Should I pay £400 to a main dealer to fix my Clio?

jamesw4

I'm definitely going to try and battle it out. I wouldn't mind if it was £20, or if they had told me when I took the car in that if they spent longer than 10 mins looking at it then there would be this standard charge - but they didn't and I feel like they've got me over a barrel; either pay £400 to (possibly) fix it or £100 to get my car back.

I've posted on a Renault Forum and also sent an e-mail to an ECU specialist to try and get some more views on whether their diagnosis is right. At the end of the day how can you know whether to trust them or whether they're charging you loads for what is actually a very simple problem.

Hmmm. Thanks again for your help. If anybody else reads this and knows lots about Renault Clios then please let me know!!

J :j

alric

I had a problem with my peugeot
Main dealer charged 32 for a diagnosis. They stated it was a sensor so I bought one, fitted it myself(as they were too busy and 64 an hour).Another 32 for diagnosis,they told me it was another sensor,and so it went on.
3 sensors,200quid later, the fault remained.
Anyway, they had said that while the diagnosis was a best bet,they wouldn't expaect me to go on paying forever for their bad diagnosis, but since I did the work myself I could not get the money back for the sensors.
I decided to go to an independent, charging 35/hour.It took them 12 hours(!) to fix an electrical fault.
I had to pay there to get the car back and get home.

I can't prove it didn't take 12 hours, but what can you do? 500+quid!
so I'd suggest you get several opinions/quotes, and watch them like a hawk

Transactionumber

Hello I would try another forum like car mechanics at https://www.carmechanicsmag.co.uk, go to electrical and state your problem and hopefully the mechs on that site will help you out!! good luck and all the best I would think it very unlikey to be the ecu.And renault garages are renound for ripping off !!just take look at the parkers forum under new cars with troubles full of Renaults with problems!!

Gorgeous_George

You don't have the car but the fault could be a damaged cable where the cable flexes at the door hinge.

I'm not the Renault type so I don't know if the ecu can control the windows.

I think you'll have to pay the £99 but do so under protest and make it clear that you will never use them again and that you will warn others not to either.

Some cars (Ford I think) can have the window programming reset by pressing and the down button in a certain sequence.



GG

tomstickland

Modern cars use ECUs for a lot more functions than just the engine.
I'd get an independant garage to check all the wires first (or do it yourself). If the window ECU is faulty then don't spend £400 on a new one, source one from a scrap yard or atpelectronics.co.uk.

bluesru5

tomstickland is correct in what he say's, for example the radio on my Vx zafira wont display the stations correctly and that's down to the ECU. I cant believe it would cause the windows to misbehave as described though, I would suspect a switch or wiring fault. By the way most ECU's seem to be 'reset' by disoneccting the battery for a minute or two be warned though you need your radio code if you try this.