>> Car companies can easily have 90%+ margin on optional extras.
>
> Great. So I'm being deliberately stopped from doing something trivially 
> easy just so Renault can make more profit. *sigh*

Actually they are using that extra profit to reduce the base price of their 
cars, so you should be thanking all the people spending thousands on extras 
for subsidising your car :-)

> I wouldn't mind, but the stereo isn't replaceable. It's one of these units 
> that's welded to the dashboard.

Extremely unlikely that you can't get it out (or that it's welded), dealers 
have to replace these sorts of things all the time.  You just have to look 
around for where the screws and catches are hidden under various bits of 
trim.  Online forums will no doubt have the answer if you can't figure it 
out for your particular car.

> but on the other hand it means you can *only* install one of the 4 models 
> of stereo that Renault sell. And it's so expensive that you might as well 
> buy an entire new car; much cheaper than paying for an authorised dealer 
> to install an authorised unit.
>
> And all because they didn't include a 12p audio socket...

My point is the electrical connection is probably right there behind *your* 
head unit, you just need to connect three wires to it.

If it's available as an after-fit option then you might be able to find 
online the actual official service guide for installing it.  I found the one 
for putting a USB socket in my car, but apparently it has to be wired up to 
some box of tricks in the boot, and involved taking out seats and stuff, so 
I decided not to bother.

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