Renault is adding comprehensive car insurance to its range of services to customers in its home market, in partnership with Altima. It will be available from the Renault dealer network throughout France (where the latest statistics show insurance rates falling).

Renault Insurance policies include: - Call-out assistance covering breakdowns, punctures and loss of keys, - Loan of a replacement vehicle for a maximum of seven days, - Compensation covering the cost of a new car if a vehicle less than 12 months old is written off.

The insurance package completes Renault and finance subsidiary Diac's existing range of financing and service options, which include assistance (Renault Assistance), a replacement vehicle (Renault Rent), a warranty extension contract (the Diamond Contract), a maintenance contract and financing options.

Altima specialises in selling car insurance through manufacturers' dealer networks. It is owned by the main French mutual insurance companies, including Macif, Maif and Matmut, which provide insurance for 10 million vehicles in France.

- In the UK, Renault is reported to be considering legal action in respect of residual value calculations by the Centre for Economic and Business Research for the Alliance & Leicester's Car Price Index. The CEBR authors did not mention that the three-year old Laguna for which they provided depreciation figures had been replaced by the current model for which competitive residual values were quoted. Renault UK yesterday issued a very strongly-worded news release on the subject.