Minor dent into massive electrical issue

Veryconfusedme

My car was hit in a private car park by an elderly gentleman who only left a small dent and scratch on the front side of my car, he insisted on going through insurance!
My Tesco car insurance company were great and got things rolling quickly, they sent my car to a repair garage who quickly did the work am driving it was back however the front headlight was out and when we looked the wires were hanging into the engine cavity along with the side light that was lighting my engine up!
I called the garage who tried to say they didn't touch my lights but would send their monkey out to point the bulb back in. When he turned up he took a picture and advised he couldn't do that and would need to go back... so the saga continues...
I do a whole week without a car to be told late on the Thursday that the headlight has been replaced and even the bluster or something like that had also been replaced but still the light not working, the had checked all the surface wiring and can't see why it had happened and would send it on the Friday to their specialist electrical mechanic.. late Friday I get a call to say it's on its way back.. was great the bulb worked etc...
Next day I get in my car and the electric windows don't work! I am then driving down a dual carriageway with kids in car and all my electrics fail including wipers!!! Had to stop !!!128721; on the side of the carriageway and then when the rain subsided limped it home.

I decide I'm not happy at all now so report the issue to the insurance company who act quickly. The responsible garage give me a top of the range courtesy car and 5 weeks later I am being told that it's been looked at by Mazda and it isn't not accident related so no one will fix it!!!!! Fuming..... garage deny any liability but as good will gesture if Mazda fix it they will go halves as it is the corrosion on the wiring loom or something in the other side of the car and is simply coincidental.. but as they have taken so long will cover half..

I don't know what do ... does anyone have any advise... also I discovered today 3 small paint chips on the back of the courtesy bumper !!!128557;!!!128557;!!!128557;!!!128557;...

Please help...l

DUTR

Would it have mattered any less if the wipers had failed and the kids were not in the car?
When a goodwill is offered the mfr take a hit as does the garage, you should not need to pay anymore.

Hermione_Granger

DUTR wrote: »

Would it have mattered any less if the wipers had failed and the kids were not in the car?

Quite possibly.

If I was driving and the wipers or other electrical systems failed and it wasn't safe or possible to continue driving, I wouldn't have any hesitation in parking up, leaving the car and walking in the rain to a garage or to my house (depending on distance of course).
Would I want to do the same thing if I had a couple of young children with me? Probably not.

DUTR

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

Quite possibly.

If I was driving and the wipers or other electrical systems failed and it wasn't safe or possible to continue driving, I wouldn't have any hesitation in parking up, leaving the car and walking in the rain to a garage or to my house (depending on distance of course).
Would I want to do the same thing if I had a couple of young children with me? Probably not.

Wouldn't depend where you were to simply walk the rest of the journey? eg a cold stormy evening on the moors say?
You could get abducted by space aliens as you walked

AdrianC

Ah, the joys of multiplexed electronics. Modern car electrics aren't as simple as a bit of wire between a switch and a bulb/motor/whatever. They're basically a computer network.

It's entirely possible for a seemingly trivial issue to introduce issues all over the car, as the ECU mistakes resistances on the network for signals. Perhaps the loom's been pinched and chafed by the impact - or perhaps it is corrosion or something else totally unrelated. It needs thorough investigation - which is what it's getting.

ciderboy2009

AdrianC wrote: »

Ah, the joys of multiplexed electronics.

Tell me about it - it recently cost me just under £1,000 to sort out a non-working brake light on my car!

DUTR

ciderboy2009 wrote: »

Tell me about it - it recently cost me just under £1,000 to sort out a non-working brake light on my car!

Yikes! you could have got a brand new iPhone X for that amount.
Seriously though, what car is that?

AdrianC

The potential's there on anything multiplexed - which means damn near everything built since the millennium, and a good chunk from the five years before.

Jackmydad

AdrianC wrote: »

The potential's there on anything multiplexed - which means damn near everything built since the millennium, and a good chunk from the five years before.

It's OK while it's working.
Personally though I'd rather have it hard wired.
I reckon that not many of today's cars are going to make it to "classic" status simply because the electronics on the various systems will pack up, and they'll be too expensive to repair.
In similar vein how many Citroen DS do you see around nowadays?
Tin worm apart, most of them have gone to the great scrapyard in the sky because of the complicated hydraulics.
I think I've seen more TAs about than DSs in recentish times.

System

Jackmydad wrote: »

I reckon that not many of today's cars are going to make it to "classic" status simply because the electronics on the various systems will pack up, and they'll be too expensive to repair.

Nah they'll be fine, you don't use them as much as you think. Even if you spend an hour a day travelling to and from work every day in your car the electronics are used less than the time you spend watching a couple of matches of footie and a few episodes of Coronation Street a week.