Whyyy do they do this? Possible rip off?

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Ever heard of this one before? Guy's dad buys car from independent mechanic(Indie's own w210 2001 e220 cdi, with a transmission from an e270 cdi, a different turbo and a "mileage kit" to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions), pays about a third of the money beforehand without even seeing the car(because he trusts him that much; a dear mistake, I know), indie says he'll have the car up and running and in the best condition he could give it in, in about a week,(and told us to get everything fixed by him such that the car only comes there for routine service, because it's gonna be out of our budget if anything were to go wrong once we've taken ownership) indie fixes problems very slowly. We were happy that he was making sure the thing had the best things he could set it up with like a W140 rubber bushing, but this was taking far too long as well- a lot longer than he had said it would. The guy's first one week claim was made in October and still no car to drive. I mean seriously! Yes, the guy had some legit reasons in December or January or sometime, but before and after that, the delays were far too unreasonable. Recently after a highway test drive(and by that I mean two or three weeks ago), the ABS, BAS and ESP sensors went off and the car wasn't even in limp mode, it just stopped(limp mode happened on a test drive about two weeks prior to this one, and they had to bypass the ABS to get the thing running again. There was even one that said the engine oil level sensor had a problem). It got so bad that they had to stop the car every 30 minutes or so because the car was dragging(the person driving could feel the car braking for safety, he wasn't going that fast though).And this is now-the time they said they are still working on it, and a time when I feel incredibly cheated and doubts arising that maybe he was trying to rip us off, or rather successfully rip us off. Because the ABS BAS ESP problem scares me a lot. When my dad kept pressing saying that he had to book a tuk tuk everytime we had to go out, even having essentially bought the car, he apparently replied saying "I'll bypass the ABS for now, you could get the car back and get it fixed later". Are you kidding me?This has me worried. What if after we take the car, he delays the ABS even longer, or charges for it(since he himself said he'd give the car in the best condition he could- and this is a safety issue).

I know it's a really long rant, but unfortunately, here's the only place I think someone might empathise, or even share their two cents or their similar experiences.
 
I'm afraid it sounds as though you've been had over well and truly. Tell me you haven't paid any more than the deposit for it.? Don't pay another penny, and if you can get your money back, do it. The car is a money pit and the mechanic is a back-street bodger; I wouldn't trust him to blow up a flat tyre.
 
I'm afraid it sounds as though you've been had over well and truly. Tell me you haven't paid any more than the deposit for it.? Don't pay another penny, and if you can get your money back, do it. The car is a money pit and the mechanic is a back-street bodger; I wouldn't trust him to blow up a flat tyre.


+1
 
Does the forum rules allow for brokenenthusiast to name and shame this indie?
 
OP gets all money returned, doesn't see the car again and all done with.
If mechanic deosn't aggree then it's an ongoing story.
If OP doesn't press for that then they must have a better solution.

I can't see any useful alternative answers here just "oh dear poor you".
 
Think the OP may be in Hyderabad.

Holmes, you astound me (and Watson too); neither of us can see any clue that Hyderabad is the location. How do you do it? :dk:

I can't see any useful alternative answers here just "oh dear poor you".

Well, "oh dear poor you" might be seen as empathising, so possibly, and I think unintentionally, your answer might actually be useful...:D
 
Egad, Holmes! How do you do it?
 
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I'm afraid it sounds as though you've been had over well and truly. Tell me you haven't paid any more than the deposit for it.? Don't pay another penny, and if you can get your money back, do it. The car is a money pit and the mechanic is a back-street bodger; I wouldn't trust him to blow up a flat tyre.

Finally, I found time to reply!

I wish it were that simple. As for the mechanic being a "back street bodger", we've talked to other customers, and they all say the same thing. "He's comparatively less expensive and does a great job, but once your car goes in, you're gonna have to forget about its existence for a pretty long time"(major services, not simple oil changes). That being said, there were loose seams or something in the back seat, and that had been fixed, later rather than sooner, but the thing had not been properly stored after that. There was a crack in the underside of the front bumper, and the guy who painted it had done a good job of managing to make that part look normal. And then later, there's a huge crack on the front of the bumper when they were parking it. He's the kind of person who doesn't leave a problem unchecked, or so my father tells me he's seen him do that. And for a person like that to tell my dad that he'll temporarily bypass the ABS and we could use it? My dad has been persistently following up on the work, so I'm inclined to think(and hoping) that he's(the mechanic) been kinda annoyed himself that it's taking so long.

As for the money, it's stuck. The two thirds money that my dad had paid was to help him out in buying a house, since he was short on cash. He was a little hesitant to take a loan, so my dad offered to give him the money, since we had to pay for the car sooner or later. So, the guy has no money to give now.

See what I mean? I'm so confused
 
Best of luck with it, hope he comes through in the end and you get it all sorted.
 
I hope you're right and it all works out, but I'm not hopeful. I've never heard of a competent mechanic offering to 'bypass the ABS', but things may be different in India, and not to be judged by UK standards. Good luck.
 
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Insurance would be an issue and probably void if it were involved in an accident where braking was involved.
 
UPDATE: The guy who supervises for this mechanic called yesterday and said that he should be done with all the repairs by the evening(problem mentioned in the post excluded) and take it for a test drive, and that we could take the car and use it until he gets the ECU for the above functionalities(the box that controls the ESP, BAS and ABS. I think it's a separate box made by bosch, yes?). When I asked him "but the active safety systems aren't done yet, right?" he suggested that it's better to use the car rather than the car just sitting there and the rats dining on the wiring, and that we could get the car back to the garage and have the active safety systems restored when the box arrives in about 10 to 15 days.

Thanks for all the "good luck"s, guys. I really hope the car is brought to the full fledged Mercedes condition we are expecting it to be, and I hope it happens pretty quick.

Just one small question. Is there any chance that the ESP BAS ABS problem has occurred because of fiddling around with the car when it was turned off? Because my dad was fiddling around with all the buttons near the shifter. He was turning the ESP on and off a few times, and then the W/S switch about two times or so(all of these are when the car had no key in it), and basically everything that goes "click" near the shifter. I don't remember whether he was messing around with the buttons around the climate control area and the buttons on the steering.
 
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You can't break the ESP from the switch panel.

And if Traction Control is also disabled (on top of ESP, ABS, and BAS), then the car could be dangerous to drive, it's an RWD car and could easily swing its tail out on a wet bend.
 
Could just be the battery , low or failing battery gives the same set of warning lights
 

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