparently a ridiculously difficult chore.

Not saying $8k to fix what could be fixed with a little bit of soldering (once you find the wire anyway) is reasonable, just that the hours might not be complete BS

 

I could see maybe 10 hours to find and solder the wire but that would be the limit. They know exactly where the harness runs along the body. I do know how long harness work can take after restoring many different cars and building custom harnesses. Yes it is a major pain to replace an entire harness but I could only see that being done if large areas had been chewed up. Plus the new cars versus older cars have modular harnesses which does simplify the process. I can definitely relate to what Edge went through.

 

 

 

i think the ripoff dealers will be the demise of this car.. 8k for wires.. 7k for a tranny cvt.
what is so expensive about these cars..
when my warrenty is up.. car is gone !

 

Insurance adjuster/inspector came out yesterday (had to drive an hour to get here - I live in the boonies) and said he couldn't do anything with out it being pulled apart for him to check, & that I needed to have a different adjuster look at it at the dealer's shop, 2 1/2 hours away. I showed him pix and the dealer's estimate - he didn't seem the least bit surprised . So now I'll have to take a couple days off, drive 5 hours twice etc...
He said since it's a new car he'd probably recommend going with the wiring harness replacement (the $8000 one).
Do I smell some collusion here?

 

Rodent damage is not uncommon but this is the absolute HIGHEST figure I have ever heard for fixing some. Over at my old Cayman forum a guy had to pay around $2500 out of pocket for some damage and believe me Porsche parts and service charges are much more than MINI's. It wouldn't surprise me at all that your insurance adjuster and shop have an affair going on.

 

I would like to see the pics too thule. Can you post them? Where did the mouse chew the wires?