Renault announces divorce refund deal on new Scenic E-Tech

Renault is offering buyers of its new Scenic E-Tech a unique refund guarantee if they get divorced before the end of the year.

The French firm is so confident that it has built the ‘perfect family car’ to eliminate in-vehicle squabbles that it is putting its money where its mouth is with the unique Relationship Breakdown Cover.

Open to any retail cash buyer before the end of 2024, the cover will give owners the full purchase price back if they split up after buying a new Scenic.

The bold promise comes after new research by Renault identified the key causes of in-car tension and claimed that its impressive Scenic can overcome them.

The survey of British motorists found that over a fifth (21%) said taking the wrong direction causes the most arguments between them and their partner in the car, followed by 20% who said it was due to the way their partner drives.

Conveniently, Renault’s research also identified the car qualities that help improve moods and these include comfortable seats (42%), a great sound system (26%) and lots of space for everyone (26%).

Announcing the deal, Renault said: “Renault’s confidence in the Scenic’s ability to bring joy to family life is born of it meeting key criteria that its research has shown will alleviate the major causes of the car-gument.

“This includes the car’s spacious design, including a back-seat pleasing ingenious armrest, an impressive 545 litres of boot space, standard features such as Google Built-In, which allows you to set your sat-nav by talking to it rather than pushing fiddly buttons, and trim levels that include a massaging driver’s seat, a Harman Kardon sound system and the Solarbay sunroof.

The £37,495 Scenic E-Tech has already won several awards for its family-friendly design, including being named European Car of the Year. Whether that’s enough to save troubled relationships remains to be seen.

Of course, there’s plenty of small print too, not least of which is the requirement to return the car to get the refund. The deal is also only available to private cash buyers, so excludes any business or finance purchases, and you have to provide particular legal documents proving divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership. There are also the usual caveats about deductions for any damage, so it might be easier to just try and resolve your differences…