Renault Battery Lease Hostage

LeaseCompanyHostage

Hi All,

Ideally I'm after advice or suggestions. We own a second hand, 10yr old Renault Zoe with a leased battery. We're fed up of paying for repairs to the car, the suspension in particular breaks at least every 6 months and now the electrics are going. It needs scrapping, but before you do that you have to get out of the battery lease. There's quite a few rants on the internet about how hard Renault finance have made it to get out of the battery lease, I believe several people have tried to challenge it, but ultimately we will have to do as they say, get a Renault dealer to remove the battery and return it to head office, only then will they terminate the lease.

So, since Wednesday I've been trying to organise this, contacted local Renault dealer, they say they've never done this before, have no idea what they are supposed to do. I contacted Renault finance (or Mobilise Financial Services) and they just say that the Renault dealer should know what to do. I think today I've finally got Renault finance to contact Renault dealer with instructions for what they need to do, waiting to be cc'd into the email, we'll see.

But now my frustration is Renault dealer say there's a 6 week waiting list in their servicing department, so at this rate I'll be paying at least 1-2 months more on the lease, for a battery that's in a car which is unusable, sat on my drive. The finance company don't care. So, if I can find the energy to fight this, is there an angle and how could I go about it?

Mildly_Miffed

If the car's going to scrap, then the battery can be returned to Renault easily enough.

I'm not sure why this is an issue suddenly - you were aware of the lease terms before buying the car, right?

WellKnownSid

Mildly_Miffed said:

If the car's going to scrap, then the battery can be returned to Renault easily enough.

I'm not sure why this is an issue suddenly - you were aware of the lease terms before buying the car, right?

Gary Clayton identified that the contract terms were not clear at all when it came to cancellation, but he pulled out of the court case because his original claim was quite thin and he hasn’t been allocated to the small claims track - so would have been on the hook for losses.

Don’t forget this was all done at a time when people thought EV batteries would last for a couple of years tops not that the battery would long outlive the car so a lease which covered battery health indefinitely seemed to be a really sensible thing.

The OP should check the option to buy out the battery as many people report this figure has been reduced massively of late.

born_again

You can buy out the lease.

https://www.gogreenautos.co.uk/buyers-guide/battery-lease-explained

LeaseCompanyHostage

I was aware I was leasing the battery. I wasn't aware that if the car died it was now my responsibility to get the battery removed and returned, that it had to be done through a Renault dealer, that the Renault dealer wouldn't know how to do it, that they might have a 6 week wait on their garage services and that the whole time I still have to pay the monthly lease.

I don't want to buy the battery. The car is worthless and I don't want to have to figure out and go through the process of trying to sell a battery and car parts to try and recoup whatever I'd have to pay for the battery.

As I said, I've seen other peoples efforts to fight what feel like unfair lease terms, if they haven't managed it, I won't. The thing I feel is a bit different here is I have to continue paying the lease for the battery maybe for 2 months, because I'm only allowed to get it removed by Renault and they have delayed starting that process through the incompetence of not knowing how to do it and have advised that it could be at least 6 weeks till they can 'fit it in'.

WellKnownSid

Get in touch with Gary C - he may value the car as spares…

vacheron

As others above have implied, are you obliged to remove and return the battery, or just return the battery? If the latter and you are scrapping the car anyway, just have it delivered, still inside the car, to the lease company! 

Ectophile

Other than the suspension problems, is the car still any good?

If so, get a different garage to fix the suspension properly, not with parts made from cheese.  A Zoe is quite a heavy vehicle for its size, so will put more strain on the suspension.  But that's no reason it should break every few months.

Then buy out the battery.  Get a quote from Mobilize.

An older Zoe with a leased battery is practically worthless.  But a battery owned one is a nice little local runaround for somebody as a second car.

LeaseCompanyHostage

It's not just the suspension now, it has multiple electrical problems, some fluid leaking out of it and I think an issue with the steering column. I don't consider it safe enough to even drive it to garage to get it scrapped, going to have to arrange transport.

LeaseCompanyHostage

Updating this, in case it's useful one day. So far I have:

1. Got Mobilize Finance to send an email to my local Renault dealer with me on cc telling them where the instructions on the Renault Intranet are for removing the battery and also saying 'it is free of charge to the customer'
2. Had the local Renault dealer respond on email saying they can't do battery removal and that Mobilize Finance need to provide an alternative solution
3. Made a formal complaint to Renault customer services, who, whilst I was on the phone for 1hr, phoned Renault Sunderland who said they can't do it, phoned Renault Durham who didn't answer, phoned Renault Hartlepool who said they could do it, but that I needed to get Mobilize Finance to confirm to them who was paying for it
4. Phoned Mobilize Finance who wouldn't email Renault Hartlepool, but told me that I needed to pay full costs of battery removal and delivery and ignored anything I said about the email they sent (see point 1)
5. Phoned Renault Hartlepool just to get it booked in, got told the service manager wasn't in, phone back few days time
6. Phoned Renault Hartlepool was told service manager wasn't available but would give me a call back
7. Emailed Renault Hartlepool to check they had my phone number right, got an email response saying they couldn't do the battery removal
8. Phoned Renault customer services, who said they'll phone some more Renault dealers tomorrow...
9. Made a formal complaint to Mobilize Finance that under the Consumer Protection Act 2015, the terms of the agreement are impossible to fulfil and they need to provide a solution within 14 days or I'll file a complaint with the financial ombudsman and that they need to agree to monthly lease payments ceasing in the meantime

Coveredinbees!!!!

What happens if you stop paying the lease, will the come and repossess it?