Right to Repair - Car woes in India

Owning a car, like many other things in India, can be quite a frustrating experience. You’d think a company like Renault operating in the country would have its act together. The service center franchises surely don’t, or, unknown to me, they do at the customer’s expense. I’ve had issues with my car for the past four years or so, soon after a periodic service. I realized the car wouldn’t crank the engine. I’ve had it towed maybe 3-4 times and driven 10 km a few times to the certified Renault service center. Each towing costs about $40. Once, I paid about $300 to get some parts replaced.

The fear of going to local garages is that you don’t know if you’ll get official parts or quality parts. The vehicle stopped cranking the engine, and I did everything I could personally figure out—checked the fuses, the relays, charged the battery externally, tried resetting error codes, and looked for errors using a third-party OBD — no errors. There is no official repair documentation, no information on the fuses or relays used, no tools, etc. You’re only assigned a service center, meant to take you on a ride.

This time, I thought I’d pay a visit to the local unofficial garage. The guy shows up an hour or two later, is sure something’s wrong with the stator motor, yanks it out, goes back to the garage, and returns an hour later with it repaired. First ignition, and the car springs back to life.

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