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CLIO 172 Servicing / warranty





Does anyone know if you actually need to have your 172 serviced at a Renault authorised dealer in order to keep the Renault warranty valid or can it be serviced at your local garage (non renault) ? I was told that if any car mechannic is VAT registered and the car is serviced as per the schedule in the book then the Official Renault Warranty is still Valid? Dealer of course tells me otherwise! but wondered what any other 172 owners thought of this? and if any get theirs serviced by a non renault mechanic?

Also is it me or do the official dealers know nothing about the 172? I enquired about new brake pads and the same dealer at two different branches quoted me two different prices for front brake pads!!! one was £112.50 inc vat and fitting , the other was £95 ! then they said they are same pads as 1.4 ! which they ARE NOT!!! - worrying!!

Any comments gratefully received on this subject .

Pete
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic


As far as I knew it didnt have to be a Renault Dealer.

Like a Renault Specialist garage etc. could do it.



I also just got the wrong information from a Renault dealer, see the thread about confusing servicing information started by girlracer
 
  Renault Laguna Coupe


It has to be done according to the manufacturers schedule (e.g. every 12 months / 12,000 miles or whatever applies to your car). And, you have to use original Renault parts OR parts that are of the same or better quality. As long as you can prove that it was done (i.e. I dont think you can claim to have done it yourself) youre ok. Generally this means a garage receipt. Theres no way Renault (or anyone else) can wrap up the terms of a warranty so as to give themselves a monopoly over servicing.
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic


yes in future I will be double checking important things like the service schedule with Renault Customer Services.. always best to have it in writing incase of comeback.
 

GR7

  Shiny red R32


It says on my RAC three year unlimited warranty brochure "YOUR CAR CAN BE SERVICED AT ANY VAT REGISTERED GARAGE PROVIDED THAT GENUINE RENAULT REPLACEMENT PARTS ARE USED".

A good friend of ours owns and runs a first class, honest, reliable, busy independent garage and they carry out loads of services on new cars whilst they are under warranty. They are far more reliable than main dealers, and the first thing they do is to take off the wheels and check everything in that area. unlike dealers who do the absolute minimum according to their schedule. Anything over and above that would take up too much of their time and might cause them to miss their target number of cars for the day!!

I am getting mine serviced properly, so it will be going to my local reliable garage, where it wont get thrashed by monkeys. The garage owner and a couple of his mechanics race motorbikes, so they get their thrills doing that and racing in the Isle of Man TT, so they dont need to thrash customers cars.
 

GR7

  Shiny red R32


Main dealers will always tell you that your car has to be serviced by them, otherwise look how much money they will miss out on!! Take no notice of them as they are good at lying and trying to scare people!! Look at the rubbish they said about imports being inferior to dealer bought cars.

They are all imports and built in the same factory.
 


GirlRacer - You have some excellent and valid points - Great Post :) - I become concerned about the level of "common sense" and "intelligence" when the serivce guy here at renault in Worthing asked me what is the 172 !!! ??? Worrying eh ! ?



Thanks for all your advice on this subject and especially to GirlRacer - Its helped a lot - Cheers
 


GirlRacer you are so right, just takes a bit of common sense and recomendations from other customers to find a good garage. An example of where NOT to go..

called into a local exhaust specialist to see if they could recomend an upgrade exhaust system for my car, they looked at my car and said "thats a pretty car, what is it??" needless to say I didt go back....:p
 
  ICE'dberg MK2 172


I remember watchdog did a survey of all the main dealers of different manufacturers quite a few years ago asking them if cars can be serviced elsewhere. They all said that they need doing at the dealers .....except Volvo!

I think the rule of thumb is that as long as it is serviced to the book and genuine Renault parts are used then you can go anywhere...ask trading standards for advice tho.
 

GR7

  Shiny red R32


You can have your car serviced at ANY VAT REGISTERED GARAGE without the warranty being affected, provided that genuine manufacturers replacement parts are used.

Dont listen to dealers rubbish, as they are losing out to the better independents, who value our custom.
 
  Clio 1.6 16V


Agree with what you are saying GR. A good independant is often good if not more thorough for a general service (ie. brakes, oil etc.). I used a local performance centre for all my work when I had the S2. However if any engine fault diagnostics or ECU updates etc are required they dont have access to the right equipment and often have to resort to the expensive (lets try this routine). Reno dealers also seem to have a database of known faults on their system linked to VIN numbers. I put my 172 into Glenvargills last week to get a rattly seat runner replaced .... they also checked other known rattle faults in this area at the same time. But then they are one of the few ace Reno dealers!
 


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