Superman’s Diamonds Revisited

Hi all,

I have an interesting issue outstanding before we can collect our Zoe, so I wondered if any of you had dealt with this. It seems nobody at my dealership has because it has taken nearly 2 weeks so far to come back with an answer..

My insurance company are aware of the battery hire and cover the cost of the battery in their valuation of the car – which is to say that they will pay market value up to £75,000 – fairly common I think amongst insurers, regardless of how much you tell them the car is worth.

We decided to take the GAP insurance policy offered by the dealer – which is a return to invoice price policy.

My question to the dealer is – who covers the “GAP” in the cost of the battery if the car is written off. From reading the example battery rental agreement, I can see that there is some semblance of depreciation on the battery…

14.1.4 if you have failed to return the Battery, a sum equal to its Insured Value at the date of the Termination Event. “Insured Value” means the amount (indicated as such in the Schedule) being an amount to offset any financial loss suffered by us in the case of damage or total loss of the Battery. The Insured Value will reduce by 10% each calendar year, reduction beginning at the start of the 13th month of this Hire Agreement

So in the event that the car is written off (say within a year), who covers the difference between the insurance companies market valuation (let’s say 70% of original value) and the original cost of the battery, which RCI still value at 100% of it’s cost. (I think I saw around £7,000 quoted somewhere, so 30% being £2,100 is a significant sum of money).

I’ve not long had a phone call from the dealer who claim that at any time, if the car is written off, so long as the insurance pays the remaining balance on the battery hire agreement – everything will be settled. I’m still waiting for this in writing from them – but it does seem like nobody has considered this event.

Anybody?

Cancel the Gap – you can get it at 2/3rds of the price yourself for 3 or 4 years. Try . It’s a rip off through dealers.

Hi buchanan101,

I appreciate the advice, however the difference in price depends on how well you negotiate and the actual policy offered by ala for example does not fix the problem.

This is turning into a real sticking point for us and may result in us not accepting the new car.

I’m amazed that nobody appears to have picked up on this before and that it hasn’t been sorted by Renault.

How many of you have insured your car, with an insurer who follows standard practice and will pay market rate in the event your vehicle is written off, but have signed a lease agreement saying you will pay 100% of the value of the battery (a tad over £6,000 as quoted to me by my dealer just now) in the first year, 90% in year two, 80% in year three etc.

Why oh why didn’t Renault just include insurance of the battery within the monthly cost of the lease?!

I’d love to hear from any of you, who have managed to get your insurance company to agree to payout for the value of the battery in line with the depreciation stipulated by Renault. I want to try and insure our car through them!!

In the first year we insured with Renault’s own insurer so there could be no argument on this, but the renewal is crazy ($458) so i am going with LV ($138). Most people have just asked their insurers to confirm that they are aware that the battery is rented and worth $7k odd. The chances of it ever being an issue are so tiny that I won’t lose any sleep. If it gets stolen just stop the rental payments and let Renault track it !!

We spoke to esure and told them the battery pack was owned by RCI and that in the event of a loss, they would need to pay £6k (or whatever the exact figure in the agreement was) to them. They put us on hold saying that was fine, and would be added to the notes on the account.

I hope this means they’d cover the full amount; though I hope we never had to find out. We didn’t take GAP insurance so in the event of a loss, we’d have to find some cash anyway.

I asked Privilege this question when I updated and they initially didn’t know, but in checking they said it was no problem.

Also if you register on the Renault site you get free repair assistance from them, and they speak with your insurer to get everything sorted, so if the worst is to happen I’ll be phoning them to get issues ironed out.

Axa (the cheapest quote for our ordered Zoe on Go Compare) were happy with the split ownership as long as the insured value is sufficient.

Ala have two gap options- back to invoice or full replacement. I chatted with them and the full replacement one covered batteries provided you insured the right value. So you could easily buy a £25k GAP through them for I think it was a bit over £200 for 3 or 4 years. Way better than any dealer offer I’ve ever seen.

I can’t understand why there is such a variation in the supposed value of a leased battery, given that, according to RCI its written into the lease schedule. I’ve been given prices between £5,000 and £7,000 with £6,000 and £6,500 being commonly quoted values. Can those of you who have battery lease agreements have a look and see what you were quoted please?

My agreement is insured value of £6160.

I don’t remember the exact number, but I think it is the same as @ZoeAl

I have just cancelled my purchase of a Renault Zoe for this exact reason. I called Renault Insurance and they confirmed that 1) They will depreciate both the car and the battery as they see fit 2) The battery will depreciate at 10% per year after the first year 3) The lease company insist on any insurance payment being made directly to them

This leaves me exposed, and potentially in a situation where the battery is worth more than the “parkers” guide for the car itself. I have phoned 9 insurance companies directly today, and they all consider the battery car to be one insurable item which will depreciate according to the “glass’s” or “parkers” guide.

So drive your brand new £20k (car leased battery) renault out of the showroom, write it off 9 months later, the glass’s guide says its worth £10k, Renault say the battery is still worth £6.5k. Renault finance receive the payment, and give you £3.5k for a car that you paid 15k for 9 months ago. Brilliant!

I will be looking to buy a Zoe with the battery outright. I’ll put away the money for a new battery each month myself as 1) I’ll get interest on the money in the interim 2) They battery is warranted for 5 years or 62k miles anyway 3) Renault can’t put the lease price up when the 36 months runs out (like they just did on the 1st of May)

This situation is a complete mess. You’d think Renault would have sorted it. They are making their lcar unsaleable as it is completely uninsurable. Not even their own in-house insurance has addressed this, what hope do the others have?

The value of the battery according to the Renault Finance ZE team is £6,160 VAT = £7,392, and this is the value that the insurers should be given. For further information try 03443350000 option 3