172 Warranty Debate

[172UK]

Hi , Wondered what peoples opinions are on this subject and would be grateful for any advice / info and whether other people experienced the same ! ?

My First Service on my Mk 2 172 was carried out on time but the service was done at my local (non renault) garage.

The Garage is VAT Registered and the parts used for the 12,000 mile service were bought from the Renault Garage so official parts were used.

My GearBox Mount has now developed a fault where the mount bolts have become loose and their settings have become "Oval" this i am assured is a Manufacturing error - Anyone else had this problem ?

Renault now say that becuase the first service was not carried out by Renault themselves and regardless of the fact the parts are official renault parts, the warranty does not cover this maufacturing fault !

Is this a case of Renault trying to avoid paying for their manufacturing error or have i made a mistake in not taking the car to renault for the frst service which face it is basically an oil and filter change!

Thanks to anyone who reads this and your experiences with renault or some help on the consumer law in the uk would be received with thanks.

Cheers



Paul

172 mark 2

 

[Tom]

Its void sadly but renault will pay 80%

 

[Roamer]

Well, your warranty isnt void, as the only stipulation is that genuine Renault parts are used and the garage that carries out the service is VAT registered.

It sounds like your dealership is trying to get out of doing the work under the warranty, I would talk to customer services about this, pose the question to them and get one of their technical guys to give a answer on whether that part/fault is/should be covered, then pursue from there on.

 

[172UK]

Hi Guys,

thanks for the advise - much appreciated

Are your comments based on personal experience ?

I feel that renault "force" you to service the car there to pay "over the odds" prices even though another vat registered garage can use official parts and do the same job for less money. What do you think ?

Paul

 

[Jon1978]

I agree; with my 1.2Dynamique, I have had all kinds of problems with the dealer. In the end I wrote to Top Gear and also to Renault Customer Services Top Man. The dealer voided my warranty because my 18,ooo mile service was 800miles late. It was late because the dealer had no room and obviously expected me to not drive the car for a month while I awaited a gap in their service schedule. Also have had endless problems with my sunroof rattling, and also they reckon the gear stick gaiter coming off after two years, is normal wear and tear. Normal, my arse. Just write to
Mr. Bruno Vanel,
Director, Marketing,
Renault UK Limited,
The Rivers Office Park,
Denham Way,
Maple Cross,
Rickmansworth,
Herts.,
WD3 9YS.
Make the letter firm, yet polite, and express disappointment.
Hope this helps. My warrantee is reinstated, and all money paid out has been refunded. I think they sh*t themselves after reading my letter, thinking they were losing a customer.

 

[spirez]

would my warranty be completely void if i fitted 17s and lowered it on new shocks and springs or would it just void wheel related parts such as bearings?

 

[Neil82]

Im sure its some Euro fare trade law bla bla that if you get your car serviced at a non renault garage using official Renault parts they cant null your warrenty. Dont listen to them goto trading standards and ask them.

 

[172UK]

Hi Jon1978,

thats quality mate ! i will get onto them first thing in the morning -

have you got a head office number - ive looked on the net but cant find it! typical of renault !

does anyone know what the trading standards opinion is of this ?

Paul



It seems this is quite a passionate subject !

It Feels like the car dealers "bully" you into "overpriced" charges just to keep the warranty in place when other "non dealer" garages who can be just as good and better dont charge over the hill prices!

 

[McShug]

Renault UK

customer services



08000 72 33 72

 

[The Guvnor]

Quote: Originally posted by spirez on 18 September 2003

would my warranty be completely void if i fitted 17s and lowered it on new shocks and springs or would it just void wheel related parts such as bearings?

It would void everything that is anything to do with your wheels or suspension. This varies from the obvious things like your brakes to the not as obvious things like your speedo. Hence if you were to fit them and then have a problem with your brakes etc. renault more than likely would refuse to fix it saying that you voided the warranty.

If you want to know what you can and cant do just ring your local dealership and ask to speak to somebody about it. Thats what I did and to be fair they were happy to answer all my questions.

 

[172UK]

Thanks MCShug for the number

 

[172UK]

Just spoke to Reno - Official comment from customer services :



They first give you a case number on your complaint :

2 - ref : 172 You can actually miss your first service but EVERY other service must be carried out and at Renault Approved Garages to keep your warranty valid.

If you have the first service done at a non renault garage then you MUST use Official Parts otherwise warranty invalid.

This is what i have been told and my car is now been fixed under warranty - Thanks guys for all your advise and contact info on here -

This site sure is a great place for information and help.

Hope this info helps anoyone else on their warranty ?

To save any further aggro , Im getting the Car Serviced at a Reno Dealer from now on - It may be a little more but it saves all the aggro.

 

[Ad]

The reason is that the 1st yrs warranty is a manufacturors. The 2nd+3yrs are dealer network, so gain this the car must be serviced by the dealer network. For me the 172 service costs if you shop around are not too bad and I cant certainly say that the work ive had done under warranty adds upto many times more than the service costs.

 

[172UK]

Thats a fair Point - I didnt know that the 1st year was manufacturors, In fact come to think of it my 172 is over a year old now so there must be something in this topic of using other garages as long as you use renault parts!



the bit that went was the gear box mount - some piece of metal which has four bolts in it so im told and these holes changed to an oval shape which made a "shunting" sound when in 1st and 2nd.

I followed the advise of jon1978 and it worked perfectly - he was 100% right in his advice ! cheers Jon - owe you a beer mate !



p.s they also did the wiring fault which im told is common on 172 mk 2 where the airbag light and "serv" light keep on

 

[Jon1978]

To 172UK

Im glad it worked out. If they do give you any sh*t
in the future, then write to the address above. I wrote a three page letter to the guy, saying how disappointed I was, and how I felt I had been sold the car under false pretences (as the warranty didnt see to cover anything) etc, and I got phone calls and letters, and a lot of very good customer relations. I did feel these sentiments, but pressed them a bit harder than I might normally have done. A little bit of legal jargon doesnt go amiss either.

All the best

Jon

PS that beer... I live near Hull...

 

[172UK]

cheers Jon,

top bloke

 

[GR7]

Quote: "It Feels like the car dealers "bully" you into "overpriced" charges just to keep the warranty in place when other "non dealer" garages who can be just as good and better dont charge over the hill prices!"

Exactly!! The government is trying to stamp out all this nonsense about main dealers having to service our cars, and they were trying to get a bill passed last October and I read somewhere that Dealers cannot force anyone to have their car fixed by them, as long as Renault parts are used, all should be OK.

My local garage services all sorts of cars and they get twice daily deliveries of genuine manufacturer parts from main dealers or suppliers.

The thing that REALLY ANNOYS my local guys is the fact that they can and do buy EXACTLY THE SAME PARTS, WITH EXACTLY THE SAME PART NUMBERS MADE IN EXACTLY THE SAME PLACE FOR LESS THAN HALF THE DEALER PRICED SAME PARTS!! If they were to use these parts the warranty would be void YET THE NONSENSE IS THAT THE PARTS ARE ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL IN EVERY WAY EXCEPT THE DEALERS NAME IS OMITTED.

The local garage saves people with cars outside of their warranty a lot of money by buying in these generic parts.

I have also read that insurance companies are now encouraging claimants to use ordinary bodyshops rather than the very over-priced dealer places that some stipulate.



It works the same way with pills like paracetemol etc, if you buy branded packets they sometimnes cost £2 a packet more than ordinary ones which have exactly the same ingredients and do the same job. Packaging and advertising cost loads and dont fix your headache any quicker!

 

[lee_b_172]

well fellas Im quite an old git and have been driving now for about 10 years and have had a few different makes of car and from what Ive found out over the years is that when it comes to warrenty its down to the garage.

i have recently bought a 172 and garage where I bought the car in york said that because the car has been lowered has been chipped and has got different wheels on then the warrenty is void but yet the renault garage that i went to to get the car serviced said it wasnt, so that is two different renault garages saying different things about the same car I, I think the best thing is before you carry out any mod you speak to your local dealer and varify with them first as to what it will do to your warrenty.

 

[Jon1978]

Well as regards Mods, my dealer, Dixon in Hull, say you can do anything that does not involve you changing the mechanical bits. So you can change wheels, add bodykits, slap neon all over, but lower it 2mm, and you can say "Warranty bye bye".