I just want to say a Big Thank you to all that have posted here. With your help and info I have been able to get Citroen to pay for the repair to my C3 XTR HDI 05reg. 60K, 2nd owner and out of warranty. Like so many of you I went for a short run, about 22miles there and back, over 15 or so speed bumps there and back. I dont drive fast as I cherish my little car. Parked the car up infront of the house and went in to charge up my newly purchased sat nav. and have tea. We decided to go get the weekly shop after having tea and it was then I discovered my front off side spring had gone. It has to have happened while we were having tea because the terrible sound that we heard when I went to reverse it off the drive was in my opinion scary,and it certainly wasnt there when I pulled in. My hubby tried to see what was wrong but the car was so low we couldnt get the jack under it to check properly. Needless to say the shops was out of the question, and my hubby made it hot foot to the C3 forum, and after discoving this thread and finding that others had the problem with the C3 springs too, it made the shock easier to take. That was until this morning............ I rang my local garage and he told me that Citroen were replacing these springs as a matter of course (without telling the owners in some case while the car was in for a service). He quoted me around £130 but to get back on to the main dealer as this was a known fault. I did this asap. Surprise they told me to arrange with my car breakdown to bring the car in, they would check it out and call me back. They couldnt give me a price until it was there. Rescuemycar.com showed up just 30 mins after my call and took it to the garage. Approx 2 hours later I got a call from the dealer. Service Manager to be precise. He informed me that it was a broken spring, broken suspension link and a cut brake pipe and tyre. He pointed out that they would need to replace both springs for safety and it would be £500+ without the tyre. After a strong drink I remembered what I has seen on this forum and told him that Citroen knew all about this fault, and quoted certain vin numbers etc. I said excuse me but I was aware of this as I had seen it on line and would he please contact Citroen and ask then for an out of warranty claim.(I had already asked the receptionist to do this when I booked the car in) He said looking at his chart the most they would deduct was halving the price of the parts, and so reducing the overall cost to around the £400 mark. I stuck to my guns and said this is a known fault, that had not been corrected by that vin number recall, my car was not in use at the time so would he do as I asked and check with Citroen first. He said he would but it would mean a delay in them starting on the car. About 4 hours later this chap rang me again and said " Well its most unusual but Citroen have decided to pick up the complete cost". He is now ordering the parts and the car will be ready on Friday. OK so we know its not that unusual that Citroen were paying but let him think he has done me a favour I mean he has to defend the firm, they pay his wages. What I dont understand is how can Citroen get away with what is obviously a design fault. That coil spring came down on top of my tyre and brake pipe (rubber). If this had happened while driving I shudder to think of the results. Why not put a strong cup there to catch the spring when it breaks, better still improve the quality of the springs. Once again a BIG NO HUGE THANK YOU to EVERYONE on the forum. I will let you know on Friday when I get my baby back.
