Read Before You Buy

I don’t want or expect anything from Renault, I am simply sharing my experience as a warning to future buyers.

I would like to start by saying that my first car was a Renault and my experience was wonderful, the service was amazing and the people were kind and helpful. I could not understand why they had such a bad reputation. So, when I bought my second Renault, I thoroughly loved it and I had recommended the brand to my fiancé and my parents – both bought Renaults based on my recommendation.

My 2015 Renault Captur 1.2T Dynamic EDC was using a lot of oil. I reported it when I booked its 60 000km service at Renault Bryanston in Dec 2019. The lady who took the booking told me that it was a conspiracy by the petrol stations to "upsell" me. This was the second time that I reported it, the first time I got a very wishy-washy “meh” so I insisted that she make a note. When my fiancé took the car in for the service, she again told him it was a conspiracy. My car was serviced and the service department reset the oil sensor. On 6 Feb 2020, my car needed oil (2 pints). I took it back to Renault Bryanston and spoke to the Service Manager. We then started an oil consumption test. After the required 1000km I took my car back and was advised that it did use an abnormal amount of oil and that he was going to process a warranty claim. He was going to let me know. After a week, I tried to contact him multiple times - not only did the receptionist sigh at me when I asked to leave a message - but he also was either never available or never bothered to return any of my calls. I eventually got hold of him and he told me that he had done the claim and was waiting to hear from Renault. On the call I asked if I can drive my car and he confirmed that I could drive the car without worry. Shortly after, I received a frantic call from a lady who urgently needed my odometer reading to submit a warranty claim (?)

On 16 Mar 2020, my car broke. I phoned the Service Manager (again it took two or three phone calls to get hold of him) who told me to have it towed to the nearest Renault dealer. I asked him if it would not be better to take my car to Bryanston, but he said not to as any Renault branch could pick up the warranty claim. My car was then towed to Renault Edenvale who called me to tell me that when they asked Bryanston about the warranty claim, they were told that I never completed the 1000kms oil consumption test, so Bryanston had not submitted the claim. I was also told that Bryanston and Edenvale were arguing about who would do the repairs to my car.

After some time, Edenvale informed me that they think the problem is that a spark plug broke and they suspected that fragments of the spark plug fell into and damaged the engine. My car was still under its Factory Warranty and Renault Edenvale submitted a claim. On 23 Mar 2020, a service advisor called me to inform me that there were penalties on my claim. The reason for the penalties is that I took the car in for its 45 000km service at 42 000km, and then again for its 60 000km at 60 000km – effectively servicing it late and compromising the warranty. The penalties were a R10 000 (cost to me) strip and quote fee and a maximum of R50 000 (cost to me) to repair or replace the engine.

I asked the service advisor a couple of questions about the penalties, but he could not answer me as "(he) was simply reading the Warranty Department's response to the claim". So, I tried to contact the Warranty Department to discuss my questions, but was unable to speak to anyone despite making more than 10 calls, one phone call to Renault Edenvale's warranty representative, who could not talk to me "because he had people from Liquid Capital there and is a little too busy."

In desperation my fiancé called the Service Manager at Renault Edenvale who was going to take the matter up with the Regional Manager and call us back on 24 Mar 2020. That never happened. SA went into lockdown and I could reach no-one for an update on my car. I was also not offered a courtesy car as "there are 10 people waiting for lone vehicles".

I sent a detailed complaint to Renault Customer Care, stating the points that I was trying to discuss with the Warranty Department. i.e. • I had never had any intervention with the spark plugs on that engine • I held documentation from Renault Bryanston stating that four spark plugs were replaced during the 30 000km service • I held documentation from Renault Bryanston stating that four spark plugs were replace during the 60 000km service

I know they were trying to get out of repairing my car under warranty with a technicality, fine, but what I did not understand was why a Renault part, sourced and fitted to a Renault engine by a Renault service centre could break and not be covered by some sort of workmanship or parts guarantee. I was further baffled when I read on Renault’s online service schedule that these spark plugs are normally only replaced at 60 000km. So, why were my car’s spark plugs replaced twice before 60 000km?

Renault Customer Care did not even acknowledge receipt of my complaint, and I went into lockdown with no means of transport.

On 4 May, I again contacted Customer Care and on 8 May, Customer Care called me. Before I went on with the call, I asked the representative if he had read my complaint. He said no, so I relayed my story once more. He then told me that Renault will not repair my car under the warranty because the warranty was compromised as I serviced the car “late”. When I asked what would happen if my car was out of warranty and a part that Renault fitted broke (did Renault not guarantee their workmanship or parts?) he told me no, that is how it works – they would claim it from the warranty. I was quite emotional at this stage and I put my fiancé on speaker phone and informed the representative that I was bringing my fiancé into the conversation. The representative got aggressive immediately and when I told my fiancé what he had told me regarding the warranty the representative got very angry, speaking over me and raising his voice. When my fiancé asked him if Renault did not offer some form or guarantee on their parts/workmanship he told my fiancé that they did not and that we can go to the Ombud if we didn’t like it. He then swore at us and hung up the phone. I called Customer Care and asked to speak to a Manager. I was told that the Customer Care division could not transfer calls to Management, so I asked to be called back and a followed the request up with an email. The manager never called.

Three days later, the customer care representative called me back to tell me that after he read my email he thinks that I do in fact have a case. He apologised for his behaviour and promised to fight for me. Some time passed and Renault agreed to replace the engine due to the fact that I had reported the oil issue before. On 13 June 2020 (3 months later) I collected my car. By that date no-one had even bothered to offer me a courtesy car, in fact when I asked again in April I was told that they were not allowed to give lone vehicles due to COVID – even though other brands were offering courtesy cars.

On 25 August the gearbox broke. On 26 August it was towed back to Renault Edenvale. The compromised warranty was raised again, at which point I shared that I read this interesting article (https://www.hellopeter.com/renault-south-africa/reviews/400-000-renault-engines-are-at-risk-of-failure-***) that claimed a number of Renault engines had a “latent defect”. Renault Edenvale fixed the car and returned it to me on 11 Sept (two weeks later). The service agent said that he thought they damaged the gearbox when they replaced the engine. On the same day the gearbox broke again, I drove it straight back. Renault Edenvale fixed it again and I collected my car on 17 September, the gearbox broke again, I drove straight to the dealership. By 23 Sept I made a follow up call, no resolve. On 2 Oct, I called, no resolve. On 5 Oct I called, no resolve. On 9 Oct I collected my car and it broke again. By this stage they had had a number of experts come to look at my car and another person’s car that had an identical problem (from the broken engine to the broken gearbox).

So, I drove it back to Renault Edenvale and asked them to buy the car from me. This sales person tried to sell me a new Renault, assuring me that the new Renault engines were made in Romania and not in India where my car’s engine was manufactured… I declined the new car. Another sales person called me trying to sell me a pre-owned car. By this stage I had not had a car for 8 months so I had found other means. I declined the offer, insisting I just wanted to sell my car. The sales person then reneged on his original offer saying that had I misunderstood it. I didn’t care at this stage, and just accepted whatever. On 11 Nov I was still waiting for the offer to materialise. I called the service rep who told me that the sales person had discussed it with his manager who discussed it with another manager and it was going to be resolved soon. When I called again to speak to a Manager I was given a lengthy runaround and ended up with the Warranty Department representative. I called back again and finally got through to a Manager (one of the ones it was discussed with) who had no idea what I was talking about, but who when I insisted resolved the sale by 17 Nov 2020.