Independent servicing & maintaining warranty

mikrt

Hi,

My nearly 4 year old Renault Zoe is due it's 4th annual service next month.

Cost with Renault is £526, this includes ~£200 for new 12v battery, along with new brake fluid, over the usual B service.

If I buy a genuine new Renault battery and hand it to local ev independent garage to fit as part of the service, would this keep the warranty valid please? (Cost online of battery is £75 supplied (yes, genuine Nissan/Renault))

QrizB

Is this a weird Renault Zoe thing?

12v batteries aren't generally service items, are replaced on failure rather than routinely, and can be replaced by almost anyone (including DIY) without affecting the service history.

Will your garage even fit parts that the owner supplies? My local one won't, but the bloke-in-a-barn up the road will.

born_again

mikrt said:

Hi,

My nearly 4 year old Renault Zoe is due it's 4th annual service next month.

Cost with Renault is £526, this includes ~£200 for new 12v battery, along with new brake fluid, over the usual B service.

If I buy a genuine new Renault battery and hand it to local ev independent garage to fit as part of the service, would this keep the warranty valid please? (Cost online of battery is £75 supplied (yes, genuine Nissan/Renault))

If it is anything like other manufactures warranties. Using a 3rd party garage for servicing requires a invoice stating parts used (usually have to be OEM spec or even manufacture parts) So in reality they would have to supply the battery.
Odd that they change 12V though.

How much is 3rd party garage charging?

Baldytyke88

born_again said:

Odd that they change 12V though.

I recently watched a USA video about cars having 2 batteries. Could this be the case here?

WellKnownSid

QrizB said:

Is this a weird Renault Zoe thing?

12v batteries aren't generally service items, are replaced on failure rather than routinely, and can be replaced by almost anyone (including DIY) without affecting the service history.

Will your garage even fit parts that the owner supplies? My local one won't, but the bloke-in-a-barn up the road will.

12V batteries are service items on hybrids and EVs.  It's an easy enough DIY swap on the Zoe.  Our Jogger has a little 36Ah thing.

born_again

Baldytyke88 said:

born_again said:

Odd that they change 12V though.

I recently watched a USA video about cars having 2 batteries. Could this be the case here?

They do. You have the Drive battery & a 12V battery to run all the standard electrics in the car.

12V is not a service item in my EV. Just gets changed when requires. Only gets a 2 year warranty.

daveyjp

12v battery is good until it isn't.  By all means ask them to do a CCA check (which isn't that important for a none ICE vehicle, but its a check on health), but £200 'just in case' is a rip off.

uknick

If the Zoe is like the i3 the danger with not changing the 12v battery is it can suddenly fail without warning once it reaches a certain age; 6ish years in the case of the i3.  If it does the whole car can brick and it will cost a lot for the dealer to work their way through resetting all the error codes after replacing the 12v battery.

Ectophile

If the 12V battery on a Zoe drops too low when the car is performing its self-tests, then the car will fail hard.  The error(s) you get are pretty unpredictable, but will likely result in the car refusing to start.

While the car has a battery gauge for the main traction battery, there is no warning that the 12V one is failing.  So if you don't replace it every 4 years, you're taking a gamble that it will suddenly leave you stranded.

born_again

You can get bluetooth battery monitors for 12V Fits on 12V battery. As well a battery boosters to jump battery,
Have both myself. As do many other EV owners.

mikrt

Thank you all for your comments so far.

Just to be clear, as I don't seem to have made it clear in my OP, I don't want to change the 12v battery. I have no issues with the battery.

I believe it must be changed on 4th sevice to maintain the warranty.

I am only seeking advice on whether an independent could do this, or do I have to stay with Renault?

If anybody can show me definately where Renault state it's not required, I would be really happy to see it.

Please see my service schedule attached





Edit, before anyone says, I have a 5 year warranty, not 3.