Main dealer charges for loan/courtesy car

[38911]

What’s the norm for chargers for loan cars these days while your car is at Main Dealer for servicing?

Edited by 38911 on Wednesday 27th July 14:16

[vikingaero]

It's normal practice.

Mercedes go even further:
say,

£349 for a service with loan car
£299 for while u wait service
£269 for drop it off in the morning and pick up at 5pm

[Pica-Pica]

In the past, I have had, in chronological order:
Free loan car
No loan car but short wait (while I stroll around local main car dealers of other marques)
No loan car, but long wait (leave it and we’ll call you - yeah right, I still had to call)
I have booked a hire car, but still have to leave it all day.
Oh, I booked the service through the main dealer, who booked the hire car (enterprise). When I had to re-book the service, owing to CoVID, did they re-arrange the hire car, did they bks.

You don’t get customer service from national firms anymore, only from local businesses, evidently the answer.

[sly fox]

I've had to pay i think £8-10 to cover insurance, but the loan cars have been free other than putting in a few quid in petrol to cover what you have used.

Jaguar- insurance fee + petrol.
BMW - no charge but return it with same amount of fuel. Or they will collect and return car for free also.
Lexus- no charge at all. Not even for petrol.

So looking at above posts, Audi and Mercedes are not very friendly at all.

[TheDrownedApe]

My local VW state £25 for insurance cover and it must be paid

[RizzoTheRat]

Surely you've always paid for it, the difference now is that people that don't take the courtesy car aren't paying for it.
My local (not main dealer) garage has loan bicycles

[vikingaero]

RizzoTheRat said:

Surely you've always paid for it, the difference now is that people that don't take the courtesy car aren't paying for it.
My local (not main dealer) garage has loan bicycles

I normally lob my bike on the roof and cycle home.

Sometimes, I enjoy being a bus wker and travel into town.

[38911]

RizzoTheRat said:

Surely you've always paid for it, the difference now is that people that don't take the courtesy car aren't paying for it.

That’s a positive perspective - I like it. But did the cost of services reduce for those that didn’t want a loan car when they introduced these new charges, or is it simply a new revenue stream for dealers?

[sherman]

Mazda main dealer used to give me a courtesy car(Mazda 2) for free. I usually had to to put £5 of petrol in it to actually go anywhere as it was always empty.

Ford main dealer either gave me a courtesy car or came a picked up and dropped off the car from my house.

My current garage is a 5minute walk from the house so I dont need a courtesy car.

My car is currently at said garage for an MOT (passed) and service.

[Puddenchucker]

Local Nissan dealer charges £12 for insurance and asks that the vehicle is returned with the same amount of fuel as when driven from the forecourt.

[RizzoTheRat]

38911 said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Surely you've always paid for it, the difference now is that people that don't take the courtesy car aren't paying for it.

That’s a positive perspective - I like it. But did the cost of services reduce for those that didn’t want a loan car when they introduced these new charges, or is it simply a new revenue stream for dealers?

Or have the costs gone up but they've managed to keep the price the same for the people that don't use the courtesy car?

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 27th July 17:48

[oilslick]

They're free at my local Toyota dealer with a £1500 insurance excess, it's a tenner if you want to bring that down to £50.

[cayman-black]

I paid £45 with excess cover at Mercedes a couple of weeks ago.I had the car for the day and returned it in the morning.

[jonwm]

I used to get a courtesy car from BMW / Audi when I had them as company cars, used to be free but then charged insurance (work paid though) for the past few years I just get them to pick them up from my house and drop them back, much easier.

I had some good cars from Sytner BMW 2011 to 2014, Z4's, nice 5 series etc but towards the end of the decade it was normally a 1 series or Mini, not that it was a problem but it was nice to try a nicer model than yours from time to time.

I can't see me selecting a courtesy car again to be honest unless it was in for a few days needing work.

[38911]

RizzoTheRat said:

38911 said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Surely you've always paid for it, the difference now is that people that don't take the courtesy car aren't paying for it.

That’s a positive perspective - I like it. But did the cost of services reduce for those that didn’t want a loan car when they introduced these new charges, or is it simply a new revenue stream for dealers?

Our have the costs gone up but they've managed to keep the price the same for the people that don't use the courtesy car?

I’d love to think you were right. However knowing the reality of how dealers try to squeeze every conceivable drop of money out of customers (I was even offered an “interior virus decontamination” for £49 which after a few questions turned out to be little more than one of those antibac aerosols you can pick up for a few quid), the cynical side of me is more inclined to think it’s just a wheeze to spin more profit rather than any altruistic motives.

[Sheepshanks]

Before paying for excess cover, check your own insurance doesn't cover you - on my LV= policy any named driver is covered for garage loan cars.

Daughter has similar with Aviva but the wording is less clear - it reads like its policyholder only.

Those two insurers combined cover a big chunk of the market.

[Court_S]

My local Sytner charge £12 per day for a loan car, although the last time I had one they never actually charged me. There is then an insurance excess reduction on top of that for a tenner a day.

Rybrook gave me a car for free plus the option of an excess reduction for a tenner.

[FiF]

Citroen dealer, £15 for the insurance for the day up to 6pm. Petrol up to you and your conscience, depends how far you go. It's never handed over with anything above 20% of a tank.

[crowfield]

Mercedes lent me a brand new C class while mine was in for a warranty repair ( 4 days total ) - no charge

[QJumper]

Lexus dealer provided free loan car, with optional £10 for excess waiver.