Mercedes-Benz A-Class - A170 Manual gearbox fault - help - DTR

The gearbox packed up big end on A170 CDI W-reg. The car only did 90k is very clean otherwise.

I think I have two options:

1) reconditioned gearbox, fitted and new clutch (why clutch? I get this quoted from people that didn't even see it). Cheapes quote so far £1000 from a company near Cardiff. Can I get it even lower? I saw somebody having this work done for £600 but how do I get this price?

2) second hand gearbox (around £300, maybe £200) and fitting by a small local garage. Is this reliable at all, would I have to sell it after this?

I am in a complete-rip-off Bristol if that helps. Can I negotiate a reasonable price with for example Bristol Transmissions since they quoted me nearly 2k just to get rid of me?

Mercedes-Benz A-Class - A170 Manual gearbox fault - help - Collos25

They are quite a difficult gearbox to remove and re install hence the price,its good practice to fit a new clutch when removing the gearbox saves having it to do later.

Early A class are a terrible car to work on and also not very reliable not liked in the trade you have paid well over the odds it would be lucky to fetch a few hundred at auction even if they could find a buyer. Money back is the correct action, as you have been advised by Lucy in your other post I should follow her instructions.

Mercedes-Benz A-Class - A170 Manual gearbox fault - help - DTR

Money back would be great, and I will see if there is anything I can do... In the mean time I need a car, so I thought I could fix and sue for the cost. Otherwise now I have to buy something like Ford Focus C-Max 1.6 CDTI or Nissan Almera Tino 2.2

I admit I overlooked some stats about this car, but then I did see sevaral on ebay with over 180k miles. Mine is 90k so *in theory* it should go another 90k. Good ones around that mileage sell for up to £3k on ebay at the moment and I am yet to see any under £1.6k. I thought I paid a fair price, if the car was any good

Mercedes-Benz A-Class - A170 Manual gearbox fault - help - injection doc

as andy quite rightly says, ghastly car for reliability and a pig to work on so labour is always high for repairs & that is if you can find someone keen enough to work on it ! Bit like opening a tin of worms. This wasn't merc finest hour