Personally, I would ask some of the motoring press to intervene, perhaps even HJ, (who is I add highly respected because he is not always on the side of the motorist when things are doubtful or "taking the ""MICK"" ")

An engine block costs Renault about £500 ish, so they could do better for you, and after my experiences over 35 years in the trade, I know that my boss would be pressing very hard for you, especially if you have a full Renault service history.

Stay Polite, and escalate gently and ultimately be prepared to go down the legal route, but if your facts are correct, you don't have much to fear.

Good luck!

Edited by oldroverboy. on 29/04/2016 at 20:28

Have you tried speaking directly to Renault customer relations about this?

Two questions:

1) How did this lead to a "near fatal" accident? A snapping belt (or a stalled engine) does not lead to loss of control of the car.

The OP doesn't say there was an accident but implies a 'near miss'. Cambelt failure caused more than just loss of powere with damage sufficient to seriously reduce rpm?

Thanks to everybody who took the time to reply.RCS have been 'sitting on this' for the past 2 months which is why exasperation(desperation even)is setting in

Specifically to Cyd,

1) I must tell the wife (who was driving) to stop making such a fuss. A car 'dying' at 60 in the middle of the motorway shouldn't be such a big deal.

2) Well,yeah, that's my whole point. Renault are profiteering on ME, a loyal customer for the past 10 years.

Check out my original post. Their dealerships now have notices advising you to cahnge your cambelts at 75,000 miles (96,000 for Lagunas.) Ours snapped at 38,000. So it's partly our fault ?

Christ Cyd,calm down. If i sounded 'snide and snotty' please accept my apologies. I appreciate your contribution but,regarding point 1, there's a wider issue here about the consequences of a cambelt suddenly snapping. Almost every week , you hear about somebody crashing on the motorway and immediately it's a case of 'the guy must have fallen asleep' or 'he had a blackout (the latest, last week in France). After the wife's experience, I'm beginning to wonder. Regarding point 2, I really don't know what to say.Renault have quoted £5200 for the repair (the diagnostics, incidentally,were £600 +) and, as she's always got the work done at the main dealership, she's reluctant to go anywhere else. Even if it's a rip off. Thanks again for your time.(especially the facts/emotion comments)

Now,that's exactly what I mean

Absolutely right to mention the fear factor, ORB. Just imagine doing 70 mph in the outside lane of a motorway, having just overtaken an HGV doing 50 which is in the middle lane passing a clapped-out Vauxhall doing 40 on the inside. Your cambelt snaps.....Steering without PAS and braking without a servo is no joke.

Without trying to defend Renault, I can see why manufacturers are reluctant to be too generous to claims outside the warranty period - for fear of setting precedents. I'm sure your wife has driven the car properly for its 38,000 miles: but for all Renault know it could have done 30,000 miles in its first year being caned out of its life by a target-driven rep, and then 8,000 in the next four years by someone driving no further than the shops.

Their offer to pay 60 % seems reasonable, but of course that's 60 % of the high cost of having it done by a dealer. Worth checking that it's really as much as £5,000: it shouldn't be surely? And as others suggest, try to get more out of them if you can.

The alternative, possibly, is finding an independent garage who may be able to source a reconditioned engine for a lot less, even if you have to pay it all.

I'm coming to the discussion quite late here, but on balance I think the OP has got a raw deal.

Car serviced correctly by main dealer who supplied the car new, cambelt snaps before both mileage and age are reached as stated in the owner's manual.

So, write to the Dealer Principal or General Manager, recorded delivery with signature, state the facts, no emotion or exaggeration.

Make it clear that the original contract of sale is with them NOT Renault UK and you expect them to put you back in a position you were in before the failure occurred.

This has nothing to do with any warranty, this is to do with 'fitness for purpose' and being 'of satisfactory quality'.

If the dealer wants to approach Renault UK for financial help, that's fine, it's not your problem.

As someone else has said, the backing of one of the motoring mags could go a long way to help. Contact the consumer editors/complaints pages of Auto Express and Autocar. Get advice from the CAB.

This engine is also supposed to be one of the better diesels around; it also goes into various Nissan and Dacia models.

Good luck and please keep us regularly updated on this site.

Just thinking-Cambelts snapping, not being replaced, not being advised to change, not being done, botched, change every 4 years or every 5 or every 60,000 miles., misleading service advice re cambelts....this is all a massive consumer muddle.

Is there a new car now available that that doesn't have or need a cambelt or a timing chain ?

The problem often is the dealers themselves are not sure or aware of timing belt intervals. I went into a Citroen dealership to discuss the possibility of buying a new car from them when my car was 3 years old and he was demanding that I should have the timing belt changed but, when I checked the interval was 10years or 80,000miles. So didn't need doing for another 7 years.

Of course there is the otherside, a friend of mine had a timing belt changed by a dealership and the new belt broke a week later (most likely not been installed correctly) but, the dealership did repair the damage.

I don't know of any 4 stroke engines without a belt or chain.

I wouldn't want to have to pay more than the cost of a timing belt and waterpump change but, having said that it probably would be a grand at a main dealer.