Morris Minor Owners Club

Following on from my earlier request for advice on the little 'spanner' warning light on our Renault Clio - which was very well and promptly answered by Weelung666 (thank you!) - Renault now want £162 to 'service ' this Clio which has only done 3000 miles in 12 months. It was 3 months 'old' but had done no miles when we bought it. This 'service' consists of changing the engine oil and oil filter - and checking the tyre pressures and a few other obvious things. It looks like it would take 1 hour tops - confirmed by the advice to bring the car in before 3pm because we close at 4pm!!
So - does anyone think this is a fair deal ?
What happens if we have the car serviced by the local garage who are perfectly competent - and charge about half the Renault amount (still excessive I think!) - will this affect the Warranty if something goes wrong in the coming year? I think I heard there had been a Court Ruling that cars didn't need to be serviced by the manufacturers Dealer. Has anyone any experience of this?

As long as the car is serviced by a competant garage (federation approved would be best I guess) then the warranty has to be honoured by the manufacturer. I took our new cars to main stealers for years and got ripped off by thousands until I found out about this, now I don't go anywhere near them.

I know for certain that aftermarket filters wont affect manufacturers warranties. But I would ask the dealer what oil they use "so you can top it up if required" ;) and supply some of that to your local garage to make sure they use the correct stuff. Most jus have a big drum of 10w/40 and that goes in everything!

when my mate had his bm seviced he supplied the oil because they rip you off big style,they charge about 60 pounds an hour at a non franchised dealer,why dont you do it your self.

Because of the warranty. Its much easier to prove it was done if you have a receipt for the work rather than just the parts!

Your warranty is still good if your car is serviced by a non franchised garage if:

they are VAT registered.
They use genuine parts.

I am a vat registered garage and I speak from experience.

Thanks lads - but what are 'genuine parts' ? Does this mean it should be a Renault oil filter - and Renault oil ??? The handbook will tell me what grade oil should be used - I feel like asking for the old oil to put in my Minor!! After all - It's only done 3000 easy miles !!
And yes of course I would DIY - but then I'm sure they wouldn't honour any warranty claim in the future.

No such thing as Renault oil but I guess you can get a Renault oil filter.... My lease car is serviced at Nationwide every year - I don't know if they use genuine Ford parts for it or just any old stuff but the lease company seem happy enough....

Did BMC not have their 'own ' oil brand at one time ?

It sounds like a lot of ifs and buts and maybe's to save a few quid and risk your warranty. Which , being french car preservation of the warranty is more than essential. I would just cough up the rip-off £160 odd quid for each service till the warranty is up. But then buying a new car is a rip-off , so whats £165 versus many thousands???

BTW, very bad practise to change the oil on miles alone or when the light comes on. Oil should be changed once every 12 months AS A MINIMUM regardless of milage, because its all those cold starts and short journeys that destroy your oil.

A mate had a new Golf cabriolet (E reg) and was surprised that there wasn't an oil change at 1500 miles like a lot of cars at the time.
Dealer said as long as he used a genuine filter and correct spec oil then no problem. In fact I changed the oil for him.

Another friend was transport manager for a small company and was having problems with time taken by main agents over servicing ie van / driver off road and not earning money. In the end he started using Halfords as they were "approved" (or whatever you'd call it) to do servicing during warrantee period.

Paul Humphries

our local garage is an independent, but approved by renault... thats where the scenic is going

Although the actual service you get from an independent will be just as good as a main dealer service the stamp that goes in the service book will not help maintain the cars value.
I would have thought the car has depreciated by at least £162 a month since it was new.
If you are planning to keep it for 10 years then get it serviced by who you like.
If you are planning to sell it after 3 years bite the bullet and take it to the main dealer.
To most car buyers main dealer stamps in the book means well looked after.

i get my saab done by a saab specalist rather than a main dealer they dont do any unnessary work and they think of your pocket.eg if you need a rear silencer they will put a good second hand one on and charge 30 quid.rather than rip you off with the price of a saab one.my mum had to have an alternator saab one 800 pounds valeo alternator 100 pounds.my saab is now 10 years old will keep untill it disentrigrates.

I'm sure Renault used to endorse Total Oils. But now seem to favour Elf.

http://www.renault.co.uk/ownerservices/ ... promo.aspx

Ahhhh

http://www.total.co.uk/UK/ukcorporate.n ... enDocument

Seems Total owns Elf so I was kind of right.

I was talking to a minicab neighbour the other day. Between him and someone else they do 15,000 miles a month on a petrol engine (Mondeo at the moment two shifts a day) and get 200,000 to 250,000 miles out of a car before they change it.

The secret? they change the oil every week.

Barry - where's that Renault 'approved' garage please??

MarkyB wrote:Although the actual service you get from an independent will be just as good as a main dealer service the stamp that goes in the service book will not help maintain the cars value.
I would have thought the car has depreciated by at least £162 a month since it was new.
If you are planning to keep it for 10 years then get it serviced by who you like.
If you are planning to sell it after 3 years bite the bullet and take it to the main dealer.
To most car buyers main dealer stamps in the book means well looked after.

This is right, if you have a brand new car , with warranty, its crazy trying to save a few tens of ££ and risk your warranty when the car depreciates far more each MONTH! And being a Reanault, you will be lucky if you don't need to claim on the warranty within its period.