Used car is a lemon but will not take back. Help please

Marktheshark

With Old Renaults they can suffer horrendous wiring faults down to poor quality corroding wire.
As the wire corrodes with age the resistance rises and all sorts of faults and sensor malfunctions arise.
As fast as you fix them another starts.

If you can, get your money back via the credit card.
To do this you have to SHOUT your past the goon that answers the phone and it is not easy, threaten to invoke FOS and hell and high water until you get to the chargeback team.
Place the "disputed payment" in writing and send by certified post so you have a record.
Demand, never request or ask.
If you can get the money back via credit card chargeback you are far better off.
And never buy a old Renault again.
No matter how cheap or good the deal looks.

Nessun_Dorma

I have been driving French cars for a good many years and they are no more reliable or unreliable than any other car. Mrs Dorma currently drive a 1.6 Automatic Megane Coupe cabriolet. It has 125,00 miles and apart from the usual wear and tear items, has not spent a day in the garage. We had a Citroen Picasso, and apart from a niggle or two at the beginning, it too had a similar history, that went on to do 145,000 miles.

bigjl

I would normally say Renaults are no worse or better than most other vehicles.

But I draw the line at the Espace of that vintage.

I wouldn't have one if it was free

I knew people that had one new and they all had problem after problem, they were brand new cars.

They both now drive Galaxy's, make of that what you will.

When running properly that age Espace is comfortable and quiet and I think it looks great for a family bus.

But not worth the risk.

Over the years myself and my direct family have owned.

3 Renault 19's, 2 Clios, 3 Renault 5's, 1 Renault 12, 1 Renault 14, 2 Renault 21's, 2 Renault 25's and a couple of Meganes.

Well over half of those were owned by me and I might have forgotten some!

Good luck with it OP

Best bet might be to first of all get it properly diagnosed instead of the supplying dealer just resetting the fault codes in the hope it gets you off his back.

arcon5

These "3 garages" don't sound great at all. If they'd ever used a proper diagnostic machine they will know not all codes clear themselves, not all codes bring the EML on and many codes can be dismissed as irrelevant and highly unlikely to be bringing up anything serious. Things like ECU low voltage for example. Some codes will clear themselve, if they are active faults for examples, things like ABS usually do.

burlington6

Nessun_Dorma wrote: »

I have been driving French cars for a good many years and they are no more reliable or unreliable than any other car. Mrs Dorma currently drive a 1.6 Automatic Megane Coupe cabriolet. It has 125,00 miles and apart from the usual wear and tear items, has not spent a day in the garage. We had a Citroen Picasso, and apart from a niggle or two at the beginning, it too had a similar history, that went on to do 145,000 miles.

Wow, now theres a bold statement by someone who knows jack all.

A Corolla or Civic the same age as that Megane are in a different league build quality wise

Nessun_Dorma

burlington6 wrote: »

Wow, now theres a bold statement by someone who knows jack all.

A Corolla or Civic the same age as that Megane are in a different league build quality wise

Oh dear............someone who is too arrogant for their own good.

EdGasket

Nessun_Dorma wrote: »

Oh dear............someone who is too arrogant for their own good.

Not really because fact is that a Corolla or Civic is in a better league quality wise.

Nessun_Dorma

EdGasket wrote: »

Not really because fact is that a Corolla or Civic is in a better league quality wise.

That is not why I was calling him arrogant. He is quite welcome to his opinion on cars, in fact, this board thrives on such things, it was the other part of his post that I was referring to.

bigjl

EdGasket wrote: »

Not really because fact is that a Corolla or Civic is in a better league quality wise.

One thing that your average Japanese car lacks is character.

I have always found French cars to be comfortable and they handle well.

Though they are best enjoyed in a more basic flavour!

They are also very safe.

A little more robustness here and there wouldn't hurt though.

But then I still consider trying to find a nice Renault 16 to buy and use. How crazy is that.

Nessun_Dorma

bigjl wrote: »

One thing that your average Japanese car lacks is character.

I have always found French cars to be comfortable and they handle well.

Though they are best enjoyed in a more basic flavour!

They are also very safe.

A little more robustness here and there wouldn't hurt though.

But then I still consider trying to find a nice Renault 16 to buy and use. How crazy is that.

My first car, after passing my test. It was a white Renault 16 TS. The initial reason I chose it was, because it had flip down clip, next to the ashtray, to hold a packet of cigarettes. :rotfl:

Very few cars of its time (and calss) drove so smoothly.