[PewterPhil]

Whatever normally holds that cable in place must have come loose giving the cable enough slack to rub on the starter or what ever it was rubbing on. Also must have been doing it for a while because it is not super easy to rub off the insulation that quickly unless there is some semi-violent bouncing around of the cable itself. How many miles on the car when you got it?

This (to me at least) is wierd. I have worked on cars all my life and all I can think is that someone on the line was having a bad day that day. Something was not secured correctly from the start. Hopefully it is isolated. You should ask them to show you the worn cable so you can get a pic of it and post it here. I would love to see it as I'm sure everyone else would as well.

Glad your car is fixed though. I hope that this is the last problem you ever have. Good luck.