Sods law

That's absolute madness! As long as the oil and filter you've used was at the right spec, and it's been serviced in line with the manufacturer's recommendations (level checks, this that and the other) with genuine parts, then the warranty will still be valid. Don't bend over and foot the bill yourself just because you didn't want to pay £220 for a sodding oil and filter change!!

Buy a service stamp on ebay ;-)

That's what I thought although I guessed it would be one hell of a tussle to make em honour the warranty, they (the dealers) say that to claim on the warranty they must prove to Renault that the car was serviced by a "competant" person ie somebody that is VAT registered. Dunno how it would stand up in law as far as I know the "competant" person can be anyone but I guess it would take the threat of legal action to get on joy on this claim.

Dilbert

Competant to change oil,

I wonder how they define competant? I would have thought anyone 'clever' enough to drive a car was competent to change the oil. The reason most people don't is that they are scared to get their hands dirty.

At the end of the day, it's no more difficult than putting petrol in so I'd go for it.

Good luck anyway

Mike

But worth it though, it'll save you a good few hundred quid, and give you the satisfaction of having beaten them at their own game. They'll want to use you as an example, so others can look at your case and think "don't want that to happen to me, I'll carry on paying the dealer extortionate money to do very little".

The point of view I'd certainly be taking is that it's something that's completely unconnected to anything that'd be touched in servicing, and could not have possibly been prevented by them servicing the car compared to yourself. If you're a member of the RAC/AA, use their legal help. If not, go to the Citizens' Advice Bureau. I can honestly see you winning this one. But whatever you do, don't pay them for the work done, as it might imply that you've accepted that the warranty won't cover it.

Changing the oil at 5k probably wasn't a good idea! During the first year the car requires a certain amount of wear to run in. Leaving the same oil in for the required service interval helps run it in. After the first service it can be beneficial to have shorter service intervals though. It won't be a major problem though so don't worry about it now.

The warranty will only be invalid in respect of things that are actually adjusted or affected during routine servicing. They can't dishonour the warranty on a clutch just because you changed the engine oil yourself. Only if there was some necessary routine maintenance job on the clutch itself which hadn't been done could they claim that. If you post to uk.legal I'm sure someone will come up with the relevant part of SOGA or whatever it is that covers this.

-- Dave Baker

Thats my understanding of the law too, but the dealers having none of it, says they have to fax copies of all service work invoices to Renault before they will reimburse them for warranty work. I feel that the threat of legal action might be required here to get them to get their arses into gear.

Dilbert

That's a new one..........!

Biggles

petermcmillan snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote on 14 Oct 2005 13:27:48 -0700:

Let me guess, your dad told you that.

I have heard that some manufactures use a semi in new cars, then use synthetic on future services, as the semi is supposed to be better for running in & then synthetic is better for prolonging engine life.

That's utter madness! I know plenty of peolpe that are vat registered, but that doesn't make them a competant person. Depends what their business is! OTOH I know plenty of competant people who aren't vat registered...

Nope. Years ago people used to use special running in oils. These days things aren't so bad, but as somebody else has said, they sometimes use a different oil for the first year.

I believe I read it on the Honest John website.

I believe I am competent and am also VAT registered but I am not linked to a garage. In fact I have a whole lot of plant, machinery and kit. There has NEVER been a warranty issue due to service history on any of this stuff. Only in the car industry do you get lame excuses like this not to honour warranty. The car industry and their dealers are a bloody disgrace.

Huw

Wearing parts such as clutch driven plate is not covered by warranty anyhow. Your slave cylinder should be. Any incidental damage caused by the leak is a grey area though I have never had a problem myself. A warranty repair is meant to get you back working. Another thing not normally covered by warranty and has been an issue for as long as I can remember, is that fluids are not covered. So any fluid changed or used during a warranty repair is normally charged to the customer because the manufacturer will not pay the dealer and someone has to pay.

Huw

The message from "Huw" contains these words:

Oh, that ain't true. Comet have the most amazing selection of excuses if you try to take an electrical product back. A mate of mine took a tape player back because it ate tapes and they claimed it was 'cos he used rechargeables in it.

In message , Dilbert writes

A dealer fitted clutch on the Laguna is an 'engine out' job. No, seriously - I've had it done (fortunately on a 'full maintenance' contract hire car, so the lease company got saddled with the bill.) I think it's the 'book' way for all of the Renaults now - it certainly looks to be the case with the Clio, judging by the quote you've been given. You'll be without the car for a good 48 hours and be paying for two full days worth of labour.

If you can't get it repaired under warranty, then take it to a clutch specialist. Where humanly possible, they'll leave the engine where it belongs. The labour charge will be much cheaper, thanks to the reduced job time and non-dealer rates. An added bonus (based on personal experience) is that you won't get lumbered with a whole bunch of new problems caused by the dealer making a dog's dinner of re-fitting the engine.

Got a pit in the garage anyway so I'm gonna invest a couple of hundred quid in an engine crane. Think my MO is gonna be unbolt steering rack, drop subframe and lower engine tranny as far as hoses etc will allow then try to split engine, box in the car.

Interestingly the HBL (haynes Book of Lies says this car has a cable operated clutch, wish it bloody had ! LOL

Dilbert