Courtesy Cars

[Red diesel]

Dealers will tell you we only have so many cars to give out and we can't be expected to have cars for everybody. Fair enough for a rountine service booked weeks in advance if you know in advance that no courtesy car can be guranteed as you can then make alternative arrangements. But where id have an issue is when you hear stories (relating to manufacturers other than Toyota - although i doubt they are much better since they have the same supply issues) where someones car has a problem under warranty (new cars) and no courtesy car is offered.

Fine if the issue is a minor issue where you can continue to use the car - but if its a big issue where the problem is going to take some time (as in days) to fix. Surely its not beyond the thinking power of manufacturers like Ford or Toyota where they have arrangements with a hire company (accounts) where if the customer needs a car - the hire car company is contacted and supplys a car. Yes money for the manufacturer - but there again if they are spending too much on hire cars they will have to ask themselves why and maybe address common reliability issues and the like.

Or am i being too fussy and demanding - im not talking about a gearbox failure on a 10 year old 200 000 mile car. Im talking about cars under manufacturers warranty under 3 or 4 years old with things going wrong that shouldn't be going wrong like the head gasket issues on 2.2 D4Ds. Heard a story on another forum where a guy with a 6 month old 25 grand car that needed work done under warranty was told no courtesy car available - and the dealer wouldn't organise a hire car. This inspite of being told by the driver that he or she needed a car for work purposes this week.

I know that theres loads of issues regarding giving out cars - but what baffles me is that 15 years ago small garages in my area at home could give you a car out of the sales yard on loan if a customer was stuck. When i were a nipper the parents crashed a car and had the use of a Bluebird for the best part of 3 weeks and the car was one our local garage was selling.

Red diesel

[acetip]

Was in my local dealers when a women brought in her Yaris for bad handling problems,she was offered the loan of a IQ, she told them she would not be seen dead in one of those.dont no if she was offered anything else as i left shortly afterwards.

[Karma Supra]

I took my M3 in for work at my local BMW dealership for a warranty claim.

I asked for a courtesy car and they said I could have one. Good I thought I can give a 1 series a whirl as the other half is thinking of chopping her MR2 in for one....

Not good, they offered me a Chevrolet Matiz. Worse still they wanted me to pay £30 for insurance, dispite the fact that my own policy on my group 20 car covered me.. I politely decilined and used one of our spare cars!

Mercedes however were much better... I said I'd drop my dad's S class in as it was due a service, they let me loose in a brand new C class sport with the (terrible) flappy paddle gearbox on delivery miles...

[Lorna2]

I took my M3 in for work at my local BMW dealership for a warranty claim.

I asked for a courtesy car and they said I could have one. Good I thought I can give a 1 series a whirl as the other half is thinking of chopping her MR2 in for one....

Not good, they offered me a Chevrolet Matiz. Worse still they wanted me to pay £30 for insurance, dispite the fact that my own policy on my group 20 car covered me.. I politely decilined and used one of our spare cars!

Mercedes however were much better... I said I'd drop my dad's S class in as it was due a service, they let me loose in a brand new C class sport with the (terrible) flappy paddle gearbox on delivery miles...

Good job you didn't take the chevrolet matiz, what a nasty 'car' that is. I had a nasty experience of owning a chevrosh*t matiz one time - worst heap of dirt on the road. Must say I'm surprised that BMW offered you that thing

[gordonD4D]

had a renault 18 turbo ( going back slightly more than a few years ago ) it was in for ECU repairs ( black box ) and they gave me a renault 5 to buzz around in

i was driving past a place where i used to work and sounded the horn to a few of my old workmates , unknown to me there was a new set of traffic lights at red just ahead and when i turned back to look ahead, there in front of me was an old volvo 240 with the biggest towbar ive ever seen ! believe it or not the impact shunted the volvo a good few feet forward, i got out the car < renault 5 which basically had no front end left and looked at the volvo which was intact except for some renault silver paint on its towbar !!!!!,i got a good round of applause from my old mates that all were in hysterics falling about the place > serves me right for not paying attention

[Red Yaris 54]

had a renault 18 turbo ( going back slightly more than a few years ago ) it was in for ECU repairs ( black box ) and they gave me a renault 5 to buzz around in

i was driving past a place where i used to work and sounded the horn to a few of my old workmates , unknown to me there was a new set of traffic lights at red just ahead and when i turned back to look ahead, there in front of me was an old volvo 240 with the biggest towbar ive ever seen ! believe it or not the impact shunted the volvo a good few feet forward, i got out the car < renault 5 which basically had no front end left and looked at the volvo which was intact except for some renault silver paint on its towbar !!!!!,i got a good round of applause from my old mates that all were in hysterics falling about the place > serves me right for not paying attention

How brave of you to admit on this forum to being such an idiot

[gordonD4D]

had a renault 18 turbo ( going back slightly more than a few years ago ) it was in for ECU repairs ( black box ) and they gave me a renault 5 to buzz around in

i was driving past a place where i used to work and sounded the horn to a few of my old workmates , unknown to me there was a new set of traffic lights at red just ahead and when i turned back to look ahead, there in front of me was an old volvo 240 with the biggest towbar ive ever seen ! believe it or not the impact shunted the volvo a good few feet forward, i got out the car < renault 5 which basically had no front end left and looked at the volvo which was intact except for some renault silver paint on its towbar !!!!!,i got a good round of applause from my old mates that all were in hysterics falling about the place > serves me right for not paying attention

How brave of you to admit on this forum to being such an idiot

they say your not a driver till you've had a bump , ***** i' must be an advanced driver then lol 2 wheels and four ~ was banned from driving before i got my provisional for falling off a motorbike !!!!!!!!!

[Red Yaris 54]

had a renault 18 turbo ( going back slightly more than a few years ago ) it was in for ECU repairs ( black box ) and they gave me a renault 5 to buzz around in

i was driving past a place where i used to work and sounded the horn to a few of my old workmates , unknown to me there was a new set of traffic lights at red just ahead and when i turned back to look ahead, there in front of me was an old volvo 240 with the biggest towbar ive ever seen ! believe it or not the impact shunted the volvo a good few feet forward, i got out the car < renault 5 which basically had no front end left and looked at the volvo which was intact except for some renault silver paint on its towbar !!!!!,i got a good round of applause from my old mates that all were in hysterics falling about the place > serves me right for not paying attention

How brave of you to admit on this forum to being such an idiot

they say your not a driver till you've had a bump , ***** i' must be an advanced driver then lol 2 wheels and four ~ was banned from driving before i got my provisional for falling off a motorbike !!!!!!!!!

Not really something to be proud of or boasting about

[Cyker]

@KarmaSupra: Oh man, that's hilarious! Offering a Matiz to a BMW driver?! What were they thinking?!

[acetip]

My son was given a brand new Prius that was taken out of the showroom cos they were short of courtesy cars,when he took his lexus in for a sevice.they told him it was parked around the back of the showroom,when he got in it he got in a confused state how to move off until a lady staff member helped him out.

[Jan&tone]

@KarmaSupra: Oh man, that's hilarious! Offering a Matiz to a BMW driver?! What were they thinking?!

Makes them appreciate how other drivers feel when being cut up by a beemer!

[jirehn]

Just discovered your blog, very interesting and fun to read. Keep up the good work, I've got this page bookmarked now.

[Parts-King]

Dealers will tell you we only have so many cars to give out and we can't be expected to have cars for everybody. Fair enough for a rountine service booked weeks in advance if you know in advance that no courtesy car can be guranteed as you can then make alternative arrangements. But where id have an issue is when you hear stories (relating to manufacturers other than Toyota - although i doubt they are much better since they have the same supply issues) where someones car has a problem under warranty (new cars) and no courtesy car is offered.

Courtesy cars are what they are, a courtesy or loan car while yours is off the road. There is no legal requirement to offer you a car, but in the interest of keeping customers happy, dealers do have cars for customer use. These cars are funded by the dealer, they have to be taxed and maintained, at the expense of the dealer, they are not free and have to be bought or leased just like your own car, there is not a bottomless pit of loan cars waiting around the back

Manufacturers will often supply a hire car at their own expense IF a job cannot be completed for say parts being out of stock or cannot be fixed for some other reason. We probably have the best part of 20 group cars for use by customers, but not every customer wants or even needs a car, very often while you wait servicing and repairs can be done

Some people, and a very small number, treat our cars like dirt, they put their dogs in them, fill them full of rubbish and drive them through quarries!!

As for taking cars off the pitch and loaning them out, that just does not happen, customers surrender tax discs, you wont find cars on a forecourt with tax on them

Kingo

[Jamesbelfast]

Lets be honest. The provision of courtesy cars has to be paid for.

And yes folks its the customer who gets the privelege of doing so.

[jirehn]

What are the examples of this courtesy cars?

[Jan&tone]

What are the examples of this courtesy cars?

Usually the cheapest car that the dealer can get hold of. However, some dealers have been known to give out models that need selling too. It really depends on the dealer and his policy.