Beginning to regret buying a Zoe

[jpringle819]

I am guessing that only a very small number of Zoe owners post on PH. I only went for a Zoe as I was quoted 2 weeks delivery, I wanted an automatic Smart car which wouldn't be available until June. As it is now 2 months since I placed the order I am disappointed even more so when I think I could have the Smart car in a month or so.

[jpringle819]

Apparently the new one will be here on 22nd, will be the same reg number as he hasn't taxed it yet so can transfer it over. Renault want to express how sorry they are by giving us free servicing. What should I believe?

[C. Grimsley]

Had dealings with Renault Leicester and the mechanics I had to deal with was shocking, (not saying they are all the same) work practice was shocking I left without working on there vehicles, wasn't worth my name being put to there customers cars.

Service manger is a tool also.


Hope you get it all sorted but with a dealer that don't know what to do local and the one in Leicester I would not let fix a puncture I feel your in for a bumpy ride.

Carl

[Rockets7]

You sure?

[Rockets7]

You sure?

[spitsfire]

Jump on here and leave them a Google review - they'll likely become more attentive if it affects their reputation.

Bristol Street Renault Derby reviews

[smn159]

elephantstone said:

From what I've gathered most people are regretting buying a zoe on here.

Not me. Excellent service from Renault in Sheffield, car delivered as promised in January and I'm doing around 1k miles per month in it without issue.

[jpringle819]

My wife has just had a phone call from Renault Customers services who mentioned they had seen this thread. Hopefully we will start getting some answers as they are contacting the dealership.

[TransverseTight]

Granfondo said:

Buying an electric car from a manufacturer with a reputation for electrical disasters seems mental to me!

Is the truth. To the point the Zoe has a known problem that when using the central locking whilst connected to an AC Rapid charger it can create a power spike and blows the fuse on the charger. Not popular with other users who arrive after! Hopefully anyone reading this will get into the habit of locking the doors before connecting up. Ecotrcity who run them are having to upgrade the units with remote resettable circuit breakers.

[Phunk]

I'll add my 2P here, I've got a Leaf company car, but I also bought my Mum a Zoe in December.

Even now, 5 months later we still have issues.

First of all they delivered it dirty and without any of the recalls done (including the dash replacement), had to go back to the dealer for that.

Then we noticed that the parking sensors didn't work, back to the dealer again.

Waiting 3 months for a home charger, eventually managed to get Renault to agree to pay for half of a granny cable!

2 weeks into ownership it refused to charge, back to the dealer again.

6 weeks ago we noticed that the TomTom live services weren't working. Called Renault 'Oh those were activated two years ago, it's ran out now' Eventually (this week) after moaning that it's nothing to do with us when they were activated as it's a brand new car we managed to get it activated.

Now all the electric windows apart from the drivers window have stopped working!!

Where as my Leaf - no issues at all

[jpringle819]

It looks like we are picking up the new Zoe tonight, just had one final issue with the finance paperwork to sort out. Who buys a car over two years and wants the battery lease over three years? The plan all along was to hand the car back to the finance company after two years, this was due to having to offload the battery lease to someone else and trying to get a reasonable part exchange on a two year old EV. Also the deal they offered us looked like there would be no chance of any equity in the car after two years.

It is a good job I read the documents properly and contacted the finance company for help as if we had gone with the 3 years lease and handed the car back after 2 it would have meant paying for the last year ourselves. Now I have a 2 year agreement and the extra cost covered by the dealer in the form of a cheque to cover the difference.

[nutey]

jpringle819 said:

It is a good job I read the documents properly and contacted the finance company for help as if we had gone with the 3 years lease and handed the car back after 2 it would have meant paying for the last year ourselves. Now I have a 2 year agreement and the extra cost covered by the dealer in the form of a cheque to cover the difference.

Just spoken to Renault Finance as I have a 3year battery agreement and a 2 year car agreement saving me £240 over the two years on the battery side - so wanted to check I wasn't in for a shock. It seems they changed the Ts & Cs recently - on the agreement I have I can cancel the battery lease anytime after 18months with no penalty. They soon changed the wording on this which is probably reflected in your agreement - at least the dealer has made sure you're not out of pocket...

Hope the Zoe is worth the wait - ours has been great so far...

Edited by nutey on Thursday 23 April 12:59

[jpringle819]

Zoe is now in the drive, even picking it up was fraught with issues. Order form had wrong model on it, warranty information was for a different car and to top it off the number plates were wrong.

[Pit Pony]

Granfondo said:

Buying an electric car from a manufacturer with a reputation for electrical disasters seems mental to me!

BUt they have a good advert on the telly.

[PKLD]

jpringle819 said:

Zoe is now in the drive, even picking it up was fraught with issues. Order form had wrong model on it, warranty information was for a different car and to top it off the number plates were wrong.

Problem with all these new advanced, really impressive machinery is that the same dinosaur buying process remains complete with the usual human errors. Nothing to do with it being an EV, this kind of stuff is a problem with lazy dealers no matter if it's powered by electricity, petrol or diesel... So frustrating!