Car Rant

[joolz1910]

I have a 2005 Grand Scenic and the entire dashboard / instrument panel went blank today when I was driving home. I found out that this is a known fault in Renaults and as a 'goodwill' gesture, Renault will repair it for £100. Now, here comes the rant...

1. If it is a known fault - they shouldn't charge anything!
2. They will replace it with the same dash - so presumably the fault will eventually reoccur.
3. It is illegal to drive with a blank dashboard.
4. Bang goes my money put aside for a Satnav.
5. They will not restore your original mileage - mine was only 44,000.

I am not H.A.P.P.Y.

 

[oceanscape]

Sorry, but considering the car is 6+ years old, I think £100 is excellent and I would be very happy. The car is way out of the warranty period. Considering how much car repairs usually cost - especially at main dealers - I'd certainly not be complaining. It seems a generous gesture and I doubt they have to offer the deal. Sorry, JMHO.

 

[buzz for boys]

I feel your pain and I have to say Renault are being a lot more generous than Ford.
My dh car dash went blank, speedo lights pretty much everything stopped working. On talking to Ford they told us it was a common fault and so therefore they would not charge us for a diagnostics test. The repair cost was quoted at £1000 as it was the main electric unit that controls everything on the car !!

Id snap their hand off at £100 - just not sure about the mileage thing surely they have to do something else it would look very dodgy should you come to sell it at some stage

 

[joolz1910]

I know £100 isn't a lot but the dashboard should last the lifetime of the car - it is just one of the many 'known faults' that Renault acknowledge but still charge for. They were exposed on Watchdog not too long ago.

 

[Goofyish]

Recently had my power steering fail on my Vauxhall Meriva and I remembered seeing the problem on Watchdog last year 'as a known problem'.

Had my steering column replaced free of charge last week - would have been over £900 if I had paid.

I think £100 is not a bad offer - make sure you insist on a free courtesy car while they are fixing it. See if there is a Renault owners forum online and see if other owners with the same problem have had the repair done for free.

Not sure why they can't set you mileage, especially if you have proof of what it was before.

 

[joolz1910]

Recently had my power steering fail on my Vauxhall Meriva and I remembered seeing the problem on Watchdog last year 'as a known problem'.

Had my steering column replaced free of charge last week - would have been over £900 if I had paid.

I think £100 is not a bad offer - make sure you insist on a free courtesy car while they are fixing it. See if there is a Renault owners forum online and see if other owners with the same problem have had the repair done for free.

Not sure why they can't set you mileage, especially if you have proof of what it was before.

I had a Vauxhall Meriva and the cambelt snapped - I had only done 37,000 miles. It was supposed to be guaranteed up until 40,000 miles but they said that they would need to assess it first and I would have to pay for the diagnostics.

I will definitely ask about a courtesy car as I have looked on forums to find people waiting up to a month for the parts to arrive from France! Apparently they set your mileage to zero and give you a letter to verify your last service mileage. Who would buy a car with that sort of history?

 

[tennisfan]

I had a Vauxhall Meriva and the cambelt snapped - I had only done 37,000 miles. It was supposed to be guaranteed up until 40,000 miles but they said that they would need to assess it first and I would have to pay for the diagnostics.

I will definitely ask about a courtesy car as I have looked on forums to find people waiting up to a month for the parts to arrive from France! Apparently they set your mileage to zero and give you a letter to verify your last service mileage. Who would buy a car with that sort of history?

Providing it has been serviced by Renault they can track all your history so they should know the mileage. Also anyone who buys the car are able to go to Renault & get the history. The downside to Renault is that they are only made in France & therefore the parts have to come from there.

Hope you manage to resolve the problem