I purchased a new Peugeot 107 in late September 2008 for my wife. It has always been serviced where it was purchased: Robins & Day in Morden London. It has completed 16,000 miles. Recently it developed a loud noise when the clutch was depressed. I took it to Robins & Day who said they would investigate, at a cost of £80. They gave me a report that it might need a new clutch, but they could not be sure. The advice was to have it fitted and see if the noise went away. This would cost £664. In addition they also found numerous other things wrong: radiator bottom joint rusty, cost £314; water pump leaking, cost £256; rear suspension mountings pierced, cost £143.

The car had been serviced just before its warranty ended and the report showed no defects at all. I was surprised that a car barely three years old had deteriorated that much in just over four months. On receiving news of the replacement clutch required, with no guarantee it would cure the problem, I sourced a comparison quote from Mr Clutch in Kingston. A new clutch was quoted at £270. That is £394 less than R&D. I sent this to R&D for comment and was told it was because R&D uses OEM parts. I told R&D that the clutch issue together with the other items should not happen on a three year old 16,000 mile garaged car. R&D agreed, but could not offer any reduction.

Eventually R&D secured a contribution from Peugeot and agreed to repair the clutch and the waterpump free of charge. The clutch itself was not worn much, but the springs behind the plate had broken which meant that the plate was only being pushed at one point rather than being fully engaged.