Renault Battery Lease Hostage

LeaseCompanyHostage

I don't 100% know, but I've seen people comment elsewhere on the internet that they screw up your credit rating.

I should have added a 10. I've tried contacting Gary Clayton and the Guardian because they wrote an article back in December 2024 about Renault Zoe battery leases. Neither have responded.

born_again

LeaseCompanyHostage said:

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

They have 8 weeks to respond to a complaint. If they issue a deadlock letter before than you can go to FOS. 

WellKnownSid

Gary C explains it quite well in the recent video - lots of issues with the Renault contract but he hadn’t sought legal advice before trying to take them to court. He also didn’t fully understand the different tracks.

LeaseCompanyHostage

I've watched all the videos now, I still don't see an obvious way forward. What I took away is the lease contract itself might be invalid on the basis that the costs of battery removal are not clear. To launch a small claims case you need to have suffered a financial loss.

In my case the financial loss would be 1) the cost of paying the monthly lease for an unuseable car, because there is not route to scrapping it, 2) if I do eventually find a dealer to perform the work, the cost of getting the unuseable car there. But I have to wait till I suffer that loss and then it needs to be over a certain value to be worth pursuing?

Update from today's call to Renault about my complaint (they didn't call me back despite saying Tuesday that they would), they phoned and 'internal emailed' the Durham dealer, who said they can't do removal. They say they are going to phone Darlington and Carlisle dealers and get back to me.

Mobilize Finance, as usual, have not responded to emails or any attempts to contact them.

born_again

Any HEVRA repair shops in your area. They would be able to do it & might buy the car off you just to get the battery for repairing other cars.

https://hevra.org.uk/ev-garages-near-me/

Kinghorn Electric Vehicles are in Durham.

rollingmoon

Pay a garage to remove the battery and stick it on a pallet. Bridge the car and ask Renault where they would like their battery sent.

WellKnownSid

I recall from one of the videos Gary did say something along the lines of “it would have been straightforward if I wanted to just scrap the car - the issue is because I want to hand back the battery and keep the car for parts”

Given that cars are written off all the time I’m confident insurers aren’t having these issues so there must be a way around it. Somehow.

LeaseCompanyHostage

born_again said:

Any HEVRA repair shops in your area. They would be able to do it & might buy the car off you just to get the battery for repairing other cars.

https://hevra.org.uk/ev-garages-near-me/

Kinghorn Electric Vehicles are in Durham.

I might phone some, but they would need to agree to take over the lease, or I need to buy out the battery at a price that makes it economically viable. It's still wrong that there isn't a way to scrap the vehicle

rollingmoon said:

Pay a garage to remove the battery and stick it on a pallet. Bridge the car and ask Renault where they would like their battery sent.

The lease, and Mobilize, say it has to be a Renault dealer. If I'm going to challenge the lease there's a bunch of ways I can do it, but currently plan to wait it out the 8 weeks till I can get the ombudsman involved or try taking Mobilize to court for financial loss.

WellKnownSid said:

I recall from one of the videos Gary did say something along the lines of “it would have been straightforward if I wanted to just scrap the car - the issue is because I want to hand back the battery and keep the car for parts”

Given that cars are written off all the time I’m confident insurers aren’t having these issues so there must be a way around it. Somehow.

You'd have thought so, but I've not yet heard of any Renault dealer actually removing one of these batteries and have several that have confirmed in writing that they can't.

born_again

LeaseCompanyHostage said:

born_again said:

Any HEVRA repair shops in your area. They would be able to do it & might buy the car off you just to get the battery for repairing other cars.

https://hevra.org.uk/ev-garages-near-me/

Kinghorn Electric Vehicles are in Durham.

I might phone some, but they would need to agree to take over the lease, or I need to buy out the battery at a price that makes it economically viable. It's still wrong that there isn't a way to scrap the vehicle

Sadly this is where people fall down. It's all in the T/C which many never read 🤷‍♀️

If they take it off your hands they either they will pay up the lease, or ask you to do it. 
It could be that they repair & resell the car or just use it for spares.

Ectophile

born_again said:

LeaseCompanyHostage said:

born_again said:

Any HEVRA repair shops in your area. They would be able to do it & might buy the car off you just to get the battery for repairing other cars.

https://hevra.org.uk/ev-garages-near-me/

Kinghorn Electric Vehicles are in Durham.

I might phone some, but they would need to agree to take over the lease, or I need to buy out the battery at a price that makes it economically viable. It's still wrong that there isn't a way to scrap the vehicle

Sadly this is where people fall down. It's all in the T/C which many never read 🤷‍♀️

If they take it off your hands they either they will pay up the lease, or ask you to do it. 
It could be that they repair & resell the car or just use it for spares.

Having watched the videos by Gary C, the problem is that the lease is badly written, and relies on third parties (franchised Renault dealers) who have no obligation to remove the batteries for Mobilize.

So you end up with a lease that cannot be complied with, other than paying the monthly fee forever.

But since it's not a simple case, it won't go through the usual small claims procedure if it's taken to court, even though the batteries are now worth less than £2000.  So that means lawyers and spiralling legal expenses.