i took my car to arnold clarke in oldbury few weeks back to have a loose bulb behind the dash sorted and a leaking tailgate sorted, they had it for 1 day and only repaired the bulb, then the following week repaired by leaking tailgate, a week later i still have a loose bulb in my dash and a leaking tailgate.

i cannot have any more days off work woth out a car so surly they should give me a free courtesy car with out chraging me!?

Depends on dealer, they are supplied and paid for by the Dealer and not FIAT so its completely up to them its a priviledge not a right. Most dealers however will give you a lift to work after dropping it off.

their saying i need to pay 11.50 a day for the insurance, dont think i should pay it if they keep fcukin it up! not my fault!

are they more likely to give me one if they need the car for a few days because i got a list of about 10 faults i want them to do!

organise your own insurance and then your not giving the dealer anything
its all costs
the dealer provides and maintains the car. insurance would be another cost

custard said:

organise your own insurance and then your not giving the dealer anything
its all costs
the dealer provides and maintains the car. insurance would be another cost

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:yeahthat:

Although saying that if your fairly young it may be cheaper to take them up on their offer. And compared to even a basic 1.0 Matiz Hire car its cheap as chips.

ChrisUK said:

Most dealers however will give you a lift to work after dropping it off.

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Thats what my dealer do, never had an issue this way. I tell them when to pick me up after work and they are always early , then take my bk to dealer.

wounder if they would mind picking me up from a building site, carrying my tools and then dropping the apprentice off too lol!
too much hassel ill just try and borrow a mates or one of my familys car!

At my local dealer, the car is collected and returned to my home. I get a lift to work with a colleague.

Like fook i would trust them to pick my car up and not hoon it. Courtesy is just that a courtesy. Yes your car maybe under warrenty but its not there fault its broke and if all the cars are out nothing you can do!

nickkk said:

wounder if they would mind picking me up from a building site, carrying my tools and then dropping the apprentice off too lol!
too much hassel ill just try and borrow a mates or one of my familys car!

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lol fair enough, i work in an office so i dont have such things

if the car is still in warrenty and it has to be in the garrage for more then 1 day then they are required to provide you with a courtesy car

Since when? If your under 21 you cant have one anyway.

punto_matt said:

Since when? If your under 21 you cant have one anyway.

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I was 18 when they gave me a brand new suzuki swift to play with.

I asked them "What about insurance", and the lady said "Oh we cover you".

Looking back, there's no way I'd have been covered but they didnt ask my age so off I went. Bombed it down every country lane I could find. Had so much fun I actually went back and asked if I could buy it.

Ive had one off them once when they didnt check but when reading the form they give you said will not cover if under 21 whoops. Excess is something stupid aswell.

You'd think though, given the circumstances they'd be more accomadating, especially after failing to fix the faults the first time around?

Then again you are only a customer

nickkk said:

their saying i need to pay 11.50 a day for the insurance, dont think i should pay it if they keep fcukin it up! not my fault!

are they more likely to give me one if they need the car for a few days because i got a list of about 10 faults i want them to do!

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It's quite common for dealers to charge for the insurance when you have a courtesy car , though the majority will be happy for you to get it covered on your own insurance policy. Direct Line would do this F.O.C. for me so I never actually paid anything when I took my Octavias in to the dealers but I've not tried my current insco.
I don't think this is a totally unreasonable charge in general.

I'm not very tolerant of dealers trying it on though , so if the car is going back for a return visit because they haven't done something right first time then there's no way I'd be paying.

Likewise my Bravo had to go back when it was a couple of weeks old cause it had come from the factory with the aircon gas low. The service receptionist at Arnold Clark in Stourbridge insisted I should be paying for a courtesy car. She really doesn't have a clue about customer service and there was no way that was happening at all. Once I demanded to speak to the manager they suddenly changed their mind.

Managers discretion

Courtesy cars, courtesy cleans etc all get built into the rate charged somehow. So, if you have paid top rate and all the courtesy stuff is advertised then you should get it imo. On the other hand, if you shopped around for the dealer who did the service 20 quid less, maybe that is why there is no courtesy car?

Really I am surprised that car manufacturers do not say a minimum that they expect their dealers to provide, as standards vary in many respects and that is with all makes of car so far as I can tell. But even that is tricky as different franchises see the courtesy car as a different thing... some just see the costs while others see it as a marketing thing.

My Mum had a Seat Ibiza several years ago, and every time it went for a service she was given some top of the range thing that she dreamed of getting, and one day that was that and she popped back the following day for a new car just like the courtesy car she had borrowed. I bought the Ibiza off her and used a different dealer, who gave me a courtesy car that was fine but 10 years old and certainly no selling job. Both positions are valid imo.

Racing Nige said:

I am surprised that car manufacturers do not say a minimum that they expect their dealers to provide.

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They do, its called 'dealer standards'.

T14086 said:

They do, its called 'dealer standards'.

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That is good, but I still find a lot of variance between dealers for all makes of car.