Should I Get A Courtesy Car??

eva11

Looking For Advice!!

I bought a new Fiat about 3 months ago and on Friday the trip computer came up with an alarm saying 'engine failure'. I turned back to my house and phoned the dealership where I had bought it, explaining the above problem. They told me to bring it up that day, but as it was a 30 mile trip I got my husband to do it( Im not keen on driving a car on a motorway which teh word engine failure flashing!!) They thought they had fixed the problem, until my husband drove back home that night for the engine failure sign to go back on. Today we drove it back up to the dealership and was told they didnt know if it could be repaired today or if it could take days to do, which i can understand. But when I asked for a courtersy car if it was going to take longer than a day I was told none where available until late next week and the impression I got were they weren't going to go out of their way to get me one.
Am I expecting too much of getting a courtesy car?

philhuff

Even the best garage can't run a fleet of courtesy cars big enough to satisfy every customer. Perhaps there's an alternative outlet that could repair it and provide a car, or perhaps you could just wait.

Alternatively, and this doesn't always work, see if the sales department would lend you a car for an extended test drive - you are thinking of buying an additional car, aren't you ;-)

saintjanet

A courtesy car is exactly what it sounds like,a courtesy,they are not obliged to supply you with one,indeed they may not have one available.

Even so i would,in your position,contact fiat direct.they may be able to do something for you as the dealer has had more than one attempt to repair your car.I have read on many motoring forums of people doing this and it has resulted in a car suddenly becoming available!!.It may be worth telling your dealer first,they may sort somehing out to avoid any hassle.

waster_2

Tell them you are rejecting the car as it is not fit for the purpose it was bought. Remember that now in the first 6 months it is up to the supplier of the goods to prove the fault was not present when the item was sold (in this case the car). It is not your job to show there is a fault. Tell them you want your money back and will be looking for compensation for any extra cost and inconvenience you incur as a result of their supling fault goods. However, you could drop in to the converstaion that you are prepared, without prejudice, to allow them one final attempt to resolve the problem on condition a temporary replacement vehicle is provided for the duration.

plane_boy2000

waster wrote:

Tell them you are rejecting the car as it is not fit for the purpose it was bought. Remember that now in the first 6 months it is up to the supplier of the goods to prove the fault was not present when the item was sold (in this case the car). It is not your job to show there is a fault. Tell them you want your money back and will be looking for compensation for any extra cost and inconvenience you incur as a result of their supling fault goods. However, you could drop in to the converstaion that you are prepared, without prejudice, to allow them one final attempt to resolve the problem on condition a temporary replacement vehicle is provided for the duration.

Not likely to get far with this as all that is wrong with the car is a message on the dash - its not stopping you using the car nor is it not fit for purpose as it still gets you from a to b. I understand that you may be a bit nervous about driving it, but the reality is that you could just go on using teh car until a courtesy one is available from the garage.

david29dpo

i am afraid this is typical of fiat. bmw and the like always have a car available for me. why cant they? you get what you pay for sometimes.

Astaroth

Even the likes of the prestigue brands only have a finite number of cars to give out to customers. The difference though, as you mentioned, is the fact that the top brands will go out their way to help you out... but then you have paid at least an extra 30% for your car simply for the badge and this is partially where this money goes.

I would expect one but would begrudgingly understand that they may not have one if I owned a fiat

eva11

Thanks for your replys
The dealership has managed to fix my car (Touch wood!)so hopefully won't have any further probs. I think why I expected a courtesy car was that a couple of years back i had problem with my Skoda, whilst it was getting fixed the Skoda dealership sent me a courtesy car to my home address (30mins from the dealership) whilst my own car was getting fixed. I just presumed that this service that I got from Skoda was the norm!
Thanks again

nej

My new car (3 months) broke down whilst on holiday and because I was over 30 miles away from home I got a hire car (although that's another story!).

However 4 weeks later it's still not fixed, but I've still got the hire car. Might be worth asking them for a hire car if it happens again.

plane_boy2000

Audi have been pretty good to me. I dropped my car in and they didnt have a car available so the sales guy let me take his and said he would sort something out for himself later!

trigger_mike

I had a new Renault clio a couple of years back and had to return it to be fixed after Renault forgot the fit the cogs for the Air Con to work, The dealer gave me a courtesy car with out me even asking even though it was only overnight.