Hi guys, just tried to book my first service on the service plan with my dealer, asked for a courtesy car to use as this was agreed when I bought the car and was told as the service only took 40mins I wasn't allowed a car to use, my first reply was the salesman agreed it at pos, his reply was the sales man has since left,I said I have written prrof as I always get agreements in writing he then said no more firmly and said "why don't you use a closer service only garage its just down the road" its actually 10 miles away, am I being an old man here or would you complain surely 1st 2nd 10th service I should be treated the same how did I know its a just an oil change service and why should I suffer?

Had my first service the other day and at the time of booking was told it was maximum of an hour so no need for a courtesy car, had a nice cup of coffee, read a paper and looked at the cars. No big deal.

The garage does not have endless "courtesy" cars and the name has a clue in it.

If it was a big service or repair then yes they will or at least my dealer offers a courtesy car and have done on more than one occasion.

And I thought I was becoming a grumpy old man but maybe I'm not so bad

Be reasonable; next time you may genuinely need a courtesy car, but some grumpy person has taken the last car they had as they demanded a car while they had their first service

40 mins without a car how terrible; how far are you going to get in that time? you would struggle to drive the 10 miles each way home, so I think you are being very unreasonable in my opinion

Poor after sales service! NO.

Edited 19 October, 201312 yr by Defenderben

I agree with Defenderben's reply. A little give-and-take here, I think. How much will you "suffer" without the car for a short time? You'll get a reputation as a difficult customer and it's not worth it...for such a minor thing.

As i am sure you all know,i am not a fan of car dealers/salesmen,but on this point i agree with Defenderben and oxonboxn.  You do not need a loan car if the service only takes 40 minutes.  You can have a coffee in the showroom or have a walk round the area if there are any shops close by.

 

        My car gets serviced in less than an hour,and i never ask for a loan car. I have a look round the shops,or have a coffee,and its time to collect my car.

It's people like the op who get customers a bad name

Regards all

Juan

Sent from my iPhone using my thumbs

I'm sure I could entertain myself for an hour whilst having the first service, my local dealer has food and refreshments and a fairly nice waiting area.  

A courtesy car for 40 mins. Umm....

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk.

I was hoping someone would side with me. The principle on the matter in my mind is that I based my choice on buying from this dealer in particular based on the fact the salesman said that they would collect my car from my house and drop off a courtesy car. They walked me over to the service department who said its all part of the service. I agree I could wait 40 mins I wont but I could and Its bacause they said they would do something and have gone back on it after taking my money.

I can see this from both sides working at a dealer,

 

I don't know any dealer that will collect a car and drop one off for you to use,

 

We will lend cars out if the customers collects as we need copies of driving licences etc,

 

Depending on what jobs they already have in the cars may well be all booked up as said above they don't have that may anymore as dealers keep alot less stock than they used to

I can totally understand you are annoyed at being told / promised something and then them going back on it. I dont agree with that at all. If they say something you should be able to take them at their word.

However, I dont think anyone should really need a loan car for 40 mins. Either book on another day when you have an hour to spare or get a lift if you really need to be somewhere. Different if they need the car the whole day or for a few days tho, but not 40 mins, sorry

I can see it from the dealers point of view and I would use the service garage closest to me and not bother with a courtesy car, but I was offered this service when I bought the car and I thought at the time this was to good to be true hence the service manager putting it in writing.

I was offered a courtesy car but declined it even though I'm over 20 miles away from the dealer. The dealer was in the middle of nowhere really but for waiting an hour it seemed pointless having a car for an hour.

With more info from your other posts, it makes it slightly different to how I read your original post.

They have or appear to have gone back on something which was agreed at the time of purchasing, especially if you have a written agreement.

Would be interesting to see or have the exact wording on your written assurance/agreement of this special drop/collect service?

Depending on that, I would probably offer a different reply.

Is this a Skoda main dealer and what is the more local servicing place is that Skoda too?

Edited 19 October, 201312 yr by Defenderben

I always take this sort of opportunity for a free coffee, a read of the paper, a chat with the sales staff and grab a couple of brochures.

 

I must admit I was offered a loan car to cover when my Yeti recently had its MoT but declined even though they needed it for just over an hour.  I had a walk up the road to take up the extra 20 minutes.

 

When you really need a loan car, you might curse those that might prevent you because they've borrowed one to cover a short service visit. 

 

At very short notice last summer, Walkers at Kings Lynn provided me with a virtually new Roomster for four days whilst the Yeti had a major part replaced. This was very welcome as we were on holiday with wife, 2 kids and dog and staying in a cottage with 2 buses passing by a day.  They did so without any question and even said we could use the Roomster to come home at the end of the week if the Yeti was still icky.

 

Trev

When you really need a loan car, you might curse those that might prevent you because they've borrowed one to cover a short service visit. 

 

Trev

This sums it up IMO. Yes, the dealer was wrong to offer a courtesy car then renege, but the reason they did was because it was offered by the salesman without probably realising that the service would only last 40mins. They'd probably have been better off being up front and mentioning this to you.

Like everyone else I can't see what your would need a car for for 40 mins or even what you could do. I'd just enjoy the change to sit, chill, have some free coffees and have a sit in some new cars.

The reason is I live 1 hr away from the dealer and work 1 hour away from my home in the other direction, so I would need to take 1 day of my precious annual leave off and I also work Saturdays, at the time I was looking at cars this was one of my critetia and I turned down better priced cars for this service thinking I was in fact paying that little bit extra so when it came round to servicing which as you can see feom my mileage happens every 4 to 6 months I would not be in any way in convinced. Hence getting it in writing, hence me now getting upset, the alternative is ro use this service garage which is a dine garage but I would need to also take time off work which is hard for me in my job.

my dealer offers several options,

 

short visit, tea/ coffee, papers and telly on sky/bbc news

 

longer visits, either a drop and collect service or a loan car

 

I try and be flexible over loan cars, also very often the loan cars come with a high excess, so I try not to have one if possible

 

I have used the drop and collect, very good, drop the car at 8am at dealers, they drove me 4-5 miles to work, colleague dropped me back later at the end of the day to collect (or they could have brought car back to me, but that takes someone out of workshop / showroom)

 

give and take from both sides and being sensible about options, if you need a loan car let them know asap rather than rock up and expect one without warning

so what you are saying is although the service is an hour, you would drop the car off early, pick up a loan car and leave the car with them all day then bring the loan car back at the end of the day?

 

which could be seen as a reasonable option if they have enough notice and you book the option of the loan car when you book the service

Yes that's right bluecar1. I do have a crap job which is my problem but I thought I had found a way to manage servicing with a new car and this agreement.

I'm fortunate in that the dealer I use is just north of Glasgow city centre - I take the car in for opening at 8, tell them there's no rush and I'll be back some time after 4 to collect - I then walk to work from the dealer (20mins). Appreciate other people don't have this flexibility.

I would never bother with a courtesy car - not worth the hassle of the paperwork.

so what you are saying is although the service is an hour, you would drop the car off early, pick up a loan car and leave the car with them all day then bring the loan car back at the end of the day?

 

which could be seen as a reasonable option if they have enough notice and you book the option of the loan car when you book the service

If you have that in writing then I can't see what their problem is. But you can see why they don't want to give a hire car out. As far as they are concerned they are losing a car for 40 mins work. They might only have 1 or 2 hire cars.

I know my local main dealer would oblidge in those circumstances but I have got a really good relationship with them, everyone is on first name terms and we always share a joke or two and have a little chit chat.

They sorta did that when my vRS had to have some investigatory works done and they weren't sure if it was an hour or three they needed it for, they gave me one of the demonstrators and said just get back by closing and if your car is not ready keep it.

So even with enough notice, they are flat refusing to let you drop off yours, take a courtesy car for the day then drop back at the end of the day?

Try another Skoda dealer there must be another.

Edited 19 October, 201312 yr by Defenderben

At the end of the day I need a service I'll phone up this service garage and hope they will do the work as it was part of the finance deal I'm sure they are a fine garage, but I feel as though the original garage I bought the car off can sod off, imagine if it was some free mats you where offered and you went to pick up the car and they refused to give them to you, sure there £20 bit its the fact theyoffered

I almost forgot the garage did a recall on the airbag a month after I bought the car but that only took 20mins, I'm guessing the garage can bill skoda for warranty work then as there was no discussion about not having a courtesy car then.

The reason is I live 1 hr away from the dealer and work 1 hour away from my home in the other direction, so I would need to take 1 day of my precious annual leave off and I also work Saturdays, at the time I was looking at cars this was one of my critetia and I turned down better priced cars for this service thinking I was in fact paying that little bit extra so when it came round to servicing which as you can see feom my mileage happens every 4 to 6 months I would not be in any way in convinced. Hence getting it in writing, hence me now getting upset, the alternative is ro use this service garage which is a dine garage but I would need to also take time off work which is hard for me in my job.

Did they refused to pick-up/drop-off your car from/to your work place?