FUMING

[James20VT]

WEll dropped car into Renault this morning.

Just got phone call.

Head gasket is leaking oil... needs replacing. £80

Flexible Break hoses cracking - need replacing - £40

Wiper blades - need replacing £22

Front tyre balding - needs replacing - £60

OK!. Had the car since August 2002. when i got the car.. i took it back to renault and questioned the state of the tyres and that i was told they should have been changed before selling the car. Renault said they were fine, and didnt change them for that reason... NOW it needs changing because im bringing it in for service?? SHOULD BE DONE FREE???

Break hoses?? ALREADY!? Should have been road worthy before selling the goddamn thing?????

Head Gasket leaking oil already?? i dont rag it or drive it hard.. im a sensible driver! i mean 40mph limit in jersey isnt exactly forcing pressure on it is it?!?! should have been checked before selling the car???

Apparently the car was meant to have had a full service done by renault before it was put up for sale... im very inclined to believe this statement, and believe this is a load of b*llsh*t

Anyone shed any light if im right or not on these things?

 

[Zidan]

That is very very bad. Id get in touch with trading standards mate.

 

[Barryd]

James,

Head gasket leaking oil? That confused me.! Ask to see where its leaking from. If the head gasket goes then you usually know about it. Id say its more likely that its the rocker cover gasket thats actually leaking, this will cost a fraction of the head gasket cost and take about 15mins to replace.

You will see a masive increase in cost as the labour on replacing the head gasket by a Renault dealer will be huge! £35 (or so) per hour and about 8 hours labour.

If you have any proof of mileage when you brought the car, find out how many miles it done since youve had it and then start questioning the need for replacing tyres etc.. If your mileage is less than 500 in the time owned then Id start asking questions.

 

[Eddd]

How many miles have you put on the car? If the tyres were close when you bought the car, you really should have insisted then and there that they be replaced or knock a little more off the asking price. It is your responsiblility to see that there is adequate tread depth. If you were pulled over with illegal tyres, you would pay the fine, not Renault. At this point you cant prove that they sold you a car with illegal tyres, especially if you have put significant mieleage on it.

A head gasket can go at any time.

Wiper blades are a consumeable item. You should be able to judge for yourself whether or not they need being replaced.

I wouldnt think that the brake hoses would age that much in 6 months. You may have a case there.

That is my read on the situation. The Willy is an old car and stuff is going to have to be renewed on an on-going basis.

 

[James20VT]

ive done roughly 2250 miles since ive had the car...

it had done 36250 miles when i brought the car its now on 38500

not happy

Too round it off.. i booked this for a service 3 weeks ago.... i specifically put down for a clio or similar small car to drive, as i didnt want anything big. He said NO PROBLEM.. put a note by my name..

i get there this morning.. all he had to offer me was a Renault Kangaroo? or something.. i laughed in his face. and requested i was driven into town to work. and pickedup afterwards. Of course i got my way.

 

[James20VT]

just had a insurance quote of £2K for a 2000-2 VW Golf VR6 4Motion 2.8Litre.

Mmmmmmmmmm anyone know what performance is like on these?

 

[RobFenn]

Yeah, sh*t. Well, probably not sh*t but theyre golfs which means their sh*t. Or maybe i just like saying sh*t?

I bought my clio brand new and they didnt check it at the dealership, which has resulted in a wrongly attached driver door (!), imperfection in paint, no engine cover or oil cap put on, dodgy passenger seat and fuel injection problems, good ol renault

 

[Infinicar]

If they replace the Head gasket for £80 then I will eat my hat! I am sure you mean the rocker gasket.

 

[bigmoose]

Is that Bagot Road Renault

 

[Steveold]

Its a renault what ya expect

 

[Stu 172]

Golf V6 4 motion is 0-60 in 7.1 and 146 top end, next door neighbour just bought a w reg.

stu172

 

[EightBall]

James, The way Im reading your first post you purchased the car from a Renault dealer. If this is the case, then did your car not come with a warranty of some kind? Is the gasket (and possibly the brake hoses) covered by this?

I could be wrong , but (on the mainland at least) I thought that dealers selling secondhand cars had to sell them with warranty for at least six months.

 

[Nick Read]

James I got to be honest with you here, thats not a lot to complain about 6 months after you bought the car. If thats a head gasket theyre going to replace for £80 then soon theres gonna be a queue of Cliosport members outside wanting the same deal, thats a bargain!

Wiper blades and tyre you can sort out yourself much cheaper, brake hoses, replace them with Goodridge braided hoses while youre there instead of another set of rubber ones. The nature of rubber is that it does eventually perish, theres not a lot you can do about that really. I reckon you got away lightly, considering if theyve not been dealt with already youve still got to come:

gearbox

steering rack

clutch

cambelt

wheel bearings

power steering pump

alternator

starter motor

bushes/balljoints

engine mounts

The list goes on and on...not that Im saying you shouldnt try and pin it all on Renault and get them to pay for it, but just dont feel so hard done by, thats all.

 

[lofty]

i dont think there is much you can argue with, all wear and tear items, Renault will take you for all your worth it where they make thier money, these are just perishable items, if you get either a new head gasket fitted for £80 or a free tyre 6 months after buying the car the i will eat my rocker cover.

the alternative is go to a trusted independant garage, rocker cover you could do yourself in 15 mind and cost £8, likewise with wiper blades, tyre shouldn;t be more then £50 all in, £60 from renault seems good if its a P zero, i wouldn;t be suprised if they are scare mongering with the brake lines, rol your shirt sleeves up and have a look yourself,

your little performance about the courtesy car proabably didnt do you any favours.

its all alot of extra money just to get the stamp in the book,

 

[GR7]

As you havent had your car for very long James, surely there was some sort of warranty on it for a few months.

Pity you didnt get them to change the tyres at the point of sale.

Surely if your head gasket was leaking oil, there would have been some smoke/smell detected by yourself. Can you get a second opinion from a more honest independant garage?

As someone said, threaten to tell Trading Standards and see what they say.

 

[James20VT]

i did get a year warranty with the car. The guy at renualt is going to see if he can get the break hoses under warranty for me.

Me dads taking a trip to renault today to question why they said i didnt need new tyres on the car when i brought it. but i DO when i bring it in for its service.

all in all it came to £498 the service.

£192 on parts

£306 on labour.

And they put a nice 20 miles on the clock "testing" it too. prolly ragging the crap out of it to hear the induction kit.

My next service will be done in France. only 40 mins on boat. and im sure it will be much cheaper and have a better job done on it.

Only good thing to come from it i suppose, is they fixed my Exhaust rattling!! they made a bracket and refitted it, and it no longer bangs underneath, its nice and solid, w00t.

 

[GR7]

Bit expensive though James. What did they do for £306? What do they charge per hour for labour? I bet the job they did on the exhaust cost about £3.50

The least they can do is to pay for your hoses.

 

[RobFenn]

wiper blades are disposable items so they wont cover that, tyres are down to driving but get the tracking checked by an independant garage.

Id complain about the gasket, dont go down without fighting!

 

[lofty]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news james, but once the money has been handed over it becomes much much harder to get money off, if you stall payment on reasonable grounds then your are in a far better position to bargain with them if it were my car i would have had all the other work done elsehwere or myself and then taking it back to renault for the abslute bear minimum to get the stamp, (i would have a quiet word with the lad on the parts counter to see if he would stamp it for a little bit of beer money,

dont always believe that paying through the nose at renault is the best quality job, they use loads of clueless YT scheme lads like all main dealers.

go independant and spek face to face with the bloke your paying who is also the bloke whos fitting it.

at least it all sorted now,

sounds a bloody nice car i must admit

 

[James20VT]

ill take some photos of it lofty with the exhaust and IK on it



http://fed.cix.co.uk/williamshttp://fed.cix.co.uk/williams



is my website

 

[philglover]

Quote: Originally posted by jamesc2 on 27 January 2003


Wiper blades - need replacing £22

I really hope this doesnt come across rude because its not meant to, but if you pay that then youre an idiot. you can get wipers for as little as £4 - maybe less!