Subscribe now and choose from over 30 free gifts worth up to £49 - Plus get £25 to spend in our shop
Our car's stupid plastic "key" has broken under normal use and now the immobiliser won't turn off and so the car is undriveable.
The main dealer that supplied the key under a year ago admitted the key is faulty and has agreed to replace it under warranty. However, this will take 5 working days and cause a loss of income for my sister who needs it this weekend. Can we demand a courtesy car as it is the manufacturer's fault? Surely we can't be out of pocket because of this?
The car is under warranty so yes - demand one or at the least demand they reimburse hire car charges. If the latter, get an agreement in writing - I did the same with Poxhall - they said they'd pay as they had no loan cars - they then refused to pay.
I was seriously tempted to burn down the dealership - WARD VAUXHALL in Cornwall - the WORST dealer I have ever dealt with by miles.
sorry, perhaps wasn't clear. Car is 7 years old and out of warranty but key was replaced less than 12 months ago and is under warranty.
Why is the non use of your car, causing your sister loss of income?
pizza delivery?
Talk to the dealer - it might be quicker for them to order the key overnight and send a mechanic over to copy the codes.
Why no spare key?
bruneep, because she displays and sells her clothes at events.
Frankenstein, key takes 5 days from france as standard, no possibility of reducing it. There's no spare key because the immobiliser went last year and they were charging £220 each for the keys alone so we only bought one.
Oh I think I see - out if manufacturers warranty but carrying a used car one? Hmmm - they are usually pretty dodgy.
Might be best just to bite the bullet and hire a car from someone cheap and then try and claim it - might work, might not. Depends on the value of your sisters work I guess.
Bloody hell how much???
Very uprised the U.K. dealer network doesn't keep stock.
No blank ebay or internet alternative?
Depending on car
http://www.partsgateway.co.uk/sitemap/renault-commercial-key-cards.html
Push car down road, use breakdown recovery to recover back to garage. Claim courtesy car from them (assuming its offered on your policy!)
renault electrics frankenstein! an oxymoron if ever I heard one....
car won't be pushed spooky, steering lock is on.
Mat, there is no warranty on the car, only on the key which is the item that failed.
I don't think you've much chance of demanding a free courtesy car for a failed key when the only thing you've got a warranty on is the key. If you ask nicely and there's one available, they might feel inclined to do you a favour; it's not like it costs them a great deal. If you go in all guns blazing, they'll tell you to get stuffed.
Have you no friends who can give her a lift? Taxi?
Playing devil's advocate, if it was that important (critical to the business, etc etc) then you should've got a second key.
keyrepair would have been perfect if it wasn't for them being away this week!
Cougar, she needs to go to BBB, then plymouth, I think a taxi would be too much! Yes, a spare key would be nice, but £220 is a huge amount of money when one is trying to start a business on a shoestring for something that wouldn't have been need if the keycard wasn't so crap!
Where is she based?
Is she going directly from the BBB to Plymouth. I know that there are at least three families attending the BBB who are from Plymouth.
I might be able to get something sorted.
Failing that, if she can get to Southampton I might be able to lend her my Merc for a few days for the cost of adding her to the insurance.
that could be very useful BBB, she's got a lift to the bash sorted now, I'll find out what she's planning afterwards.
Surely we can't be out of pocket because of this?
You're out of pocket because you were too cheap (and rightly so) to not have a spare key after being clumsy enough to lose one. The dealer cannot be expected to pay for this. I'm afraid you just need to suck it up, it's hardly unreasonable for them to take a week to order the parts in and sort it. That said, there may well be plenty of other car security chaps about willing to sort you out with a new key and code.
Have to agree with coffeeking.
No keys have been lost, no flipping way are we going to lose £220 quids worth of plastic! Renault's poo-stain electrics have made us get new ones, we have about 5 useless keycards kicking about. We're going to ask nicely but firmly, if they refuse we will suck it but it's a crap situation 🙁
Send away all the keys for repair and hire a car?
Hang on. You have a grand's worth of broken keys and you still have the car?
If the car had blown it's head gasket 2 or 3 times, you'd be looking to get rid, as it's clearly a recurring problem.
Just sell the thing as soon as you get it fixed.
it came with 3 when we got it s/h and we had been working through them.....Hang on. You have a grand's worth of broken keys and you still have the car?
We prob will sell it now, we had thought "better the devil you know" but have found out that doesn't apply when it's a non renaultsport renault!
live and learn eh?
sorry, perhaps wasn't clear. Car is 7 years old and out of warranty but key was replaced less than 12 months ago and is under warranty.
Sadly not, its tenuous on that side. 🙁
Even when you take your car in for a service nowadays Garages say 'sorry all the courtesy cars are booked up. Annoying.
I've had a Renault Laguna and a Scenic as company cars (not through choice mind you), the Laguna had a faulty key which left me stranded at a motorway service station once and I, like you, was without the car for a week whilst it was being replaced. The Scenic was far worse though, it had a constant electrical problem meaning that it wouldn't start once a week and I had to call the AA out about 6 times to get it towed where it went into the garage for something to be reset, only for it to fail to start the next week; in the end they couldn't diagnose the fault and stripped the entire wiring loom out of the car to rewire it - I got rid at that point.
That's pretty horrific, surely if you're going through keys at that rate it must be a known problem with renault? Haeve you checked on the renault forums?
Bakes - The scenic fault I'll put money on being the immobilised&fuseboard circuit under the dash, it's a common fault on the megane range. About £120 bypasses the immobiliser. Renault want £650 for the board alone.
Leggy have you considered unloading a box-full of shotgun cartridges into the car?