Warranty repair, but £12 per day for loan car

hc25036

My Passat goes on for a rust warranty repair on Monday and the dealer - 30 minutes drive away - has just phoned to say that the loan car will be £12 per day. The job will take at least a week.

First time for me with a warranty repair. Is this normal?

Hintza

You will probably find it is an insurance charge. Clarify and then talk to you insurer or take out a weeks temp cover.

mgdavid

it doesn't sound at all unreasonable to me...

Tilt

If it's warranty work (i.e. due to a manufacturing defect) then I would not be expecting to pay for my courtesy car. The manufacturer should be covering this.

hc25036

Thanks all. My insurer has covered me for £19! Naively I thought that a warranty repair should be free....

agrinnall

The repair is free, the car hire is free, insurance for you to drive that car isn't, it's a pretty common tactic I'm afraid.

mgdavid

the warranty repair IS free - but on what basis do you expect a free hire car while work is being done? Just another example of 'rights' and compensation culture?

Nilrem

mgdavid wrote: »

the warranty repair IS free - but on what basis do you expect a free hire car while work is being done? Just another example of 'rights' and compensation culture?

On the basis that it's pretty much standard with many car dealers to offer you a courtesy car (the clue is in the name), to make up for the inconvenience of you not having your own car whilst they fix a fault under warranty?

My local Kia dealer offers a courtesy car even if you're just having a service...

It's not compensation culture, it's something that is normally part of the package when you buy insurance, or have a fault (that is not your doing) dealt with under the warranty.
This is especially true if the work is going to take more than a day or two - a week is a very long time to be without your car if it's covered under warranty (about the only things I can think that would take a week with a car under warranty is either major work, or paintwork).


Op, what's wrong with the car?
I ask as a week seems a very long time.

tony6403

I agree with Nilrem.
GK Ford provided a totally free courtesy car for me when my Mondeo had to have a new engine fitted.

agrinnall

I think it's very much done on a dealer by dealer basis, some require the insurance to be paid, some don't (but perhaps incorporate it into their charges). I guess it's a question that could be asked before deciding where to have work done, but I've never heard of anyone choosing to take their car elsewhere just because of this.

steve-L

agrinnall wrote: »

I think it's very much done on a dealer by dealer basis, some require the insurance to be paid, some don't (but perhaps incorporate it into their charges). I guess it's a question that could be asked before deciding where to have work done, but I've never heard of anyone choosing to take their car elsewhere just because of this.

It would probably depend if they have the car for a day or a week.

Honda dealers do the same.... HOWEVER
Honda do a fixed price clutch replacement (for a diesel accord this is £850) that is as good (or close) as you are likely to find elsewhere (without resorting to cowboys).
They need the car for 2 days hence +24 quid!
I recently changed clutch and DMF (at 180,000 miles)
Had I just needed a clutch £850 is not bad and £874 OK....
In that case I'd probably think the extra £24 was worth it to get it done at a main dealer. (I didn't as they then want to charge you £900 for a £450 part for the DMF)

However, say I had a electronics fault required diagnosis and they might have the car for a week... thats an extra £120.