Unbinding my Secondhand ZS EV

[McLaren EV]

Hi folks. First time poster. I have an ZS EV in Australia that I bought recently secondhand. I'm trying to bind the vehicle via the MG iSmart App, but it keeps telling me the car is already bound - to the previous owner. I have no idea who that person is. Can I force it to unbind somehow so that I can connect my phone to the car? Thanks in advance for all help offered.

 

[mystreet]

Hi folks. First time poster. I have an ZS EV in Australia that I bought recently secondhand. I'm trying to bind the vehicle via the MG iSmart App, but it keeps telling me the car is already bound - to the previous owner. I have no idea who that person is. Can I force it to unbind somehow so that I can connect my phone to the car? Thanks in advance for all help offered.

Have a look at this post.

Post in thread 'Unbinding App from previous owner - Painful MG customer service but happy ending'

Aug 12, 2022

This “un-binding” issue use has been a problem for a few facelift owners on the forum.
I remember one person who purchased a X Demo model having this same issue.
It turned out, that somebody who had taken a test drive in the car, thought it was a good idea to bind his own phone to the car !.
Miles Roberts ( Chorley Group ) was able to contact MG Tech Team and get it un-locked from that persons phone.
Some salesmen / ladies had there phones locked into the Demo cars also.
A lot easier to get these cars unlocked !.

• Lovemyev

 

[MG Clive]

Here in the UK, we usually have to contact MG with proof of ownership, I'd suggest going to your MG website and using the 'Contact Us' form at the bottom of the screen, or try the 'Chat' option.

 

[Susanna]

You can try the ‘unbind’ button on the app, which will unbind your vehicle after 72 hours when the previous owner doesn’t object. Don’t try to do it again in the meantime, as that will just reset to another 72 hour wait.

 

[McLaren EV]

Got it, thanks. I have made that mistake in my impatience, actually. Oh well, hopefully I can resist tampering with it for another couple of days! Thanks for all the advice on this. The whole thing seems crazy to me, topped off by an ambiguous error message on the App that says something like: "This facility isn't available in your area, please try again later.." or something to that effect. So I'm not sure if a ping has been sent to the previous owner or not, quite frankly.
I'll let you know what transpires. Thanks again.

 

[Susanna]

@McLaren EV

Ideally, people should unbind themselves from their cars when they sell, of course. It would save so much hassle for a new owner. Some drivers have even bound themselves to a car they have test driven at a dealership! Much frustration has ensued having to contact MG with proof of ownership before the unbind option via iSMART was developed.

Obviously, if one’s car had been stolen, it wouldn’t be prudent for a thief to be able to unbind instantly, so the 72 hour delay before it takes effect gives a rightful owner time to object, and find the whereabouts of his vehicle.

 

[McLaren EV]

It's been well over 72 hours now since I last attempted to unbind my vehicle from whomever was the previous owner, via the controls on the car... it still say I can't access the app or force the car to be unbound. Don't know what to do next, frankly. I get the impression – though I may be wrong about this – that the unbinding process simply does nothing, nor contact anyone. Is that a possibility, I wonder? Anyone else out there got a bright idea about what I can do next? It's all incredibly frustrating now, to the point where I wonder if it's simpler to just delete the app and forget about it.

 

[decrep]

Apparently MG can help in this, worth a try anyway.

 

[maskull]

I know mine was close to the 72 hour period ending. I phoned the dealer and it was unbound within an hour