Renault Modus steering rack fail - warranty issues?

wilky44

Last December I bought a 1.5dci Renault Modus from Benfield motors in Newcastle upon Tyne. 49k on the clock, £4000. Great little car, no problems, until last week. Drove to work on the morning, no problems, parked up. Got into car after work, to be confronted with "STEERING FAULT", and no power steering. I got the car home (towed), and from there, to the main dealer, so as not to invalidate the 12 month comprehensive(!) warranty. I was told somebody would be in touch within 48 hours (this was last Wednesday).

Fast forward 48 hours (Friday evening) - no phone call. Come Saturday, I call only to be informed that the lady who represented the Service dept had "just come back of holiday" and therefore "knew nothing about it, and as only 2 technicians were working, couldn't speak to anybody else". I let it lie, and rang on Monday to be told that the steering rack had failed/was broken. I asked the lady "this will be covered by the warranty though won't it?", to which I got "I can't comment until I've spoken to the warranty company - I'll ring them now -oh and by the way, you have several advisories on your car - you need new brake pads and tyres"

Again, I have no further calls from them, except from a sales person asking, as my car is booked in tomorrow (Tuesday) if I would like my car valued in case I would like to p/ex it in the future.

Anyway, today, I call (again, no communication from Benfield), to be told that the cost of the repair would be £1000 or £1300 (I spoke to them twice), and that somebody from the warranty company would have to come and inspect the damage before they deem it financially viable to repair it. As you can imagine, I'm foaming by now, as work has not even been started on my car. I suspect as it's a warranty job, it's been shoved to the back of the queue, and I'm pretty sure they hadn't even bothered looking at until yesterday:mad:

Anyway, has anybody had a steering rack replaced under warranty? Am I being unreasonable assuming that it will be covered? Any other thoughts on how best to proceed? And if the warranty company deem it not financially viable, what happens then?

The car has 52k on the clock now - should also mention I'm out of pocket having to get 2 buses into work, as well as inconvenienced!

forgotmyname

Depends if its worn or failed.

Wear and tear probably wont be covered.

Google 2nd hand car warranties and you will find they dont like paying out. Its often put down to wear and tear, Or something else caused the rack to fail and thats not covered.

You mention the mileage but not the age?

Its its not covered then you need to work out if its cheaper to let them fix it or pay them for the work they have done so far and take it elsewhere. Find someone cheaper.

But they will probably have a bill for you anyway.

Over 6 months, I think you need to prove the item was faulty when you bought it. That could be costly and fruitless.

wilky44

The car is an 05 plate. Surely it's not a common fault though, and as it went suddenly it couldn't have been gradual?

TradePro

wilky44 wrote: »

The car is an 05 plate. Surely it's not a common fault

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=renault+modus+steering+fault

wilky44

I know it's a common fault in the modus, I meant more in general.

facade

Electric power steering fails all the time, usually unexpectedly. Whole nations base their economies on repairing them, (well a fair few companies at least)

The electro-hydraulic system on the mini fails expectedly, as they cleverly put the pump where all the road salt gets on it.

Best not to turn the steering wheel very much, possibly the load of turning the steering when stationary sees them off quicker.

forgotmyname

Its electrical so a sudden stop is to be expected. Like a switch it works until it breaks. Its not faulty its just worked its life expectancy.

8 years and 50,000 miles is more than enough for them to say wear and tear.

Its not like a mechanical pump that leaks a bit then whines and moans and may do for many a mile as long as the fluid is topped up.
Electrical items can work one minute and not the next.

facade

What fails is the electronics that drive the motor, this is usually sudden.
Depending on how poorly built it is there are different failures. Renault just lose all the power assistance, vauxhalls tend to work in one direction not the other.

As it is a fault that can be fixed with a soldering iron and a couple of cheap components, there are a few firms who will repair them for a fraction of the new price, but you have to remove the whole assembly, and send it away.

If you get a different one, the car needs the steering calibrating, which is a 30 second job with a plug in box at the dealer, so they bill you for half an hours labour.

If you use your own, and mark everything so it goes back in the exact same place, you dont need this.

wilky44

Just a quick update. Warranty company have agreed to replace the steering rack (thankfully!!). All I have to do now is wait for the part to come from France!!

gilbert_and_sullivan

wilky44 wrote: »

Just a quick update. Warranty company have agreed to replace the steering rack (thankfully!!). All I have to do now is wait for the part to come from France!!

Wow, thats good news and comes as a shock.

Do tell us which warranty company this is please, they seem to have been decent even if the dealer appears to be a good substitute for a chocolate teapot.

I wouldn't be putting the tyre/brake business the way of that dealer, you can do better elsewhere i have no doubt.