[His_Stigness]

The biggest issue to my wife and I is they want us to file an insurance claim for the damage to be repaired. They cannot guarantee that this was the cause of our problems in the first place, or if replacing this harness will solve our problems. But they are claiming that any problems discovered after replacement of the harness will result in additional claim to my insurance company for additional repair, they intend not to cover this under warranty at all. Looking for guidance here. Our car is a 3mo old ID-4 Pro S with RWD. 4700 miles.

File a claim with insurance. This is a clear cut Comprehensive claim. If you're in California Comprehensive claims will NOT affect your rates. You will only be responsible for your deductible, which is hopefully low. Comprehensive coverage is actually quite cheap, even with a low or zero dollar deductible.

 

[Elross66]

How do you know if this happened at your residence or at the dealer since it has been there for three weeks? Did they store it inside or outside? I think this maybe a question to raise.

 

[ddx]

Hopefully I uploaded the screenshots from the dealer correctly. The dealer says it’s behind an internal panel in the right rear quadrant of the car.

I can't quite pinpoint is that from rear door or trunk? Wondering if our high voltage wires are delicious to rodents as well....
Thinking to find those wires and spray stuff

 

[Fahrer]

View attachment 29015

Yes, the dealer has said this is soy based insulation on the wires.

The fact that there are soy base chemicals used to make the plastic coating is irrelevant.

Car Talk Helps Bust the Myth That Soy Is Why Rodents Are Eating Your Car’s Wires

A rodent has eaten your car’s wiring. Now you find with a 30-second internet search that the cause is soy. Look harder for the real facts.

www.torquenews.com

Recent Checkoff Study Shows Rodents Don’t Favor Soy-Based Plastics | United Soybean Board

A recent checkoff study proved that, contrary to popular belief, rodents don’t favor soy rubbers and plastics as snacks.

www.unitedsoybean.org

Here is one story where rodents chewed trough a metal fuel line.

Rats biting off fuel line ( again and again and again )!

For about the last year, a rat (or more) has been biting through the fuel line of my car and last month was the 4th time now. We have two cars in the garage at our place, but the rat is bothered ab...

mechanics.stackexchange.com

 

[Froggy]

Well I guess that pride of feral cats that has taken up residence is good for something.

 

[Spin]

View attachment 29015

Yes, the dealer has said this is soy based insulation on the wires.

I do not believe anything the dealers say.

 

[Bobbyj59]

The fact that there are soy base chemicals used to make the plastic coating is irrelevant.

Car Talk Helps Bust the Myth That Soy Is Why Rodents Are Eating Your Car’s Wires

A rodent has eaten your car’s wiring. Now you find with a 30-second internet search that the cause is soy. Look harder for the real facts.

www.torquenews.com

Recent Checkoff Study Shows Rodents Don’t Favor Soy-Based Plastics | United Soybean Board

A recent checkoff study proved that, contrary to popular belief, rodents don’t favor soy rubbers and plastics as snacks.

www.unitedsoybean.org

Here is one story where rodents chewed trough a metal fuel line.

Rats biting off fuel line ( again and again and again )!

For about the last year, a rat (or more) has been biting through the fuel line of my car and last month was the 4th time now. We have two cars in the garage at our place, but the rat is bothered ab...

mechanics.stackexchange.com

Thank you so much for the links! I had a gut feeling the service tech was full of it.

 

[Huey52]

Thank you so much for the links! I had a gut feeling the service tech was full of it.

If I had a nickel for every time a vehicle salesperson or tech told me something outlandish ….. [fill in your favorite].

Every once in awhile you get a really good salesperson and/or tech, but blue moon comes readily to mind. Alas most just want to placate and move on as quickly as possible, so they’ll say most anything. Sometimes I let them, if I don’t feel like wasting any more of my own time. Sometimes not.

 

[splee999]

I hope our shoes in the garage will be more tasty to the mice than the wires.

 

[ericy]

If I had a nickel for every time a vehicle salesperson or tech told me something outlandish ….. [fill in your favorite].

Every once in awhile you get a really good salesperson and/or tech, but blue moon comes readily to mind. Alas most just want to placate and move on as quickly as possible, so they’ll say most anything. Sometimes I let them, if I don’t feel like wasting any more of my own time. Sometimes not.

Even if they just said they didn't know instead of just winging it.

My wife just leased a Kona. Salesperson had no clue about the 7500$, but that's OK since the Finance guy did. But there is also a 2500$ from the state that nobody there knew about, so we will have to file that paperwork ourselves.

 

[VW Dave]

The soy story is still very pervasive. Can't really blame a dealer tech for not knowing better unless VW has provided them with rodent damage training.

 

[AceVentura]

Our 3 month old ID 4 went completely dead and had to be towed to the dealer. For three weeks they’ve been trouble shooting the vehicle, also involving VWoA engineers. They been clueless until suddenly this morning we receive a text (not even a courtesy call) from our service department with pictures claiming some sort of rodent chewed our wires, causing all our electrical ills. They say the harness needs to be replace and will not be covered under warranty.
In speaking with a service advisor, he said he cannot conclusively state. This will solve the problem of the dead car, but they cannot proceed without the new harness. Any repairs after the harnesses installed and software update it that can be traced back to the harness will be my responsibility. I am not a rodent expert and I seriously don’t know if the pictures posted below show chewed through wires or chafed wires. The biggest issue to my wife and I is they want us to file an insurance claim for the damage to be repaired. They cannot guarantee that this was the cause of our problems in the first place, or if replacing this harness will solve our problems. But they are claiming that any problems discovered after replacement of the harness will result in additional claim to my insurance company for additional repair, they intend not to cover this under warranty at all. Looking for guidance here. Our car is a 3mo old ID-4 Pro S with RWD. 4700 miles.

Your cars comprehensive insurance will cover rodent damage.

I've been thru this a few times.

 

[VW TECHNICIAN]

If this is only damage and damaged wiring replaced.
Your vehicle should not have any issues after mouse encounter.
You will definitely have to take measures in the future where you park your vehicle.
This type of damages from mouse 🐁 can be also done where you mostly park your vehicle when going to work. Mouse is definitely attracted to warm places if outside is getting cold.
Parking vehicle close to grass, close to garbage disposal are some of examples.

 

[Huey52]

Even if they just said they didn't know instead of just winging it.

Most don't understand that to a reasonable person this admission would generally be more endearing than detrimental. When they say something outlandish [to we who know better] they brand themselves as unreliable from that point forward.

I've watched some historical Benz sales training videos and they stressed to admit when they were unsure and then soon obtain the insight needed. As we used to say in the Corps "the [2nd] Lieutenant doesn't know, but the Lieutenant will find out."

 

[NoniN]

How can they say for sure the harness damage happened when the vehicle was in your possession? Isn't possible it happened when the vehicle was in transport or even in the possession of the dealer?

 

[VW Dave]

When I was in IT Support, I never BS’d my users. Much better to say “I don’t know, but I’ll find out”.

 

[Bobbyj59]

It has now been 5 weeks that the car is at the dealer. They replaced the rodent chewed section of the wiring harness and guess what? It didn’t solve anything. After another week of I don’t know what, the service tech calls me to say they found another section of harness that was chewed through. He said he would reach out to my insurance company for a supplemental claim. I asked if they could check the entire wiring system to see if they could make sure we won’t be repeating this problem over and over and he said “no; we can only work on the newest section we found chewed and if that doesn’t solve the problem we will then search for additional damage or try to resolve the situation”. My gut still tells me the dealership is in over their heads and have no idea what is going on but they are presently fixated that my problem is still rodent chewed wires.

 

[ericy]

I guess the only good news is that this isn't EV specific - ICE cars also get rodent damage.

But it is disappointing that they only want to do these one at a time.

 

[Froggy]

Dirty rats!

 

[VW TECHNICIAN]

It has now been 5 weeks that the car is at the dealer. They replaced the rodent chewed section of the wiring harness and guess what? It didn’t solve anything. After another week of I don’t know what, the service tech calls me to say they found another section of harness that was chewed through. He said he would reach out to my insurance company for a supplemental claim. I asked if they could check the entire wiring system to see if they could make sure we won’t be repeating this problem over and over and he said “no; we can only work on the newest section we found chewed and if that doesn’t solve the problem we will then search for additional damage or try to resolve the situation”. My gut still tells me the dealership is in over their heads and have no idea what is going on but they are presently fixated that my problem is still rodent chewed wires.

You would be amazed how much labor time can be spent on this type of troubleshooting and repairs. I would definitely involve insurance comprehension side in this repair.
If you have problems with 🐁, I would suggest getting 1-2 cats and make them feel comfortable in your garage.
I have in my rental house my 🐈 and he is also my companion when traveling cross country. I have raised him to catch 🐁 and i supplement his food made by me.
If you feed cat with commercial made food for cats, they will not be interested in catching their own food. So far he gets at least 2-3 🐁 a month when I'm at my rental house.