Mercedes courtesy car-too young to have one!!
Discussion
My nephew owns a Merc coupe,broke down,recovered,taken to main dealer-all under warranty.The car will be off the road for up to 10 days.Part of the warranty is to be given a courtesy car for this duration,he has been told however that he is too young (19)as their contract with their rental company states no under 23's.Nowhere is this stated in his warranty,surely they are legally bound to supply him with a car?The way i see it is that his contract is with them and nothing to do with their contract with the rental company.Oh yes,they are prepared to loan him one of their own cars but none is available for....you guessed it 10 days!!!
Forgot to say Merc UK told me that this was pretty standard policy for most manufacturers,so it would seem that if you are in the fortunate position to buy a new 'quality' car and are under 23 then you too will be excluded from having a replacement vehicle when yours inevitably breaks down!
bigee said:
Forgot to say Merc UK told me that this was pretty standard policy for most manufacturers,so it would seem that if you are in the fortunate position to buy a new 'quality' car and are under 23 then you too will be excluded from having a replacement vehicle when yours inevitably breaks down!
That's utter bollocks! I've had a couple of Seat courtesy cars when I took mine in for a service at the Seat dealership I brought it from. Also, a mate has a new BMW Compact and they gave him a fully loaded Cooper S to play with while his was serviced
(we were both under 23 at that time).bigee said:It might be "policy", but if it doesn't state that in the contract between the seller (dealer) and buyer then it's not applicable.
Forgot to say Merc UK told me that this was pretty standard policy for most manufacturers,so it would seem that if you are in the fortunate position to buy a new 'quality' car and are under 23 then you too will be excluded from having a replacement vehicle when yours inevitably breaks down!
Check the small print and if there's no mention of this exclusion, start talking big.
Check whether the dealer is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce; if so, have a word with them.
The trouble is, all this could take ... 10 days
. Streaky
I assume they're reducing his next bill by the amount it costs him to insure himself, plus a little bit extra "as an act of goodwill"?
If they can't offer equal quality of service to younger customers, maybe they should consider not taking their money in the first place, and restrict themselves to dealing with older people.
If they can't offer equal quality of service to younger customers, maybe they should consider not taking their money in the first place, and restrict themselves to dealing with older people.
Okay, some points here. Some BMW dealerships do require you to insure their courtesy cars on your own insurance (Rydale Sutton for one).
I've had BMW's since I was 19 (all company cars until recently, I'm 28 now and buy my own lol) and had the same thing when I destroyed my 328 Sport in a flood (lorry coming the other way tidel waved me - new engine required).
However the dealership doesn't lend you the car when it's not a routine service, it's booked through the warranty/breakdown cover, which in BMW's case is Mondial and they use Enterprise for the car hire. So the problem lies with the hire company and their policy, not BMW.
As others have said you could stick it on your own policy if they'll let you, but the situation is wrong especially if there is an admin charge. However personally I'd prefer to use my own insurance as if the worse should happen you won't have a £500 excess.
I was lucky with mine as at the time we'd just laid off a Director so I used his car - It was the obvious answer without thinking about sticking loan cars on the company policy etc. - So at 19 I spent 4 months (yeah that's how long the insurance took to sort it out) driving around in a brand new Jaguar XJR - not that my 328 Sport wasn't bad.
So I'd take their offer but perhaps look at blagging a free service or something as they can't provide a service you have paid for.
I've had BMW's since I was 19 (all company cars until recently, I'm 28 now and buy my own lol) and had the same thing when I destroyed my 328 Sport in a flood (lorry coming the other way tidel waved me - new engine required).
However the dealership doesn't lend you the car when it's not a routine service, it's booked through the warranty/breakdown cover, which in BMW's case is Mondial and they use Enterprise for the car hire. So the problem lies with the hire company and their policy, not BMW.
As others have said you could stick it on your own policy if they'll let you, but the situation is wrong especially if there is an admin charge. However personally I'd prefer to use my own insurance as if the worse should happen you won't have a £500 excess.
I was lucky with mine as at the time we'd just laid off a Director so I used his car - It was the obvious answer without thinking about sticking loan cars on the company policy etc. - So at 19 I spent 4 months (yeah that's how long the insurance took to sort it out) driving around in a brand new Jaguar XJR - not that my 328 Sport wasn't bad.
So I'd take their offer but perhaps look at blagging a free service or something as they can't provide a service you have paid for.
For the sake of getting on the road again, I would accept the courtesy car and inform them by letter (record delivery or they sign for it if you take it in) that you are insuring the car yourself under protest and will be persuing Merc for any administration or addition premium charges should they arise, in light of Merc not meeting with its warranty commitment in full.
That'll cheer them up (and get your nephew on the road).
That'll cheer them up (and get your nephew on the road).
oh, and FWIW, I used to get courtesy cars from Lotus and LL without having to worry. I reckon that in the last year I've had to get cover, under my ins, for all the courtesy cars. The garages have said that a lot of the companies are chnaging policy because so many people stuff courtesy cars (unfamiliarity probably, seeing as LL once gave me a sodding Vitara!)
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