Rusty Radiator Support Bar - Ongoing Warranty Claim

[Yiannis197]

Hi all,

There have been many threads on this including this good one;

https://clio197.net/threads/front-radiator-support-aka-front-subframe-please-read.59899/

but let's have a definitive thread with names/cars about this ongoing issue. It clearly seems that Renault has been using some totally substandard parts for this but they don't want to accept liability for either avoiding a possible recall or having to foot out the bill on MANY rusty support bars.

The warranty wording can be found here;

https://www.cdn.renault.com/content...tersales/Warranty_UK_Vehicles_FROM_010911.pdf

and the section on question states;

"The Anti-Corrosion Warranty covers repair or replacement of corroded parts of the Vehicle's bodywork and sub-frame subject to them being a result of a manufacturer defect, material fault or the application of anti-corrosion products recommended by the manufacturer."

My car is currently at Renault Enfield and only just this evening I heard back from Renault UK who told me that they can not go through with the claim because the dealership reported that the part is not a manufacturer defected one. When I challenged them (i.e. so how would they class a rusty subframe that is going to cause an MOT failure?) they could only tell me that they are not technical people and that they can only go with what the authorised dealer said. Which was terribly poor. They suggested to book my car in with another dealership in case they actually admit that it is indeed a manufacturer defected item which was even more laughable. Consistency in diagnosis and authenticity goes right out of the window.

I'm going to pick up my car tomorrow and I'll ask them to put their reasoning and refusal to honor the warranty in writing but I'll be preparing a case against them, mainly out of principle as I've totally had enough having to deal with their dodgy dealerships and atrocious customer service through the years because of their substandard parts. Melting steering wheels, gearboxes, steering racks, rusty bootlids, rusty subframes and the list goes on.

I will also be collecting evidence from relevant people to state/prove the obvious - that a rusty part under the car is indeed a defected item either because the material is bad or the paint treatment is not sufficient. There have been reports (Renault Sport forums) with pictures of an one year old support bar and it is rusty! So please feel free to share any similar experience.

 

[Doogle]

I would suggest ringing Renault UK. I applied for my bootlid to be repaired/replaced under anti corrosion warranty 2 years ago. The dealer in Plymouth (Vospers) were useless. Didnt bother with service history or paint depth. Didnt hear anything for weeks and wasnt getting anywhere ringing the dealers up. Rang Renault UK and within 3 days it was booked in for repair.

 

[Yiannis197]

post by mistake

 

[Yiannis197]

@Doogle This is how I opened my case. The first thing I did was to call Renault UK and explain the situation. They asked for pictures and I sent them a few clearly showing the rust. I identified the part I was talking about and I also mentioned that according to the T&Cs it "should" be covered. They then arranged for Renault Enfield to have a look so I dropped my car to them for inspection.

And then the fun began.

1. I received a text from REnfield at 10:30am with a link of the inspection video. The mechanic actually confirms the rusty part.
2. I received a phone all at 12:30pm telling me that the Renault extended warranty is 10 years and not 12 therefore my car is not covered. When I challenged it they told me to call Renault UK instead as they couldn't call them themselves.
3. I called RUK a few times and eventually the person dealing with my case returns my call to inform me that that the dealership was still inspecting my vehicle and that the warranty is indeed 12 years.
4. I finished work the same day and since I hadn't heard anything else I decided to call RUK again. The person is now gone and noone can provide any info. I'm to the point that I didn't know whether to pick up my car of leave it there. I opted for the latter but I called Renault Enfield for a chat. To my surprise they told me that they hadn't done anything to my car since morning as they would wait for a call from RUK...someone is clearly lying here..
5. I sent an email to the person in RUK expressing my frustration and I left it to that up until Tuesday.
6. On Tuesday I received a call from RUK at 17:00 (after several phonecalls) to tell me that the damage is not covered because the part is not a manufacturer defect. I asked in which category a rusty subframe falls into and they couldn't tell me because there are not technical and that they are only the mediators. So first was the 10 years excuse, now is that.
7. On Wednesday I called the mechanic who dealt with my car to get some more technical information. I got nothing. Instead, i told him that the Renault anti corrosion warranty clearly states that subframe and bodywork are covered. He asked for that pdf so as he can forward it to their warranty team (that guys was actually helpful). I emailed it to him amongst online cases of the same problem including a case that RUK actually covered the damage.
8. He got back to me saying that if the car has service records up to their standards then Renault will cover for it.
9. That didn't last long, he after 15 minutes emailed me with this;



So our good old Renault, instead of admitting that the parts that they are using are substandard they just went out and changed the wording in the actual warranty, which I think is illegal anyway but this is a different matter.

So here I am again, literally fuming with RUK because they initiated all this, completely missing out this vital piece of info. In all honestly, if they had got back to me after my first email with the above clause I'd be like "ok fair enough" and leave it to that. But this is an absolute mess. They don't know their ass from their elbow and as a result they costed so much aggro and inconvenience that out of principle I'll take it to the end.

Anyhow, I sent another email to RUK explaining the above and asking for them to cover it as a gesture of good will, I was in fact planning to go and pick up my car anyway as I wasn't expecting a reply.

I then got a message!! saying that they can't accept phonecalls but they spoke to Renault Enfield and waiting a reply. Not sure what is going to happen but I don't hold high hopes.

Very poor customer service, let's see what tomorrow brings.

 

[Doogle]

@Doogle This is how I opened my case. The first thing I did was to call Renault UK and explain the situation. They asked for pictures and I sent them a few clearly showing the rust. I identified the part I was talking about and I also mentioned that according to the T&Cs it "should" be covered. They then arranged for Renault Enfield to have a look so I dropped my car to them for inspection.

And then the fun began.

1. I received a text from REnfield at 10:30am with a link of the inspection video. The mechanic actually confirms the rusty part.
2. I received a phone all at 12:30pm telling me that the Renault extended warranty is 10 years and not 12 therefore my car is not covered. When I challenged it they told me to call Renault UK instead as they couldn't call them themselves.
3. I called RUK a few times and eventually the person dealing with my case returns my call to inform me that that the dealership was still inspecting my vehicle and that the warranty is indeed 12 years.
4. I finished work the same day and since I hadn't heard anything else I decided to call RUK again. The person is now gone and noone can provide any info. I'm to the point that I didn't know whether to pick up my car of leave it there. I opted for the latter but I called Renault Enfield for a chat. To my surprise they told me that they hadn't done anything to my car since morning as they would wait for a call from RUK...someone is clearly lying here..
5. I sent an email to the person in RUK expressing my frustration and I left it to that up until Tuesday.
6. On Tuesday I received a call from RUK at 17:00 (after several phonecalls) to tell me that the damage is not covered because the part is not a manufacturer defect. I asked in which category a rusty subframe falls into and they couldn't tell me because there are not technical and that they are only the mediators. So first was the 10 years excuse, now is that.
7. On Wednesday I called the mechanic who dealt with my car to get some more technical information. I got nothing. Instead, i told him that the Renault anti corrosion warranty clearly states that subframe and bodywork are covered. He asked for that pdf so as he can forward it to their warranty team (that guys was actually helpful). I emailed it to him amongst online cases of the same problem including a case that RUK actually covered the damage.
8. He got back to me saying that if the car has service records up to their standards then Renault will cover for it.
9. That didn't last long, he after 15 minutes emailed me with this;

View attachment 133518

So our good old Renault, instead of admitting that the parts that they are using are substandard they just went out and changed the wording in the actual warranty, which I think is illegal anyway but this is a different matter.

So here I am again, literally fuming with RUK because they initiated all this, completely missing out this vital piece of info. In all honestly, if they had got back to me after my first email with the above clause I'd be like "ok fair enough" and leave it to that. But this is an absolute mess. They don't know their ass from their elbow and as a result they costed so much aggro and inconvenience that out of principle I'll take it to the end.

Anyhow, I sent another email to RUK explaining the above and asking for them to cover it as a gesture of good will, I was in fact planning to go and pick up my car anyway as I wasn't expecting a reply.

I then got a message!! saying that they can't accept phonecalls but they spoke to Renault Enfield and waiting a reply. Not sure what is going to happen but I don't hold high hopes.

Very poor customer service, let's see what tomorrow brings.

Clearly been through the mill, not good. Im tempted to take mine into my local dealer just to see what would happen.

 

[petercronin]

I feel your pain, they are an absolute shambles to deal with at times (both RUK and seemingly many of the dealers).

I can’t get you any evidence but I know for certain that I’ve read about a number of these being replaced under the anti-corrosion warrantee. Like you say it must be illegal for them to change the t&c’s like that, if that’s allowed there would be absolutely nothing stopping them doing that as soon as somebody bought a car - “sorry everything on your brand new car is now classed as a consumable”. I’d like to think if you can get a few people who’ve had it done under warrantee and then a bit of a threat of I’m going to take legal advice might get the ball rolling. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[turkie172]

My subframe was replaced by Renault at the end of 2014 and I have the paperwork and has obvious rust on it I wonder how that stands with Renault and if it would be considered under trading standards as not fit for purpose. Lack of anticorrosion or insufficient anticorrosion would be regarded as a design or manufacturing fault it should last a reasonable amount of time. But I remember Eddie letting us know on the form that Renault had a cutoff in Nov for warranty claims on this part.

 

[RichCUp]

My mate took his in and although they admitted the part was rusty and required changing they wouldn’t do it under warranty because the car had only had 7 services and not one every year (9 with the age of the car). You can literally break chunks of his subframe off with your hand it’s that rusty! They wouldn’t even offer to pay any of the repair cost if done at their dealership either. Awful service

 

[RSRowe]

I just cut the legs off mine and left the bar to support the rad.
No more rust now

 

[Yiannis197]

UPDATE.

The car has now been repaired under warranty. Even though they changed the warranty clauses they eventually - and after many phonecalls and emails - decided to honour it as a gesture of good will. Maybe they realised that I simply wouldn't go away who knows...

Positive outcome but it shouldn't really be that difficult. This is my second anti-corrosion claim with the first one being much easier (bubbly paint in the boot lid under the rear window). There is no argument as to whether the part on question is substandard or not. EVERY single mk3 clio has a rusty support bar, that should either be a recall or at least a re-design of the part.

Thanks for the comments and good luck to whoever decides to go for it.

 

[lewishunter98]

Glad to hear they honoured it in the end! Surprisingly my rad support bar is not rusty at all. Not sure whether the previous owner managed to get it done or what!

However, my tailgate does have the slight bubbling under the paint(under the wiper) and I'm not sure whether I even want to attempt to get it replaced after the hassle you've had [emoji28]

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

 

[Doogle]

Glad to hear they honoured it in the end! Surprisingly my rad support bar is not rusty at all. Not sure whether the previous owner managed to get it done or what!

However, my tailgate does have the slight bubbling under the paint(under the wiper) and I'm not sure whether I even want to attempt to get it replaced after the hassle you've had [emoji28]

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

My tailgate claim was fairly easy tbf. You dont ask, you dont get.

 

[Doogle]

I just cut the legs off mine and left the bar to support the rad.
No more rust now

Any pics? Any problems caused by this? Intrigued as to why Renault designed it as they did if its not needed?

 

[Doogle]

UPDATE.

The car has now been repaired under warranty. Even though they changed the warranty clauses they eventually - and after many phonecalls and emails - decided to honour it as a gesture of good will. Maybe they realised that I simply wouldn't go away who knows...

Positive outcome but it shouldn't really be that difficult. This is my second anti-corrosion claim with the first one being much easier (bubbly paint in the boot lid under the rear window). There is no argument as to whether the part on question is substandard or not. EVERY single mk3 clio has a rusty support bar, that should either be a recall or at least a re-design of the part.

Thanks for the comments and good luck to whoever decides to go for it.

Very glad they did it under warranty

 

[RSRowe]

Any pics? Any problems caused by this? Intrigued as to why Renault designed it as they did if its not needed?

I'll try get some tonight.
Only issue is if you crash I think, as they would butt up to the subframe in the event of a head on collision.

 

[Doogle]

I'll try get some tonight.
Only issue is if you crash I think, as they would butt up to the subframe in the event of a head on collision.

That makes sense. I haven't checked mine out to see how rusty it is so I need to get underneath in the summer.

 

[Rated]

I seem to have the same problem, was made aware of it from ktec and phoned Renault UK straight away. They simply passed it off saying I would have to call my local Renault. After a few phone calls to them all they did was say they can inspect it for an hours labour (£120) and see if I would be able to claim it under warranty. If it's not covered then it's a complete waste of money. I believe I have seen this part online for roughly £160 odd. So paying £120 just doesn't even seem worth it as I know they will just try to wriggle out of doing it like most people with warranties. Can't imagine it being too difficult to replace?

 

[DS197]

I seem to have the same problem, was made aware of it from ktec and phoned Renault UK straight away. They simply passed it off saying I would have to call my local Renault. After a few phone calls to them all they did was say they can inspect it for an hours labour (£120) and see if I would be able to claim it under warranty. If it's not covered then it's a complete waste of money. I believe I have seen this part online for roughly £160 odd. So paying £120 just doesn't even seem worth it as I know they will just try to wriggle out of doing it like most people with warranties. Can't imagine it being too difficult to replace?

My local specialist charged an hours labour to replace the part, front bumper needs to come off too but overall I imagine it's not very difficult to replace at home.