Renault

VickyA_2

I'm in the process of buying a new Renault Clio and I can't believe how well I'm being treated - in comparison to the other manufacturers that we were interested in. To be honest, when it came down to it, service is what sold the car.

1) When requesting brochures, the Renault bumf arrived within 2 days, 2 weeks before any others. (and I'd put my order in within 7 days of requesting the info)

2) We had our own "dedicated" Sales Executive who phones on a regular basis to give us an update.
We found the 3 different people at the VW garage a bit too much as none of them could answer every (basic) question that I asked.

3) I've also received a letter from the factory in France thanking me for my order. (apparently I should receive another letter to say that it's ready, then another when it's being shipped)

4) I should also be receiving a bunch of flowers when I pick it up in a couple of weeks time.

It's only a basic model that I'm getting, but I feel that I'm being treated very well as opposed to being "another sale".

PS Should also be getting a full tank of petrol and mats thrown in gratis!

cport80

I have also ordered a Clio in the last month but have not had any letters from the company. It was a very close competition between the Clio and the Hyundai Getz (after ruling out the new mazda, VW, citroen and various others who either had no local service centre or the car didn't suit us).

The only thing that put me off the Getz was the indicator and windscreen washer controls being the wrong way around. I still suspect the hyundai was a better deal but my wife decided the Clio had more character(?)

I didn't order the brochures but we found a really good magazine called 'Car Buyer' or 'What Car Buyer'. Can't remember the exact name but the back pages were full of feature comparison lists so well worth checking out.

To be honest the Renault dealers didn't want to give a better trade-in for my old car. They were prepared to match the hyundai offer but only if they could get the sale agreed there and then. We didn't make it a quick sale for them but finally agreed. The 4-star ncap rating and higher resale value finally sold me on the idea.

We have since had frequent messages left on the answerphone about the cars journey into this country, however despite being told we would have a choice of registration numbers we were never informed about any options, instead receiving another message telling us what the registration would be.

Last night we had another message to call them as soon as possible but when I did, our "dedicated" Sales Executive was trying to sell another car and I was told he would ring back in half-an-hour. He didn't!

At least we should get the full tank of fuel, but I suspect the other half is going to be a bit miffed now if she doesn't get any flowers.

Glad to hear you're being looked after so well Vicky . From here though I think they could do better

VickyA_2

Well, it's been a week since I picked up my car (Rory the Renault, incidentally - named after my favourite rugby player!) and it's all been plain sailing. The only thing that let the handover down was the insurance certificate turning up late - not Renault's fault!

I didn't get any flowers, but I've been far too busy playing with the buttons - I've got air conditioning at last! And a CD player!

I also had a courtesy call from the dealership a day after I picked the car up to make sure that everything was okay.

When part-exchanging my old car (Peugeot 306) for this Clio, Renault offered me £150 less than the VW garage. However, I did practically bite the salesman's hand off at his offer because he'd taken my 306 for a test drive, and the VW garage hadn't. They might have reduced their offer if they had! And I saw a very similar car advertised (to my old one) in the local paper in a similar condition for £200 more than I received for the 306, so I didn't think that I'd done too badly.

All in all, 9 out of 10 to Renault (only let down on the lack of flowers!).

System

I have benn driving a Renault Espace for the last five years. One of the biggest Service centres is in West London. It is very posh but you cannot get through by phone the staff is rude and the qulality of service is lousy. I tried Colindale and the serice manger was drunk. I only service my car in Europe, it is much cheaper and the quality of care is much better. Try buying a tire in this country double the price!

Tony_H_3

Ooooh I would love an Espace, the Turbo Diesel one!! I would even settle for a second hand one, but alas, a little out of my budget..... For now!! ::)

cport80

OMG Vicky, my old car was a 306 too (nice sporty Cabriolet).

Now we've had the Clio I thought it worth posting again. Our "dedicated" salesman actually left the dealers before we picked our car up. Fortunately the new guy who took over was actually better (he also gave us a load of his business cards and said if we refer anyone to him and they buy a car, we get £50).

Unfortunately the model they gave us the hard sell on doesn't have some of the features I would have liked (mainly the trip computer which works out your fuel economy - now having to use a calculator and brain instead).

I also noticed while I was in there that there are "fixed prices" for the servicing of £170 (2 year/18,000 miles) and £270 (3 year/36,000 miles).

There is some very good news for us though. When I saw the road tax I thought they had only taxed it for 6 months. Having got used to paying £170+/yr on the peugeot I couldn't beleive our new Clio is only £88 for 12 months (it's a diesel).

I also discovered this website http://www.biodieselfillingstations.co.uk/approvals.htm which suggests we can fill up with a 95/5 blend biodiesel. As I wouldn't trust a web-site without proper references, I have emailed Renault to check this is correct before trying it. Like LPG there are tax concessions for using biodiesel (20p/litre although LPG is 40p/litre I think. The biodiesel industry are pushing for an increase to 30p/litre to make it a more competitive option)

Luckily we are still using the free tank of fuel and since we were on holiday last week, we went for a spin around the peak district clocking up 250 miles. With over half a tank of fuel left, I'm certainly impressed with it's consumption (est. around 49 mpg).

No problems at all with the insurance; £210 from Tesco with my wife on the policy as a learner driver; a saving of £240 on the 306 policy with just me on it.

Add to that I'm paying £60/month less on the loan payments and I stand to make substantial savings this year. All thanks to a change of attitude, a little work on my part and a bit of help and inspiration from the people on this forum so thankyou everyone

VickyA_2

Well cport, I have to admit that I got my model of Clio because my friend had just got one................. But it was bought for the economy of it all - my poor old Peugeot 306 was beginning to cost me alot of money! Bless him. Buying the new Clio is actually saving me money (at the moment!) too - the tax is cheaper, the fuel efficiency is incredible (I spend less on a tank of fuel and it lasts me longer) and the electric power steering is so light! It's quite scary how light it is though. Oh yes, and the repayments are so low and insurance is dirt cheap. So, one month on, and it's still all good!

Pink.

VickyA,

The steering on my Laguna is very light too, and takes a little while to get used to. I got great service from my Renault dealer and would use them again.

I got flowers too, but didn't know about them until I took delivery.

desk_jockey

I bought a Renault Scenic two and a half years ago. I took it straight back because it had a "lumpy" tickover and you could feel the engine shudder throught the seat. They were only interested in fobbing me off with excuses. The "customer service center" has no one technical you can speak to and they send you back to the same garage who couldn't help in the first place. The car has broken down three times. two times with coil failure. It has 4 coils and they are £40 each if you have to buy one. The back brakes squeak and lock up after parking. (Poor design)The body design and other features are terriffic but othrwise its let down by very poor customer service. Customer service and the ability to rectify defects is what you pay for when you get your warranty, ie you have already paid for it. Othewise you would have bought you car from a car supermarket 2 miles down the road 2 grand cheaper like I will next time. You can buy a whole truckload of flowers for that. >:(

jaz_2

I suspect Renault are like many other manufacturers... nothing is too much trouble for them while they're selling you this year's rolling depreciation nightmare. However, try getting a couple of water hoses for an '89 Renault camper and you get replies like "those are on factory backorder". Translated into English this reads: "There are some of those in France, but we can't be arsed to get you one as we'd much rather you bought a new van instead." One fuel injector pipe fractured and I have to buy a set of 4 - total cost in excess of fifty quid. I could go on...

Buying *any* new car isn't very MSE, though, is it? Surely a 2 year-old that's lost half its forecourt value is a much better bet, especially when you consider that modern cars can run up huge mileages without any great difficulty. I run a Peugeot 405 which is now up to 160000 miles with, touch wood, no problems in the 2 years and 30000 miles I've had it. I've seen examples of this car offered for sale with even bigger mileages, one in the Autotrader a couple of months ago had a claimed mileage of 275000!

VickyA_2

No, buying a new car isn't very MSE, but my old car was even worse. Plus the fact that I'm now a student, I wanted something that was covered by a warranty so it wouldn't cost me much for the next few years. So, it is moneysaving in that aspect.