Warranty and Courtesy Cars.
Discussion
My car developed a "depollution fault" the other day so I phoned the dealer I purchased it and a 3 year extended warranty from and they said they wouldn't be able to give me a courtesy car untill the new year!
They also said that there was normally a one week waitng list for courtesy cars as they only have 5 anyway.
Am I being naive or unreasonable to kind of expect that if my car develops a fault that is covered by the warranty they should at least endevour to supply a loan vehicle while mine is being fixed?
I poped it into them this morning and I'm going to wait for a prognosis before I kick off.
They also said that there was normally a one week waitng list for courtesy cars as they only have 5 anyway.
Am I being naive or unreasonable to kind of expect that if my car develops a fault that is covered by the warranty they should at least endevour to supply a loan vehicle while mine is being fixed?
I poped it into them this morning and I'm going to wait for a prognosis before I kick off.
They can, you'll just have to wait. Presumably everyone else expects one too and you're not any more special than them.
It's the same for any servicing or warranty work at dealers I normally use - typically you can get work booked in at fairly short notice as long as you don't mind waiting, provide your own transport (I've got a folding bike which is handy for this) or they'll normally drop you off locally and pick you up later. If you want a courtesy car then you'll have to wait till the next time one is free.
It's the same for any servicing or warranty work at dealers I normally use - typically you can get work booked in at fairly short notice as long as you don't mind waiting, provide your own transport (I've got a folding bike which is handy for this) or they'll normally drop you off locally and pick you up later. If you want a courtesy car then you'll have to wait till the next time one is free.
sjg said:
They can, you'll just have to wait. Presumably everyone else expects one too and you're not any more special than them.
Oh don't get me wrong I know they can't just go "there you are sir, brimmed with petrol too" but I just thought that if my car will be there for a few days (over christmas) they may be able to hire me something, or at least look/sound as though they want to help in some way rather than the "computer says no" attitude that seems the norm nowadays.I think I'll just wait to see how long they will have it for first.
I think it depends on what the car is and how much business you give them. We give our local BM main dealer quite a bit of business (well loads with my 1 series) and they were always very understanding with courtesy cars.
In fact when my ECU went up the swanny last christmas they borrowed a Mini demonstrator from their sister dealership and lent it me for 2 days for free. this is despite the fact that I have never bought a car from them, just get the two cars serviced there. Main dealers are more expensive but service like this helps a lot when you need a car to get to work etc.
In fact when my ECU went up the swanny last christmas they borrowed a Mini demonstrator from their sister dealership and lent it me for 2 days for free. this is despite the fact that I have never bought a car from them, just get the two cars serviced there. Main dealers are more expensive but service like this helps a lot when you need a car to get to work etc.
Yep most dealers only have the bare minimum of courtesy cars to satisfy the franchise deal with the manufacturer (that is what Evans Hallshaw told me when I had a fault with my Focus ST) so four or five is the norm. They also told me that outside of the first year they are not obliged to supply a courtesy car (I asked about a rental) either.
mattmoxon said:
They also told me that outside of the first year they are not obliged to supply a courtesy car (I asked about a rental) either.
I'm just into the 1st year of their extended warranty so do you think I should push a bit harder with that in mind? Or should I just bend over and take it dry?essexplumber said:
I'm just into the 1st year of their extended warranty so do you think I should push a bit harder with that in mind? Or should I just bend over and take it dry?
Depends on their policy, I'd read the terms of the extended warranty to see if it says anything in there, that is just what I was told by the service centre staff.It is a bit s
y when you have paid a lot of money for a new car, taken it to them for every service and check required, and even used their accident repair centre (more than once) and then they aren’t interested when you have a genuine problem with the car, unfortunately their policy is their policy and they will act in accordance with it.Ozzie Osmond said:
Seems to me you are being optimistic. Unless the extended warranty you have bought specifically includes a repalcement car....
I suppose I am. st thougn isn't it, I've had to hire a Mitsubishi Colt to go into London today. It looks as though I need a crystal ball so I can book a courtesy car so in advance.
essexplumber said:
Well its a 207 GTi and they are a franchised dealer and I have had issues with them in the past so I'm not expecting much.
This will be the first claim under their warranty as the previous claim was under Peugeots 3 year warranty.
Sorry OP my reply wasn't that helpfull. My previous experience of a used car warrenty with a Pug dealer wasn't great. I was sold a lemon from a dealer quite far from home and had to use other main dealerships to get faults fixed. I never had a courtesy car it was a painfull experience. Painfull enough to ensure that I would not buy another Peugeot again. This will be the first claim under their warranty as the previous claim was under Peugeots 3 year warranty.
mike325112 said:
Sorry OP my reply wasn't that helpfull. My previous experience of a used car warrenty with a Pug dealer wasn't great. I was sold a lemon from a dealer quite far from home and had to use other main dealerships to get faults fixed. I never had a courtesy car it was a painfull experience. Painfull enough to ensure that I would not buy another Peugeot again.
Thats how I feel which is a shame as it is a very good car IMO and it has been quite reliable overall.In future I shall buy sub £7k BMW's etc and swallow the costs as a warranty can be as usefull as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
Its the dealers that are to blame not the car but we're all out to make a profit so I should be more thick skinned to their blasse aproach regarding my car.
Unfortunately as above, we don't have loads of cars sat around just in case.. Here it's atleast a week wait for a Courtesy Car.
A diagnostics can't take long, <1hour.. Could go in and wait for that to be done then rebook for the part to be fitted with a courtesy car when they've next got one.
A diagnostics can't take long, <1hour.. Could go in and wait for that to be done then rebook for the part to be fitted with a courtesy car when they've next got one.
essexplumber said:
Thats how I feel which is a shame as it is a very good car IMO and it has been quite reliable overall.
In future I shall buy sub £7k BMW's etc and swallow the costs as a warranty can be as usefull as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
Its the dealers that are to blame not the car but we're all out to make a profit so I should be more thick skinned to their blasse aproach regarding my car.
You sound like you need a nice 330d In future I shall buy sub £7k BMW's etc and swallow the costs as a warranty can be as usefull as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
Its the dealers that are to blame not the car but we're all out to make a profit so I should be more thick skinned to their blasse aproach regarding my car.
As someone else has pointed out, it depends on what the T&C's of the extended warranty cover say
If the car was under the manufacturers warranty, it's more likely that the manufacturer will provide a hire car at their cost a car is of the road. In this case, they get the dealer to hire a car, and reimburse the cost of hire to the dealer
With an extended warranty, who would be paying the cost for hiring a car? The dealer won't do it, and the manufacturer is unlikely to pay as the car is outside of the manufacturers warranty, and hire costs do always cost someone?
As for the post earlier in the thread about admin fees when taking a loan car - Is that an admin fee, or an insurance excess waiver (regardless of what they call it). A dealers insurance excess tends to be in the thousands of pounds, not a couple of hundred quid - If you had a bump in their car that cost say £3k to repair and their excess was £5k, would you happily pay for the repairs, or be glad that you'd paid the excess waiver?
If the car was under the manufacturers warranty, it's more likely that the manufacturer will provide a hire car at their cost a car is of the road. In this case, they get the dealer to hire a car, and reimburse the cost of hire to the dealer
With an extended warranty, who would be paying the cost for hiring a car? The dealer won't do it, and the manufacturer is unlikely to pay as the car is outside of the manufacturers warranty, and hire costs do always cost someone?
As for the post earlier in the thread about admin fees when taking a loan car - Is that an admin fee, or an insurance excess waiver (regardless of what they call it). A dealers insurance excess tends to be in the thousands of pounds, not a couple of hundred quid - If you had a bump in their car that cost say £3k to repair and their excess was £5k, would you happily pay for the repairs, or be glad that you'd paid the excess waiver?
essexplumber said:
Its the dealers that are to blame not the car but we're all out to make a profit so I should be more thick skinned to their blasse aproach regarding my car.
Couple years ago our bath taps wouldn't turn off properly. Called the emergency plumber with the obligatory big call out charge. The tosser didn't have all the parts with him so he had to go away and order them. What a load of horse st. How blase can you be. I mean it's just wasting water! These plumbers are to blame. In the end the local Poles did it for half the price and it's been fine ever since. 
Can you see what I did there?
Not good to stereotype all of one trade together is it And I LOVE how all these posts about courtesy cars degnerate into the poster saying how hard done by they are because they don't get the free car. Sometimes (though not in this case thankfully) even throwing in the line about how they don't care about the other customers they're far more important as "they are going on holiday tomorrow" (I'd love to know which prick is telling all and sundry that line works. Dealers are IMMUNE to that BS
) The posters always forget that in an ideal world the dealer would give them a car. They don't REALLY want to piss you off. But if they don't ACTUALLY HAVE ONE, and will lose money by hiring the customer one, what are they supposed to do? No dealer wants annoyed customers. And whilst it's inconvienient, you have to accept that your imperfect car was built by imperfect Frenchies using imperfect parts. (though I would imagine a DPF light is because you aren't doing motorway mileage - see the other threads on dpfs) Just hope they can fix it for you quick as possible.
Edited by Rich_W on Friday 16th December 18:04
Rich_W said:
essexplumber said:
Its the dealers that are to blame not the car but we're all out to make a profit so I should be more thick skinned to their blasse aproach regarding my car.
Couple years ago our bath taps wouldn't turn off properly. Called the emergency plumber with the obligatory big call out charge. The tosser didn't have all the parts with him so he had to go away and order them. What a load of horse st. How blase can you be. I mean it's just wasting water! These plumbers are to blame. In the end the local Poles did it for half the price and it's been fine ever since. Can you see what I did there?
Not good to stereotype all of one trade together is it And I LOVE how all these posts about courtesy cars degnerate into the poster saying how hard done by they are because they don't get the free car. Sometimes (though not in this case thankfully) even throwing in the line about how they don't care about the other customers they're far more important as "they are going on holiday tomorrow" (I'd love to know which prick is telling all and sundry that line works. Dealers are IMMUNE to that BS
) The posters always forget that in an ideal world the dealer would give them a car. They don't REALLY want to piss you off. But if they don't ACTUALLY HAVE ONE, and will lose money by hiring the customer one, what are they supposed to do? No dealer wants annoyed customers. And whilst it's inconvienient, you have to accept that your imperfect car was built by imperfect Frenchies using imperfect parts. (though I would imagine a DPF light is because you aren't doing motorway mileage - see the other threads on dpfs) Just hope they can fix it for you quick as possible.
Edited by Rich_W on Friday 16th December 18:04
I picked the car up at 17.30 but alas I had to phone them as they hadn't phoned me. They had changed a coil pack and all seems well.
My question was really asked because I really wasn't sure about warrantys and loan cars.
But as I said you have shon a differnt light on it and my perception of the situation has changed.
Merry Christmas and good will to all franchised dealers
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