Renault Zoe

Richie_C

I've been looking for a new car for a while now but generally putting it off due to the cost.

Today a colleague of mine told me about the Renault Zoe, so I had a look and it looks like a really good car. So I started to look into finance deals on them and this is where my question lies.

The mid range model is about £18k, they give you a finance example of £2k deposit with Renault putting down £5.3k dealer contribution. Which means are 36 months I have £4k to pay off the car if I choose to keep it.

Now where it gets interesting is what I've been there are government grants for purchasing electric cars which you can get up to £4.5. Now is this something I could apply for if I am wanting to by the Zoe? I only ask as i would mean by getting that grant after 36 months I would have paid off the whole of the car.

Basically is this correct or do I have it wrapped around my neck?

MikeWhite

Alas, I think you have it wrong.
The headline £18k figure is the price with the PiCG already taken off.
You won't get the grant a second time.

EDIT: Don't forget the mandatory battery rental charge, too.

Richie_C

So it'll be that I pay for the car and after 36 months have £4k to pay off or swap the car?

I'm just trying to figure out the costs compared to a normal petrol car. I use £160 a month in petrol but if I went electric I would be using that, but I'd like to know the cost of charging the car once a week. I do 160 miles for work alone so the 250 miles per charge would be fine for me per week

BeenThroughItAll

Don't.


I bought one, collected it brand new on 28th May 2015. Had it three hours before it went wrong.


Then it went to Renault. They had it 55 days. Gave it back. Not fixed. I'd told them just to give me a replacement, I'd have been happy with that, but they refused.


Took several months of wrangling before they would have it back in, as they tried to argue the fault (being unable to charge at all rates) wasn't a fault. Went to a different dealership because the first was incompetent (and lied in writing, and to Renault UK themselves).


They had it again. Had it 110 days this time. Gave it back. Not fixed. Went back in three weeks later.


Had it 57 days that time. I got fed up, and told them not to bother giving it back.


I had it 356 days. Renault had it for 222 of those. They couldn't fix it.

After they finally agreed to have it back (predated CRA2015, sadly), it then took a further four months for Renault UK and RCA to sort out their communication issues, during which I wasted hours of my life chasing them, and to actually get the PCP cleared. During that time they littered my credit reports with late payment markers which then took me a further month to get removed.


Buy an i3 instead, or even a Leaf. Yeah, they're more expensive, but they're much better put together and more reliable - because they've not tried to be clever with the charging system like Renault.

BeenThroughItAll

Richie_C wrote: »

So it'll be that I pay for the car and after 36 months have £4k to pay off or swap the car?

I'm just trying to figure out the costs compared to a normal petrol car. I use £160 a month in petrol but if I went electric I would be using that, but I'd like to know the cost of charging the car once a week. I do 160 miles for work alone so the 250 miles per charge would be fine for me per week

You will not get anywhere near 250mi on a charge.

MikeWhite

Richie_C wrote: »

So it'll be that I pay for the car and after 36 months have £4k to pay off or swap the car?

I'm just trying to figure out the costs compared to a normal petrol car. I use £160 a month in petrol but if I went electric I would be using that, but I'd like to know the cost of charging the car once a week. I do 160 miles for work alone so the 250 miles per charge would be fine for me per week

Yes, you pay monthly for the car, and extra for the battery hire.

Cost to charge? I guess it has a 40 kWh battery - so from empty to full, at home, will use at least 40 units (because it won't be 100% efficient but close enough I guess). So, at 12p per kWh, £4.80

Prices at public charging points keep changing so no idea.

The base model at just shy of £14k looks tempting, but, as someone else said, do you trust the reliability?

MikeWhite

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

You will not get anywhere near 250mi on a charge.

Indeed not. Even the Renault "range calculator" on their web site suggests about 170 in optimum conditions.

https://www.renault.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/zoe-250.html#driving-range

Richie_C

Thank you for the responses. Reliability was a concern of mind as I would never buy a Renault petrol car as to my knowledge generally french cars aren't that reliable. I just thought being basically battery how hard is it to make i reliable. It was the price that tempted me and potential cost savings of going electric.

I am in no major rush as I have a 10 year old yaris but its never skipped a beat. So I guess the search continues.

[Deleted User]

Better off with a new Dacia at £5995 than financing silly amounts of credit

BeenThroughItAll

Richie_C wrote: »

Thank you for the responses. Reliability was a concern of mind as I would never buy a Renault petrol car as to my knowledge generally french cars aren't that reliable. I just thought being basically battery how hard is it to make i reliable. It was the price that tempted me and potential cost savings of going electric.

I am in no major rush as I have a 10 year old yaris but its never skipped a beat. So I guess the search continues.

Sadly, the one thing Renault have traditionally not been great at (particularly since the Mk2 Laguna first appeared) is complex electrical systems.


I made the same mistake as you - thinking 'how hard can it be to copy what Nissan have done' - and with Nissan and Renault being partners all Renault needed to do was take the Leaf bits and put them in a Renault body; but they couldn't even do that properly, opting to put their 'clever' Chameleon inverter/charger system and a different motor spec.

BeenThroughItAll

jeepjunkie wrote: »

Better off with a new Dacia at £5995 than financing silly amounts of credit

Aside from the fact that I'd argue a Dacia is nothing more than a crappy old-model Renault re-styled and re-badged and then built to even lower standards, I'd agree with that to a point.


OP - check the financials stack up. For me, the PCP on the Zoe made sense because I was paying a total of £167 for the car on a 10.5K limit, and I could charge it for free at work and several other locations I'd often be at - I never charged it at home except for a couple of occasions.


Compared to the £300+ I was spending on fuel for my Jeep Grand Cherokee at the time, I saved £130 a month straightaway; with no VED to pay on top, cheaper insurance, and far cheaper maintenance.


Sadly, my Zoe turned out to be complete crap, and as a result I make it my life's mission to put people off buying Renaults and save as many people from the Renault ownership experience as I can. Not because the Zoe is fundamentally a bad car - but because Renault, and their dealerships, demonstrated that they do not care in the slightest about looking after their customers.