Attempted car theft - what to do now?

23Skidoo

Hi all

First time with a serious car question and I don't know too much about car mechanics so please be gentle with me

Some little sh1ts decided on Monday night to break into my car (99 nissan march import), the smashed the back window and pulled out all the wires from the ignition. They managed to get it started but thankfully a neighbor had seen them at it and called the guards, who caught them trying to reverse it through the (chained) front gate. :mad:

I got the car back yesterday from Gannons in Donabate and was able to drive it back (hotwired) to Summerhill Spares to get the window replaced. They told me that the steering wheel column was damaged and I would need to get the whole thing replaced along with the ignition. He said he had a few micra ones in stock but none of the march. Also said that because my car is one of the 'later' 1999 marchs, it would be very hard to get the parts he needed. He quoted me €200 to fit the parts if he could find them.

My questions are; is this right that the whole thing needs to be replaced? I can definitely say that the steering is quite fcuked having driven it home. Would there really be that much difference between a micra part and a march part? And is €200 reasonable for the lot fitted?

I've not had anything like this happen before and I'm finding it hard to get useful information from anyone. I did ring a crash repair centre yesterday who seemed to think they would be able to fix it but I'm worried if I leave it in they'll start quoting me for various random things and if they have to keep it in long, etc.

Thanks for any advice!

biko

The car was stolen, I would get on to the insurance company on what to do.
But 200 doesn't seem excessive to me.

GavMan

The simple answer is take it around a few places and see what they say. If they all come back with the same story and similar price then you'll know he is genuine

Beta Ray Bill

Sorry to hear about this OP

Total Nightmare... hate those little scummers!

Anyway, As far as I am aware they are quite different cars and it is quite probable that the parts are different. (Someone with more knowledge will probably be along shortly to confirm this).

How much will the repairs cost in total?
How much damage was done?
Based on your post you need:
A new window
A new steering column/lock
A new ignition
Possibly some body repair
+ Labour

Is it worth repairing a 12 year old March?

Regards and Sympathy's
G.

GavMan

grahambo wrote: »

Sorry to hear about this OP

Total Nightmare... hate those little scummers!

Anyway, As far as I am aware they are quite different cars and it is quite probable that the parts are different. (Someone with more knowledge will probably be along shortly to confirm this).

How much will the repairs cost in total?
How much damage was done?
Based on your post you need:
A new window
A new steering column/lock
A new ignition
Possibly some body repair
+ Labour

Is it worth repairing a 12 year old March?

Regards and Sympathy's
G.

This insurance company might right it off as beyond economical repair

23Skidoo

grahambo wrote: »

Is it worth repairing a 12 year old March?

It's worth repairing this 12 year old march It's a great little car, never had to do anything with it bar get the shocks replaced a few weeks ago and the odd light bulb replacement. The window is sorted, got it done in summerhill yesterday. I just rang another place that said he has the right part but can't find the key off it :rolleyes:. He quoted me €100 for the steering column and is ringing me back with a price for fitting it. So I would imagine it would be about the same as summerhill quoted. Bear in mind I am a woman, so I will get slightly higher prices by default.:mad: ( e.g. Garage 1: Full set of shocks €300; Garage 2(run by seedy little english git): Full set of shocks - special price for you love - €800 )

MugMugs

23Skidoo wrote: »

Bear in mind I am a woman, so I will get slightly higher prices by default.:mad: ( e.g. Garage 1: Full set of shocks €300; Garage 2(run by seedy little english git): Full set of shocks - special price for you love - €800 )

Thats sexist and two months ago would have been angry with that.

But then my missus got quoted 600 quid to replace a rear lens.

Now I agree !

Shop around OP

Try Traynors up in Armagh too. They come down to Dublin a few times a week so you can pick it up off their van.

listermint

TBH thats a fair price for replacing the steering Column and if he could find ignition 200 is a good deal.

I wouldnt bother with the Insurance claim, it will only hurt your premium. Always be safe in the knowledge that insurance companies are not your friend and are profit driven organisations out to screw money out of people.


Id swallow the 200 to get back on the road.

23Skidoo

Ok, I'm starting to get that sinking feeling like something is not quite right with what I was told compared to what actually happened. So got the car 'fixed' having spent 3 or 4 hours waiting around to find out what was happening with it. Bear in mind that when I rang this morning, I gave all the appropriate details and explained to the guy that I had been told the steering column needed to be replaced.

Having gotten the car back (sans steering wheel cover since he said he didn't have the Japanese import version - alarm bells since this is what I asked him for this morning and he said he had) it seems that all the relevant wiring has been replaced and the ignition set back in place. Since he couldn't find the key off the one he had, he made one up using the bits he had and my old key and leftover parts (or something like that). I had mentioned to him about the steering being wonky before any of this was done and he said it was something to do with the part of the ignition that attached to the main column, and assured me once the ignition was back on the steering wheel would 'lock' again, whatever that meant.

So, job done I went to take the car home. However, the steering wheel is still giving me major problems. When turning slightly to the left or right, it's ok but a little stiff, however, when I turn a corner or try to do a full lock, it does little 'clicks' and then seems like it gets stuck on the way back around, causing the car to swerve when I try to come out of the turn. (I'm sorry I hope this makes some sense). Now, I'm under the impression that all he did was put the ignition back together and ignored the bigger problem of the car not steering correctly. I don't feel safe at all driving it and there's no way it's going to pass the NCT when it's due next month.

What can I do about this? The garage are ridiculous at returning calls so I know if I ring them the receptionist will just tell me they'll call back and they wont, and I'm damned if I'm spending another bloody day trying to get this sh!t sorted out.

Tito Ortiz

First thing..STOP driving it ! Clearly something is not right and in turn not fixed..U need to get back onto them and hound them to fix it !!

23Skidoo

Thankfully the garage is not too far from where I live so I wasn't driving it too long before the 'ooh, that's a little stiff...' turned to 'ok this needs to be sorted' and by that stage I was practically home. Methinks I will be hounding them from the time they open in the morning to get them to do the heavy lifting. I feel like an awful tool not double checking everything before I left. Hard to do when you don't really know what you're looking at TBH

dharn

from the outset i thought replacing a steering column for 200 sounded too good he obviously intended to do some bodge job and tell you it was replaced you now have a very dangerous car and need some expert guidance from a knowledgeable male who wont take any crap from these guys

jimmyw

Definitely go back to them, that car is dangerous to be using and as bad as bad brakes.Feckin clowns of a garage, they are bound to know it was not right.Did you contact your insurance company? I am afraid thats the downside to second hand jap imports with parts been different.

23Skidoo

Well, I got it sorted anyway. Brought it back down to the garage and explained that I was told the steering column would be replaced. I told them I wasn't paying any more for it as I had been told €100 plus labour for the column on the phone the day before. Lo and behold, no questions asked, 3 hours later I had the whole thing back working perfectly. I'm a bit pi5sed off that they would have let me go in it yesterday with the state the steering was in, but at least it's sorted now anyway. The only problem I have now is trying to find a replacement cowl for the column. The micra ones don't fit it because of a tiny little difference and I can't seem to find the march ones any where! I'm guessing I'll fail my NCT without it, correct?

dharn

good to hear you got sorted

Inbox

Good little story that

slimjimmc

The cowl is cosmetic and won't affect your nct.