Got a Rs. 60000 quote for front wiring harness replacement in my Tiago

My car has ran just 20,000+KM in 6 years. There are no rat bite damage.

BHPian ishaan_kone recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Issue : While driving the car, it suddenly started showing the yellow exclamation, the red exclamation, the ABS and 'F' at the same time. Parked the car on the side to shut down and restart. Because I had seen just the yellow exclamation previously a few times, I thought a restart would help like it did last few times. This time it did not. Panicked, called SA and he advised to get the battery replaced. Got the battery replaced, still the car broke down while coming back from workshop. Towed it back to workshop and after a few days, was advised that the front wiring Harness needs to be replaced. But they did some tweaking, made the car to run and advised that 90% chance that the front wiring harness will need a replacement. Issue reoccurred after 15-20 days, now they saying that there are two parts of the front wiring harness and together it will cost around 50-60k!

Some old Context : Bought in 2017, I had issues with the very first free Service at Workshop. The gearbox ( Where you have the Lever for Parking/Neutral ) panel was opened, AC stopped working. No plausible explanation provided. They just replaced the panel and fixed the AC. I had always feared that they had replaced some genuine parts.

Question : My car has ran just 20,000+KM in 6 years. There are no rat bite damage. Is it genuinely possible for such a less driven car to get such an expensive part getting damaged? Should I really pay Rs 60,000/- to fix a Rs 6,50,000 car? What are the alternatives?

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Your car is out of warranty and will be 7-years old soon. What you need is a good independent garage. The repairs will most likely be done at a fraction of the cost. I have seen quotes of 50k from authorised workshops for my cars, but gotten the car repaired from outside for 10 - 15k.

Look through the Team-BHP Directory for recommended garages in Kolkata.

Here's what BHPian comfortablynumb had to say on the matter:

You can cross check the cost of the wiring harness using the following link. My guess is most likely it will be in the region of 50-60k as told to you by the service center.

Whether to spend that much in an authorized service center or explore alternatives via an independent garage is up to you.

Another option is to visit a different authorized service center and get a 2nd opinion on the issues in your car - whether they will be solved by replacing the wiring harness, or if the root cause is something else altogether.

Here's what BHPian Jeroen had to say on the matter:

First of all you need to verify their diagnosis. Are there visual clues that warrant the replacement. If not, it will need a full OBD check with an analyser that can read manufacturer and model specific codes as well. That will give you an idea where the problem is. There are no error codes that will tell a mechanic to rip and replace the wiring harness.

As other suggested, find a competent car electrician and see what he/she can do. It only makes sense to replace complete harnesses when there is significant damage to them. Otherwise local repair should be fine.

Good luck

Jeroen

Here's what BHPian srini1785 had to say on the matter:

My understanding is that the cost of 60k is for parts and labour. Wiring harness replacement is a time consuming job where half of the components under the hood, dash and whatnot have to come out before the new harness goes in. My guess is that the labour part of the cost would be higher than the cost of the harness itself. As @GTO mentioned, take a quote from a FNG and probably you can get it done at lower cost. Use the original harness though.