Loan Car

[Finance_Analyst]

I'm clearly a sucker - providing a free loan car is indeed good customer service in my mind.

I'm also not sure that a free loan car is always aligned with increased service costs. I did a phone-around of my 3 closest Merc dealers last week to figure out where to get my wife's car serviced, and whilst all 3 quoted prices within $10 for the standard first service only 2 of the dealers offered a free loan car.

Whilst the provision of a free loan car isn't my main reason for selecting a particular service centre, when comparing otherwise equal options it is certainly a contributing factor. Indeed I ended up booking the service at one of the dealers offering the free loan car even though I won't actually be using the car on this occasion.

Well, given it is a Merc dealer, the servicing is way overpriced anyway (no different to when I had an SLK). They get you everywhere with Merc and BMW, from the initial purchase price, to servicing and finally spare parts and their resale values are pretty appalling too. You are probably lucky the others didn't charge much more - although I suspect that like for like, they will find 'something else' that needs replacing to recoup the cost which is kinda dodgy if not critical (happens more often than one thinks).

As I said earlier, these dealers ain't running a charity. People are very naive/stupid if they think so and someone (if not always yourself directly if you know what you are doing) is paying for it one way or the other (e.g. $40 to replace windscreen wipers, $20 to replace a battery (cost of battery = $3) in the car key?????).

But hey, we live in a free market economy and these guys are running a business to make lots of $$$ and I am all for that (otherwise I would have studied law/social work and not commerce). Just don't believe that good customer service = charity case.

[jamesatfish]

Well, given it is a Merc dealer, the servicing is way overpriced anyway (no different to when I had an SLK). They get you everywhere with Merc and BMW, from the initial purchase price, to servicing and finally spare parts and their resale values are pretty appalling too. You are probably lucky the others didn't charge much more - although I suspect that like for like, they will find 'something else' that needs replacing to recoup the cost which is kinda dodgy if not critical (happens more often than one thinks).

No argument that the Merc dealer is charging a higher rate for their service work than my local VW dealership does - but then again I'd expect that servicing a $170K vehicle with all sorts of electronic gizmos would require a better skilled, higher trained technician than a $30K Polo. It also reflects the increased capital requirements for servicing certain types of vehicles - things like manufacturer specific diagnostic and programming equipment.

I'm not suggesting the dealership is giving me a loan car out of a sense of charity - of course I realise it's a commercial decision where the benefits of providing the loaner service to customers outweigh the costs of maintaining the loan car fleet. In my situation it's more about the fact that I consider the availability of a free loan car to be something that comes hand-in-hand with vehicle ownership, and I'd prefer that dealers factored this service into their standard pricing rather than tacking on extra charges.

It's an economically irrational position for sure, but I would prefer to use a dealer who charged $530 for a service including a 'free' loan car rather than a dealer who charged $500 for the service then slugged me $30 for the use of the loaner.

[elephino]

Of course - that is my point. It is perceived to be 'good customer service' for suckers, but behind that veil, it is a cunning way to make them look better. Either way, my VW independant does not offer loan cars, and the local dealer can do city drop off.

Bottom line - you never get something for nothing. Life is a zero sum game.

It depends on how you look at it. For someone who requires a loan car, it's cheaper for them to get a free one with the service as the dealership wouldn't be adding the full $36 (or whatever they'd charge) to the service when offered free.

While saying that, I haven't seen a (paid) loan car from a dealer's service centre under $50 for ages, so $36 is good.

[GTi Bhoy]

When you are doing the deal to buy the car make free loan car for service part of the deal.
This is very common and just incase the sales person leaves or you think they might try and pull a fast one when it comes to giving you your free car always take a copy of the order form which states FREE LOAN CAR FOR EVERY SERVICE/WARRANTY BOOKING.
$36 is not bad.
Replace fuel used is also very common and fair.

[Rockman]

At Klosters you have to book a car, or they will drop you off at work, and pick you up later.



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[Ben_GTI]

Don't goto stealerships. I had a pretty full on argument over the cost of a loan car one day and vowed that I wouldn't be back if they had the balls to charge me for it.

I goto independent service centres, the loan cars are free, just put back in the fuel you used AND they don't leave sockets and spanners behind your dash or in your air-con vents. If you are in Melbourne I'd recommend Volkwerke, great service and not a long wait list for a loan car.