Loaner policy on Warranty Work?

[catoiler]

Why do we need to shell out extra money for the extended warranty just to get a loaner?40 grand isin't enough to justify one?How about loility(sp)? When you bring in your car or truck for a repair that is not normal service related ie;oil change,tune-up or the like they should supply you with something to drive instead of just telling you when it's done we will call and then taking their sweet time to complete the repairs. The owner of the dealer where we bought our van told us that they gave out loaners as part of the service for buying from them. BS!

Mike the TSB # for the W/S is 23-008-04 3/2/04


Mike

 

[DPKetchum]

The LOANERS cost! Eat up profit pretty rapidly. Buy at invoice and or below etc. Get a RENTAL every time a vehicle comes in for anything. Its economics. I've seen the figures at a modest size dealer. $3000 to $6000 at month in rental exspense. Every month. Some figures I saw from GMPP showed that RENTAL matched or exceeded the dollars spent on the covered repair. The resaon Enterprize is used so much now is that the DEALER autos wern't being returned in a timely manor,brought back trashed out,dented,wrecked always dead on empty etc. Using a outside rental source cut the figure by far. Can't take in a dollar and put out a $1. 50 and stay in business. Loaners/rentals are a convenence. They DON"T have to loan anybody nothing. Independents for the MOST part aren't even asked. Heck most of them don't even give you a lift down the road. Buy auto insurance,make your deductable a $1000 and wavie the rental. Have a wreck,tell your insurance company whom you have never had a claim with in 10 years YOU want a loaner/rental. See how far you get. I don't see much differance. I'm 50. Until the last 10/15 years it was unheard of to get a loaner when taking a broken vehicle in. Wasn't even a passing thought. One dealer I was with 15 years there were NO demos to anyone. Even a employee in a emergency could not borrow anything. Period. AS the dealer owner stated they were HIS cars,His insurance,His deductable and cost a lot of money. He bought a run down in the RED Chevy dealer in the early 80's that had no less then 25 demo's/loaners on the lot and out there. All had 6k plus and minor dents. dings etc. He UNHORSED everyone in the next few days and as employees got mad and quit he said see ya! Had to go to customers homes and pick up loaners etc. Withen 30 days that dealer was operating in the black,not by much but it never went into the red again. The CSI when he took it over was out of sight with high marks. But they were broke also. Point is some of YOU all need to own or run a business(dealer) and really see in the better ones what goes on in sales,service,parts and look at bottom line.

 

[Bob4x4]

How many of you payed sticker price for your trucks?How many paid much closer to invoice?How many would be happy to add some money to the sticker to pay for loaners?



Bob

 

[NDanecker]

DC is selling this 'extra care option' as part of their extended warranty package, and its turning out to be a real profit maker for them IMO! That is what I'm PO'd about. DC is selling a service that I was told is being offered at ANY dealer in the US, but later find out that every dealer doesn't even know about it. And isn't setup to follow thru on offering loaner cars and must resort to a third rental agency. DC should have disclosed this to their customers (ME) that most dealers don't offer a fleet of loaners and you only get $30/day which you'll have to arrange for your own loaner car from a local agency. Anything beyond $30/day (because they don't have an auto to fit the $30/day agreement DC has with enterprise) must be paid out of pocket. BS!!!! ITS ALL BS!!!!!

I don't know about some of you, but I need to show up at work everyday. My manager doesn't care if I have car trouble. I need to get my butt to work. Yes, there are certain leniencies from time to time. Either way, I rely on DC getting me to work, either with the $40K+ truck I purchased or a loaner just as promised!!!

Like I said from personal experience, BMW does this and does this well. DC just stinks when it comes to customer care. I understand its a business, and they need to turn a profit or why be in business at all. This is true for any business even with health care/hospitals when peoples lives are at stake. May be unethical but its all about making a dollar. The image I get from DC is they only care about making a dollar today and not worried about customer retention to make a profit tomorrow.

Therefore, I have no loyalty to DC. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER DC PRODUCT AGAIN!! And I've got a number of colleagues here at work that believe the same. I waited for my truck for 13 weeks and was like a little kid on Christmas when it finally arrived. After dealing with a broken toy and the inability to obtain good customer care, I am starting to believe there really is no Santa Claus - and I want a Fu*^&* refund!!!

Do and believe what you want.

 

[Bob4x4]

Caveat Emptor my friends.



Bob

 

[mikepvg]

Mike

Thanks for the TSB#!





Regarding other comments on loaners. Sure DC has to make a profit but the way to do it is not to cheat its customers of proper & appropriate service. I bought a brand new truck simply because I use it & NEED it every day in my business or I DON"T MAKE A LIVING. I can not afford the down time. Period. If the product (which) I paid premium bucks for is defective & breaksdown, they should help me out & provide a loaner, rental etc. . Its not my fault they produced vehicles that breakdown & cost them money. A much better way to make a profit would be to make a premium product that doesn't haver so many F$#% defects. And now thats a novel concept! It seems that Toy & Honda follow that philosophy.



I. e. My Toy p/u, blew a motor about 100K & 6 years after the warranty. What did they do? They replaced the whole fri$%^ motor FREE OF CHARGE, & quickly I might add with a FREE rental. Why? Because of a DEFECTIVE part that ruined the motor. They are NOT in business to sell defective parts. I waited many years hoping that TOY would produce a 1 ton p/u after that because I wanted to repay their loyalty to me & buy another TOY. IF & When they do produce a 1T diesel p/u I will repay them by selling my CTD to buy one of their products.



And for the CTD fans (which I still am) that type of competition is exactly what the BIG 3 need to get their SH^& together & produce the type of truck they ARE CAPABLE OF!



Mike

 

[NDanecker]

And for the CTD fans (which I still am) that type of competition is exactly what the BIG 3 need to get their SH^& together & produce the type of truck they ARE CAPABLE OF!

Mike

I agree. I owned a 96 Toy Tacoma. Sold to my brother and he now has 258k miles with no trouble other then regular maintenance. Even has the STOCK clutch!!!

I would prefer to keep the money state side, but today its very difficult. Even Dodge has its assembly plant in Mexico. Body parts manufactured in Canada. BMW assembled my X5 down in South Carolina. I believe Toyota and Honda also has plants here in the US. Ya just can't say BUY American anymore 'cause so many companies have relocated much of their manufacturer/assembly plants to other countries.

I don't know what happened to the American work force. It seems we just can't build/design a good product anymore. What happened to people caring about their jobs? What happened to people putting in 100% and not "F. . IT. I don't get paid enough so I'm not going to care!" attitudes? Is it the American lifestyle of us always wanting more money/better pay? Is it the Unions and union mentality? Whatever it is we need to get our ***** in order!

 

[swexlin]

I don't get paid enough so I'm not going to care!" attitudes? Is it the American lifestyle of us always wanting more money/better pay? Is it the Unions and union mentality? Whatever it is we need to get our ***** in order

Amen. FWIW, I also bought the "extended care" and it ain't worth it. My selling dealer provides a loaner vehicle - ONE day only, and it's whatever uses POS they happen to have, which is OK with me - I only need something to get me to work. I do have a spare car, but my selling dealer is 35 miles away, and I have no one to follow me up and bring me back.



My local dealer will give me a deer-in-headlights" look, however. However, it AIN'T any better at the Ford shop. Been there, done that.

 

[DPKetchum]

The Enterperized deal,$30 bucks a day etc. Is nothing new. Its the same with Nissan/G. M. /D. C. and a friend of mine in a Mercedes dealer says its that way there also. They don't buy fuel/insurance or pay for over any alloted times. Some have mileage restrictsons such as 100 miles a day. I heard ALL these same complaints at a Nissan dealer/G. M. dealer/D. C. dealer etc. In fact it was such a point of discussions/time put into the rental thing that even just canning rental 100% was discussed by the them. Same discussions,same issues,differant manufactures. Ford did the loaner/rental and canned it several years ago and has brought it back into play again. Cadallic was a loner for whatever reason a new car was brought in and they reined it in to x amount of labor hours and if the repair could be done in a day it would not qualify.

 

[DPKetchum]

Well now the vehicles they build now are a far cry from the velicles built 20 years ago or before. The 70s vehicles for the most part were junk. I've seen huge strides in quality and engineeing from then to now. 80k back then was HIGH mileage. Now its just a couple years of driving. Heck when I was a kid if someone had a car that the speedo was fixing to roll over and start a 0 again we all were in awe.

 

[NDanecker]

Well now the vehicles they build now are a far cry from the velicles built 20 years ago or before. The 70s vehicles for the most part were junk. I've seen huge strides in quality and engineeing from then to now. 80k back then was HIGH mileage. Now its just a couple years of driving. Heck when I was a kid if someone had a car that the speedo was fixing to roll over and start a 0 again we all were in awe.

I agree!!! I also remember the days that many cars remarkably passed out at 100k miles. Even in the early 80's when small block chevy camshafts just seemd to go round at 100k.

Makes me wonder though... ..... as to what 'drove' US car manufacturers to improve their quality? Imports perhaps???? Competition???

Yes. The quality has gotten better but imports just seem to stay a few clicks ahead of us.

 

[DPKetchum]

Well sure and they closed the gap considerably if not almost totaly. The common imports are not really a few clicks ahead. Lots of them aren't that good. They make junk also.

 

[PJ]

Makes me wonder though... ..... as to what 'drove' US car manufacturers to improve their quality? Imports perhaps???? Competition???



Yes. The quality has gotten better but imports just seem to stay a few clicks ahead of us.

Hmmmm, our trucks are imports from Mexico... ...

 

[catoiler]

Well now the vehicles they build now are a far cry from the velicles built 20 years ago or before. The 70s vehicles for the most part were junk. I've seen huge strides in quality and engineeing from then to now.

I'll tell you what I have at least 20 cars and trucks from 1929 to 1975 and the quality and the craftsmanship in them is far beyond the cars of today!Let's see how many of these plastic and tin piles are around in 50 yrs from now!Some of the most sought after and high dollar muscle cars are from the late 60's to the early 70's. I doubt that any car from now will fetch as much as a 70 hemi cuda does. The whole thing is about spending money on something that does not work as it should and then having to be without it and having to make do while at the mercy of someone else that is repairing it. Say you bought a nice new plasma big screen a week before the super bowl and then all of a sudden the picture goes out--you call the manufacture and the tell you it will be 2 weeks to repair it. well now that $2500. 00 tv is getting repaired because someone left a wire loose. get the point?Sure bottom line does matter but at what cost?Stick it to the buyer and we will take it and come back for more!Most of the trouble with mine could have been fixed the first time had the dealer had mechanics that knew what they were doing. 2 rebuilds on the rear end because the tech did not take the time to clean out the junk from the first time--he just saw the warranty pay and forgot about doing the job right!All the time DC had to pay these people to do it over when the tech should have had to eat it. Buy the way I have owned my own business and have been a mech. for over 30 yrs. and currently work on Caterpillar equipment. I have no problem with fixing it myself but why--thats why i bought a new truck because i did not want to work on it.

 

[DKarvwnaris]

Hmmmm, our trucks are imports from Mexico... ...

Mexico doesn't count, we colonized it long ago. The problem is, the good workers are migrants in the U. S. , NOT in the Mexican auto plants.



By the way, my truck says, " vehicle made in the USA" in Jan 96 on the door placard, not North America. One of the reasons it is still in my driveway, hard to find many of them nowadays. Doors are falling off it, but it still runs stronger than anything I have seen recently out of any dealer lots.

(just put new hinges on drivers door last week, so I figure its good for another rollover on the Odometer now at least.

 

[DPKetchum]

Only because they were muscle cars and were preserved or restored. Even driven easy and well maintained rolling them 200k was a real task. In fact the few NEW Hemis I remember looked great but ran rotton. Run ok one day and tinker/tune for the next 3 weeks to get one good day again. These were NEW autos. You sure didn't get in them and hit the gas and get and maintain decent performance thats for sure. Rust was a issue. Doors got loose and sagged and I could go on and on. Oh they didn't stop or turn worth a toot eaither.

 

[catoiler]

Not to many E-Bodys with big blocks handled worth a damn!with a small block they were great!Gotta rember their were no computers back in the day-set one up with a computer and fuel injection and it will be almost as reliable as a new car.

 

[MNielsen]

mikepvg,

The weatherstrip on 04/05 trucks are rubbed by the door being opened and closed(near the pillars on both sides) DC has a TSB to replace with new weather-stripping that is not rubbed by door. I had this done and all is great( some on here have stated hearing whistle or air leak on freeway after TSB but I have not had any problems)

 

[DPKetchum]

I had a Dart 340 speed car. Terrible steering,handling and WORSE brakes!

 

[DKarvwnaris]

I had a Dart 340 speed car. Terrible steering,handling and WORSE brakes!

Even worse, it was a DART!! My dad used to buy them for winter rats in upstate New York. Trunks would fall out of them after a few seasons, absolute pile of garbage. I have yet to see one that didn't remind me of my mom dragging the contents of the trunk down the street of our town, Only saving grace to that car was it kept my dad's vette inside during the winters under a cover and on stands.