Today, AVTOVAZ President Maxim Sokolov spoke in one of the central spare parts warehouses of the company AVTOVAZ, which is located near Tver, about how Renault and Lada cars will be maintained in the coming years.
Most importantly: under a trilateral agreement between Renault SAS (France), Renault Russia and PJSC AVTOVAZ, the exclusive right to after-sales and warranty service for Renault cars, as well as the sale of original spare parts for them on the territory of Russia received AVTOVAZ.
Previously, almost all spare parts for Renault cars were supplied to us from France and Romania. At present, stocks have almost fully recovered. The format at the moment is:
- 78% of spare parts are imported, spare parts trucks are already on the way;
- 17% of the spare parts are from local (Russian) suppliers, and the problems they have already resolved, spare parts are already delivered to the distribution network or are delivered within two months;
- 5% is a problem area that still needs to be solved, these spare parts have to be found for alternative suppliers and this takes time.
Does this mean that this 5% will become a critical issue and that some Renault owners will have problems with maintenance or repairs under warranty? We posed this question to editor-in-chief Maxim Kadakov, who spoke today with both Maxim Sokolov and AVTOVAZ employees responsible for organizing after-sales and warranty service for Lada and Renault cars.
Maxim Kadakovyeditor-in-chief of the magazine “Behind the wheel”:
– At the moment, the organizational work with the Renault dealers is almost complete. 154 dealer agreements have already been signed (and we have a total of 155 Renault dealers) for the maintenance of Renault cars through the AVTOVAZ system. Accordingly, since July 2022, the shipment of spare parts has started to all these dealers, which are supplied from central and regional warehouses.
The dealer has no right to refuse warranty service to the owner of a Renault car, arguing that he has no spare parts, no contract with AVTOVAZ or for other reasons. Repairing the car under warranty is his sacred duty by law. AVTOVAZ will reimburse to the dealer all costs incurred by the dealer for warranty service – even those incurred by the dealer during the transition period.
There are spare parts in warehouses – I was convinced of that today in a warehouse in Tver. I cannot guarantee the availability of absolutely the entire range, but I have personally seen brake discs, fuel pumps, suspension parts, filters, door mirrors and other spare parts for various Renault models on the shelves – they are, by the way, stored in a complex logistics system mixed with parts for Lada cars.
The same 5% spare parts, the supply of which is currently difficult, is not a stumbling block either. The fact is that, according to the same tripartite agreement, AVTOVAZ received all the warehouse stocks from Renault in Russia – this is a huge amount of spare parts. In addition, there is a huge stock of components from the Moskvich plant (formerly Renault), which were planned to be used on the conveyor – all this will also go into spare parts.
I was specifically interested in such critical, in my opinion, positions as gearboxes, including hydromechanical and CVTs – they don’t “roll around” in high volume warehouses. The answer was this: dealers change up to ten gearboxes every week – and there are no problems with that. This applies to hydraulic machines as well as to variators. No problem, as I was assured, and with the repair – and even with the replacement! – engines.
That is, as this huge stock of spare parts has been exhausted, all deliveries will be arranged, including spare parts for problematic items.
Summary: Renault cars can be repaired, spare parts are available. If the dealer refuses, this is his dishonest behavior. You can make a complaint by phone or email, these are listed on the Lada website. There is also a list of all newly authorized Renault dealers.