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The Car I Never Wanted – On 21 Sept 2023, I picked up a brand new leased Peugeot 3008 from the Car 2 Europe Depot in Amsterdam. This was not the car that I originally… Read more

ordered, but the Peugeot 308, that had served us well on 6 previous trips to Europe, was apparantly unavailable due to shortages of parts needed for their manufacture, so the 3008 was sustituted. It was not the car I wanted, because it was much wider and unsuitable for the narrow country roads I had intended to traverse on my 6 week road trip from Amsterdam to Paris.

Despite some near misses on the narrow country roads, we finally arrived in Bourges, France, only 4 nights away from the end of the trip. That evening I went to the car to put something into our suitcases which were secured in the car out of sight. On lifting the back door and closing it again I had apparently unlocked every door on the car. (This does not happen with my own 2018 Volkswagon SW or my partner's 2020 Mazda 2 Sedan). On closing the tailgate of the 3008, the car remained unlocked and I was totally unaware of this security breach.

The next morning to my horror, our two suitcases were gone along with hundreds of dollars worth of clothes and personal effects. The stars had aligned for an enterprising thief who just happend to be passing in the night and on noticing the mirrors extended, saw an opportunity too good to pass up.

On arrival at the Paris drop-off point, I reported the matter to the staff who said that the car should have locked itself when the driver walks away with the keys. On testing this feature, it failed to operate just like it did 3 nights earlier. He recorded this on my receipt so that I could follow up with Peugeot on return to Australia.

There is still some confusion about whether this 'walk away & lock' feature exists or not on the 3008. However, the fact that opening the tailgate unlocks the whole car is, in my opinion, a major design flaw that doesn't exist on many other cars that are older and of lesser value. Why Peugeot did not consider this to be something important is inexplicable and it should be rectified in the next model. Modern cars often come with features that compensate for human error, but not the Peugeot 3008. By design, it unlocks the whole car for you, thus compromising the security of your belongings, and should you get distracted and fail to relock it, or are unfamiliar with this quirk, it could be an expensive mistake. The 'walk away & lock' feature would compensate for the human error of not re-locking the car, but it would be simpler to isolate the tailgate from unlocking the whole car.

Peugeot does not see itself as being part of the problem in this instance. Instead, they victim blame. It's my fault for not re-locking the car. It's my fault for leaving something of value inside the car. The reality is that we've all done it at some time in the past and we rely on our car to keep our belongings safe and secure. We expect carmakers to incorporate the latest safety and security features in their cars, because you simply can't take all your bulky suitcases into a hotel every night and especially if you are Septuagenarians like myself and my partner. Trying to navigate hotels in old medieval buildings with only a narrow staircase and an overnight bag is hard enough, but with a large suitcase it is outright dangerous.

Peugeot have since offered me 300 Euros in what they call a 'Goodwill Guesture'. When the loss is much greater than that, the offer is an insult. The fact that they even offered me financial compensation implies that they see themselves as bearing some moral responsibility in this matter, but their offer just didn't meet my expectations. By playing 'hardball' and refusing to increase the offer, shows that they are using their power and influence to 'beat me into submission'.

In the end, I reluctantly accepted their offer, as I didn't have the resources to mount a legal challenge with no guarantee of success. However, I do have the power of the 'pen' to present my story as a warning that there are car makers out there like Peugeot who don't consider the safety of your material possessions as being important. Therefore, I urge you to seek out carmakers who do, when considering your next vehicle purchase. Regards Darryl