Beyond repairing the vehicles affected by the Takata airbag recall, Stellantis must also deal with a second problem: how to ensure the mobility of affected customers when they no longer have to use their affected C3 and DS3? Since the start of the recall, the thorny issue of supplying thousands of passenger cars had been raised by distressed customers, with no solution for daily travel once their C3 was immobilised.
A call center to offer a courtesy vehicle
Nearly two and a half months after the start of the recall campaign and while the group hopes to conclude its recall campaign by the end of the year, Stellantis will relaunch to drivers registered on its official recall platform. “Starting this week (July 29), Stellantis will contact by email all customers who are already registered and awaiting a repair to suggest that they call our call center (+33 08 05 98 04 02) in order to benefit from a free replacement vehicle adapted to their mobility needs,” the group said in a statement.
Stellantis now estimates the number of vehicles available to offer rides to customers while their cars are idling at 35,500. At the end of May, this figure had risen to 25,000, Citroën CEO Thierry Koskas told BFM Business.
The turnover rate of these cars continues to increase, meaning more customers can meet their mobility needs, Stellantis said in today’s press release. The group also confirms to us that “these vehicles [de courtoisie, NDLR] Can be used for permission to leave.
In total, there are four fleets of vehicles (Bordeaux since 26 July, Marseille/Vitrolles since 15 July, Toulouse and Lyon since 22 July) that allow vehicles to be distributed to dealers and therefore to interested customers.
What about potential rental costs for C3 owners?
In her latest blog post, UFC Que Choisir president Marie-Amandine Stévenin wonders how to cover the potential car rental costs incurred by C3 owners while waiting for a repair and a courtesy vehicle. “We are not taking care of the rental and we estimate that by providing 35,500 vehicles we should be able to meet expectations,” Stellantis told us.
80,000 customers have not yet reported
At the end of last week, the consumer association UFC Que Choisir relaunched this edition of courtesy vehicles. In an article published on Friday 26 July, its president Marie-Amandine Stévenin estimated that these tens of thousands of passenger vehicles represent only “a drop of water” compared to the number of interested customers (137,000 people in total registered on the group’s take-back platform, according to the association).
The association, which is highly critical of the management of the recall campaign, wanted to reiterate its vigilance alongside consumers.
“If there is an increase in power, the lack of visibility on a precise repair schedule and of clear and detailed information on possible alternatives to immobilization cannot fail to annoy the affected consumers and their representatives, already burned by the delay in lighting and the lack of preparation for this recall campaign…” concludes Marie-Amandine Stévenin.
80,000 customers have not yet registered on the reminder platform, Stellantis also notes, a figure that has changed little since last week. The group plans to contact these customers again by registered mail, a spokesperson tells us.
In the last seven days, 17,000 more cars have been recalled, or 67,000 in total since the recall began, out of the 240,000 recalled. This represents almost 28% of all vehicles affected in France.
Source: BFM TV
