Main Dealer - courtesy vehicles
Discussion
JonnyFive said:
I'd imagine its not a charge for the car, its the insurance.
Alas, no. My company's insurance covered me driving their car on a fully comp basis. The dealership just had no courtesy at all. Because the garage was poorly located, a "courtesy" car was a necessity to get to work. I think that Renault dealer in Bradford-on-Avon has since located to brand new premises - probably paid for by their thriving hire car business!With regards to them being booked up..
We keep two cars on for loan cars, they can easily book up 2 weeks ahead.. Then what happens when a customer vehicle that has a loan car has a problem, a staff member is taken out of their car to give to a customer..
We also only give them for 1.5+hrs services, it's just not worth it if the service is shorter, IMO.
But often, turning up and expecting one without booking one I can see them being booked up.
We keep two cars on for loan cars, they can easily book up 2 weeks ahead.. Then what happens when a customer vehicle that has a loan car has a problem, a staff member is taken out of their car to give to a customer..
We also only give them for 1.5+hrs services, it's just not worth it if the service is shorter, IMO.
But often, turning up and expecting one without booking one I can see them being booked up.
hora said:
I see what you mean but for me the biggest offender was Mazda. I'd book in for an annual service weeks ahead at a dealers just off the motorway. To be told, nope, nope, nope and not even be offered a lift.
Being a cynic but I think its easier to offer a lesser service in this 'area' if the dealer doesn't have competition close by...
Very true.Being a cynic but I think its easier to offer a lesser service in this 'area' if the dealer doesn't have competition close by...
I think thats a big part of it, if they haven't got competition then they can basically do what they want.
UnderTheRadar said:
.. But also they are an upselling opportunity. " Are you happy with your current car - would you like this one instead, we can do a nice deal?"
It would be wonderful if the service and sales departments were capable of working together to enable that sort of thing to happen.My local Merc dealer keeps a range of models of courtesy cars and twice I've asked for, and they've agreed, specific models. Both times I was given an A Class and a shrug when I queried it.
Yet I took my car in a couple of weeks ago, didn't say anything specific, and was given an E350CDi.
If I know I'm going to need a CC, I make sure to arrange my service / warranty work in plenty of time.
Audi, in fairness, have generally looked after me fairly well. When I had my TT (2001-2004) I would generally get an A2 (which I hated) but was grateful for something to get me from A-B.
When I had my Nissan 350z (2004-2005) Nissan collected it from my place of work and delivered it back the same day. No car required.
Audi S4 - was generally given an A4 of some description.
R8 - dealer policy was only to give a "prestige" car as a replacement, so I would generally have an S5 or S6 (including the 2 weeks the R8 was at Head Office for an issue to be investigated). Never another R8 though...
RRS - was given a Freelander if I wanted one.
I've never been asked to pay for a CC - and on the times they can offer a better service (e.g. fetch and return my own car) I don't bother.
For servicing, any decent wheels would do - but if the car was in for warranty work because something had gone wrong (e.g. the R8 pulling right under acceleration) then I felt it was my "right" to be given something comparable to what I had bought from them.
Audi, in fairness, have generally looked after me fairly well. When I had my TT (2001-2004) I would generally get an A2 (which I hated) but was grateful for something to get me from A-B.
When I had my Nissan 350z (2004-2005) Nissan collected it from my place of work and delivered it back the same day. No car required.
Audi S4 - was generally given an A4 of some description.
R8 - dealer policy was only to give a "prestige" car as a replacement, so I would generally have an S5 or S6 (including the 2 weeks the R8 was at Head Office for an issue to be investigated). Never another R8 though...
RRS - was given a Freelander if I wanted one.
I've never been asked to pay for a CC - and on the times they can offer a better service (e.g. fetch and return my own car) I don't bother.
For servicing, any decent wheels would do - but if the car was in for warranty work because something had gone wrong (e.g. the R8 pulling right under acceleration) then I felt it was my "right" to be given something comparable to what I had bought from them.
Deva Link said:
It would be wonderful if the service and sales departments were capable of working together to enable that sort of thing to happen.
My local Merc dealer keeps a range of models of courtesy cars and twice I've asked for, and they've agreed, specific models. Both times I was given an A Class and a shrug when I queried it.
Yet I took my car in a couple of weeks ago, didn't say anything specific, and was given an E350CDi.
I answered some questionnaire from Mercedes and when our Coupe went in for a service I was given a E class estate as a CC which is something I had ticked an interest in many months before, So they do work together. Subsequently bought an A6 Avant but thats a different story !My local Merc dealer keeps a range of models of courtesy cars and twice I've asked for, and they've agreed, specific models. Both times I was given an A Class and a shrug when I queried it.
Yet I took my car in a couple of weeks ago, didn't say anything specific, and was given an E350CDi.
siwil1 said:
I answered some questionnaire from Mercedes and when our Coupe went in for a service I was given a E class estate as a CC which is something I had ticked an interest in many months before, So they do work together.
I would be very impressed if that's anything other than a complete co-incidence.
just over ten years ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to own an F355 for a couple of years.
Sadly, after a week of ownership, the list of faults was huge, so it went back to the Ferrari dealer. I asked for a courtesy car, wich was waiting for me when I dropped the 355 back. It was a hired Zafira 1.6.......
I wasn't pleased, and when I was told that the 355 would be off the road for a full month (!), I told them to provide a courtesy car commensurate with the money I'd just spent with them, or to refund me the 355 purchase price.
The next day, a demo Maserati 3200GTA was delivered to my office. I kept that for two weeks, after which they needed it back, so they delivered a brand new 3200GT manual for another two weeks' use.
It was pretty nice driving round in a new piece of exotica every couple of weeks, although the rumours that circulated about how I was affording it were amusing (lottery win / drug dealing...)
Either way, if I hadn't complained, I'm pretty sure the dealer would have been happy for me to drive around in a crappy Zafira for a month, rather than adding miles to the Maser demo cars
Sadly, after a week of ownership, the list of faults was huge, so it went back to the Ferrari dealer. I asked for a courtesy car, wich was waiting for me when I dropped the 355 back. It was a hired Zafira 1.6.......
I wasn't pleased, and when I was told that the 355 would be off the road for a full month (!), I told them to provide a courtesy car commensurate with the money I'd just spent with them, or to refund me the 355 purchase price.
The next day, a demo Maserati 3200GTA was delivered to my office. I kept that for two weeks, after which they needed it back, so they delivered a brand new 3200GT manual for another two weeks' use.
It was pretty nice driving round in a new piece of exotica every couple of weeks, although the rumours that circulated about how I was affording it were amusing (lottery win / drug dealing...)
Either way, if I hadn't complained, I'm pretty sure the dealer would have been happy for me to drive around in a crappy Zafira for a month, rather than adding miles to the Maser demo cars
Deva Link said:
siwil1 said:
I answered some questionnaire from Mercedes and when our Coupe went in for a service I was given a E class estate as a CC which is something I had ticked an interest in many months before, So they do work together.
I would be very impressed if that's anything other than a complete co-incidence.Like I said the E class estate wasnt really what I was looking for so went Audi, When the A6 was in Audi chelmsford they gave me an A4 Avant which had the novalty of stop/start to entertain for the day !
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