The dash on the Renault Zoe has started to gently remind me that that a service is due in the next 30 days. I took ownership of the car in October last year but the vehicle was first registered in March 2015. So Zoe is due her first service.
I contacted Renault to check if the service was indeed due as the My Renault web site told me the service was due in March 2017. Incidentally the service intervals for the Zoe are 1 year or 18,000 miles! That's a lot of miles between pollen filter swap-outs...
This was the first real test of owning a car I cannot get maintained locally, so I needed to check with Renault where I could get the car serviced in order to keep the warranty, PCP and battery lease contracts happy. I couldn't avoid a full dealer service. Renault Customer Service advised me that my nearest ZE service agent is in Preston. I pointed out that that's how the crow flies, not how the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company fly (or sail... you know what I mean). In the end I booked the car into Renault Liverpool and managed to combine the car service with a trip already planned, killing two birds with one ferry crossing. The service itself came in at £84.52 all in.
The dealership in Liverpool were easy to deal with and let us leave the car with them for an extra day, avoiding paying for a day's parking in Liverpool. I must admit when I bought the car the lack of local dealer support was a concern. I frequent a few EV and Zoe specific forums online so every now and again I see posts describing major issues that require a car to be at a dealer's for weeks on end! Touch wood I haven't seen any of these issues.
After owning the car for a month or so I did have to make a warranty claim. Luckily it was a minor issue, the Renault badge on the front charge port cover started to shed its blue colouring. Renault booked the Zoe in with Eurocars here on the island and they were happy to do the work. Admittedly this was only changing the charge port flap. I'm not sure what would happen if I had an issue with the vehicle's drive train. It's such a shame that Eurocars still don't want to have anything to with Renault's ZE range. I get regular comments from EVIOM subscribers that they have looked into the Zoe but are unable to get one locally, and receive some odd sounding reason from Eurocars as to why they don't deal with them.
So in conclusion, after one year of Renault Zoe ownership I'm happy with the car. It does the job, is very affordable to own on the PCP rate arranged last year (newer deals don't seem as good). The car suits the island quite well as it's small and nippy with enough space to fit three kids in the back etc. The Zoe's build quality isn't quite up to the same standard as the Nissan Leaf but for the price I'd say it's above average. I have two years left on my contract and there will be many new car options available in 2018 including the 41Kwh Zoe.