Don’t crash: no parts

[garethwebber]

Written somewhat in anger but I got driven into 100 days ago. The last part order for repairs has either been damaged to write off or lost between France and the UK distribution centre. They won’t tell my local parts department which.

It has now been reordered so that’s another three months.

Whatever you do. Don’t crash.

Gareth

[s111dpc]

I feel your pain, my previous ‘S’ was off the road for 18 months following a non default accident!

[Stablinski]

Bloody hell, that’s unbelievably frustrating and more than a little concerning.

Hope it gets sorted soon.

[James Elmer]

garethwebber said:

Written somewhat in anger but I got driven into 100 days ago. The last part order for repairs has either been damaged to write off or lost between France and the UK distribution centre. They won’t tell my local parts department which.

It has now been reordered so that’s another three months.

Whatever you do. Don’t crash.

Gareth

I’m sorry to hear this, Gareth. Have you tried to get parts expedited by speaking with Renault UK or Alpine UK? I’d waited patiently for 3 months for a front right wheel arch liner grille, then finally called Renault UK and Alpine UK and it arrived 2 days later.

[Terminator X]

Use the Alpine WhatsApp service? I was waiting for the dealer to order me something via the warranty and not a lot happened month after month; after the WhatsApp message they were on it every few days.

TX.

[jont-]

It's ok, they can't get service parts either, had to get a mate in france to post me some rear brake pads which were on the shelf in his local dealer, but alpine UK couldn't give a date

[Colin P]

Unfortunately not a new issue. Can only hope that when they stop production all unused parts get sent to the parts dept and that improves things, otherwise we are in for a world of pain longer term.

I had a warranty part that needed replacing on a brand new car.

After 3 months I involved Wasim at Alpine UK, but gave up after 9 months and ended up buying a part off a scrap vehicle and sent them the bill (which in fairness they paid). In the meantime they were fitting 2 of them to every new car being built, so they did have them.

I never thought anyone could make Lotus parts supply look good, but Alpine do.

[k_m]

Filed a warranty claim for new front brake discs and pads in Germany... it took the service center 2 month to get them... and brakes are service parts.

[croyde]

This is all rather worrying.

Surely a lot of the parts are standard Renault? and brake pads, are there not aftermarket alternatives that the dealer can source.

Those of you without use of your cars for months on end, are you getting a decent temporary replacement.

[garethwebber]

No. I am in a rubbish A3 that keeps trying to drive me back into obstacles I have just crossed a white line to avoid.

[Whaleblue]

garethwebber said:

No. I am in a rubbish A3 that keeps trying to drive me back into obstacles I have just crossed a white line to avoid.

Lane assist I assume? That can usually be turned off.

[croyde]

Yep! and that is why I'll probably never buy another new car again as I believe as of this year non of the 'assists' can be turned off

[Albionmuz]

You can turn them off I think but it has to be done every time you start the car. Too annoying

[Yuri75]

k_m said:

Filed a warranty claim for new front brake discs and pads in Germany... it took the service center 2 month to get them... and brakes are service parts.

Amazing how these are not simply on a shelf somewhere. Today I inquired about a set of rear discs at a local Renault (I know, I know) dealer because I had to be there for business anyway, and they swiftly came up with a number of €275 per disc. My hope spiked, only to be swiftly shot down by the magic word 'backorder'. Surely, after having sold a couple of ten thousands of the A110, Alpine should be able to get their service item supply sorted? Really, how hard can it be?

[garethwebber]

So in good news, parts arrived.

My garage had ordered from a Renault trade centre who then used an alpine dealer and then onto alpine uk. Something clearly broke in this process.

I escalated via Gavin at Orpington and the part got reordered with a car-off-road priority and arrived in a week.

My suggestion is if car off road you escalate. Garage claimed to be checking daily but nothing until I intervened.

Thanks to Gavin if reading.

Gareth

[biggles330d]

Reading things like this, there ought to be an opportunity for a plucky entrepreneur to build an ok business around being a specialist in A110's, including maintenance, setup, upgrades, parts and support over the long term. With may owners seemingly planning to keep for the long term (me included) I'm sure a nationally recognised independent specialist would do fairly well.

[Fady]

biggles330d said:

Reading things like this, there ought to be an opportunity for a plucky entrepreneur to build an ok business around being a specialist in A110's, including maintenance, setup, upgrades, parts and support over the long term. With may owners seemingly planning to keep for the long term (me included) I'm sure a nationally recognised independent specialist would do fairly well.

Would be such a niche market with so few cars - cannot really see it being wholly viable from a business perspective.

[Yuri75]

Yuri75 said:

Amazing how these are not simply on a shelf somewhere. Today I inquired about a set of rear discs at a local Renault (I know, I know) dealer because I had to be there for business anyway, and they swiftly came up with a number of €275 per disc. My hope spiked, only to be swiftly shot down by the magic word 'backorder'. Surely, after having sold a couple of ten thousands of the A110, Alpine should be able to get their service item supply sorted? Really, how hard can it be?

Well, at least the brake discs are available now so I ordered a set even though I don't urgently need them - better to have them on the shelf for when i do than to count on Alpine/Renault having them available. They won't perish and fronts and rears are the same so I can justify the needless expense. Ready for pick-up at the parts counter at the Renault dealer next Monday.

[STSCH]

As a follow up to my wing mirror post, Alpine rang today to confirm that the parts are with my dealer. Seems like good customer care!

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

garethwebber said:

So in good news, parts arrived.

My garage had ordered from a Renault trade centre who then used an alpine dealer and then onto alpine uk. Something clearly broke in this process.

I escalated via Gavin at Orpington and the part got reordered with a car-off-road priority and arrived in a week.

My suggestion is if car off road you escalate. Garage claimed to be checking daily but nothing until I intervened.

Thanks to Gavin if reading.

Gareth

so as a former OEM bod within aftersales, it is amazing to think that so many dealers of all brands don't really understand the parts order process.

You have a stock order or a VOR order.
VOR often comes with a penalty discount so the dealer earns less from it. So they tend to order as stock, which can take between 1 and X days to arrive,

If your car is VOR, you have to ensure that the dealer has ordered the part VOR and then raised its priority to Emergency order ( or other higher priority status).
If its on VOR only, then those dealers raising the priority status for the same part get priority, so you could be 1st in the VOR list of orders, but then another dealer raises the status of his order for the same parts, meaning you get bumped and miss out.
Sometimes you just have to do the job for them, newer parts guys don't always know the process and think VOR is the highest priority you can get.