[pyceasyas123]

Have you guys heard of this no "free" loaner car at BMW Parkview and Toronto as of Oct 1? Apparently, no matter what my car is in for be it a warranty claim etc, I have to pay $60 a day for a loaner? The concept puzzles me.

[GreekboyD]

Haven't heard of that but I know they also offer "Discount" rental cars too.

[bobblehead]

If that's true, then that would leave TC is one of the last few known dealers still give out free loaner.

I just had mine (routine) serviced last week @ TC on 5 series and they gave me a choice of X3 or 328.

[magha]

autohaus has been doing this since a few years now, if your car is in the shop within first 6 months of delivery the loaner is free ($20 a day for a bmw loaner) otherwise you rent at a discounted rate from whichever rental company the dealership is affiliated with.

[CanadianDriver]

nickle and dime-ing always turn customers away. if they're slowly becoming a "regular" dealership like nissan, honda, toyota... then where's the "premium" experience that goes with premium pricing?

[bulldog_yyc]

Confirmed BMW Toronto charging $20/day for a loaner; they call it an "admin fee".
Work is being performed under warranty.

[KPDoubleX]

I'm driving a free loaner right now from Maranello. They have to do a $150 pre authorization , but it comes off your card the next day. If you need a loaner, just go to another dealership that will give you one.

[CanadianDriver]

Originally Posted by bulldog x6

Confirmed BMW Toronto charging $20/day for a loaner; they call it an "admin fee".
Work is being performed under warranty.

It's likely the Quinn group has been successful in winning customers from other dealerships that they are slowly getting "diminishing returns" from taking-in additional work/customers.

If only this translates to more discounts from MSRP by not subsidizing loaners, then I'm all for it. But it's unlikely

[m42stanle]

Originally Posted by bulldog x6

Confirmed BMW Toronto charging $20/day for a loaner; they call it an "admin fee".
Work is being performed under warranty.

Can I ask did you buy your car from BMW Toronto originally or was it just there for service?

I recall when I took delivery there they mentioned a policy of free loaners during service if you bought your car from them, but that everyone else had to pay a daily fee.

From what you are saying it sounds like they are charging everyone now. I am walking distance from them so it's not the end of the world for me, but I'm still going to make sure I get my money's worth out of the free espresso and massage chairs every time just on principle. ;-)

[bobblehead]

$20 loaner fee = 10 espresso drinks + 5 bottles of juice + 10 bottles of water.

Not sure how heavy to carry all those free drinks ?

Originally Posted by m42stanle

Can I ask did you buy your car from BMW Toronto originally or was it just there for service?

I recall when I took delivery there they mentioned a policy of free loaners during service if you bought your car from them, but that everyone else had to pay a daily fee.

From what you are saying it sounds like they are charging everyone now. I am walking distance from them so it's not the end of the world for me, but I'm still going to make sure I get my money's worth out of the free espresso and massage chairs every time just on principle. ;-)

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by CanadianDriver

nickle and dime-ing always turn customers away. if they're slowly becoming a "regular" dealership like nissan, honda, toyota... then where's the "premium" experience that goes with premium pricing?

I bet they have 20 320s and X1s at about $35,000 each . That $700,000 tied up in loaners. Probably get about $25,000 each when then sell them so before they repair and do regular maintenance it has cost them about $200,000. Hardly sounds like nickel and dimeing to me. I just gave back a n/c loaner after 10 days at Parkview......$200 would have pissed me off for sure though. It sounds like most of you guys abuse them too. Premium pricing?
If you want a free loaner then I guess its Lexus time.

[CanadianDriver]

AFAIK, no dealership (all makes) has dedicated loaner fleets. dealership fleets rotate between different states depending on dealership needs, market demand and customer satisfaction: test-drive fleet, staff car, executive car, service car, shuttle car, loaner, CPO fleet, etc.

And when it's time to sell the CPO fleet, they recover most of it. Otherwise, they simply won't do it.

[bulldog_yyc]

Originally Posted by 335BBS

I bet they have 20 320s and X1s at about $35,000 each . That $700,000 tied up in loaners. Probably get about $25,000 each when then sell them so before they repair and do regular maintenance it has cost them about $200,000. Hardly sounds like nickel and dimeing to me. I just gave back a n/c loaner after 10 days at Parkview......$200 would have pissed me off for sure though. It sounds like most of you guys abuse them too. Premium pricing?
If you want a free loaner then I guess its Lexus time.

If your car is in for warranty repairs, it means that there was either a quality of manufacturing defect. You purchase a vehicle assuming it will be free of such defects. In reality, that is rarely the case, but there has to be some compensation for you giving up your car for repairs and loss of use. Thus, a free loaner was a way of making things somewhat equal. So, on top of my time taking a vehicle in for repairs, I now have to pay a fee for a loaner (so I can maintain the use of a vehicle) as well?
Does that sound fair?

Ill just use your numbers for the sake of simplicity:
20 vehicles x (35,000-25,000) = $200,000 loss on value

Assume service vehicles are used for 2 years on average
Service Fee $20/day
Number of vehicles 20
% of time vehicles loaned 80%
20x20x365x80%=$116,800 loaner revenue per year x 2 years = $233,600 loaner revenues over 2 years

Revenues - loss on sale of vehicles = 233,600-200,000 = $33,600 balance / 20 vehicles = $1,680 repair allowance for each vehicle

That is probably a reasonable repair allowance per car - so the dealer is essentially breaking even, which means the consumer is at a loss.

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by CanadianDriver

AFAIK, no dealership (all makes) has dedicated loaner fleets. dealership fleets rotate between different states depending on dealership needs, market demand and customer satisfaction: test-drive fleet, staff car, executive car, service car, shuttle car, loaner, CPO fleet, etc.

And when it's time to sell the CPO fleet, they recover most of it. Otherwise, they simply won't do it.

...........or they start charging for it.

[vantage_coupe]

I haven't heard anything about this yet. BMW Toronto has offered me no-charge loaners when in for service (I purchased the car from them).

[Kanuk_Machine]

Everyone, this was my most recent encounter.

Went to Budds BMW in Oakville and lets say I did not have a great experience. Let me tell you first that I'm driving a US purchased car, and still have US plates so I have not imported to Canada/Toronto

1. Booked my car for WARRANTY WORK and was expecting to receive a loaner or courtesy car.
2. Was called back by the dealer saying they will 'put aside' a loaner for me.
3. Get to the dealership, find out a few things:
-Dealer charges $35/day for an ENTERPRISE RENTAL (not even a BMW loaner)
-No KM charge or Gas charge, but only allowed 100km/day
-Will provide BMW loaners only for people who BOUGHT the car from them, AND Will charge $25/day (for first day) and $35/day for everyday after

What ticked me off the most about the above was that I brought my car in for service at 11:30am. I was told the techs will be going for lunch soon and most likely won't even look at my car until MONDAY. So now I have to pay the stupid rental, but on top of that pay for FOUR DAYS rental because they can't get to my car?

I immediately asked for my car back and said I'll book again later. My SA offered to cover the first day rental due to the inconvenience so now I'm gonna bring it in at 8am this Friday.

Seriously though, this is quite a hassle considering I bought a premium luxury brand car.

Sad thing, is I got free rentals on my 2003 VW JETTA. If VW can do it, why not BMW?

[Havok_2011]

Wow this is shitty

I always thought it was smart to give out BMW loaners while getting your car serviced. I know a few people that ended up buying the car they were using from BMW while getting their original car serviced.

Are they really hemorrhaging for cash that they would do something so cheap like this? I wonder if Benz or Audi or doing the same thing or not. I know Mazda dealerships to do this kind of rental crap.

[Kbimmer]

If the admin fee is small (like 20 bucks) I wouldn't mind, what I would mind is having a BMW and getting a toyota for a loaner, specially if you have a 6-7-M series, you drop 100k in a car to drive a toyota / honda !? that doesn't make sense.

[bobblehead]

^ a few years back, I got a free loaner ... it was a gm Malibu (Enterprise rental) and I could not get the key out of the ignition and the rental people had to come and get me and brought me back to the dealership and got me another car ... wasted over 1.5 hrs of my time.

[e9012345]

WTF? How are people getting free loaners from Maranello BMW? I just had my car there for waterpump/t-stat work and they told me that I could only get a rental car ($30) which wasn't even open that day so I had to get a shuttle.

They told me specifically that they DO NOT do loaner cars for customers AT ALL. So how are people getting them at Maranello and why the #%#$ would they lie to me?

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by e9012345

WTF? How are people getting free loaners from Maranello BMW? I just had my car there for waterpump/t-stat work and they told me that I could only get a rental car ($30) which wasn't even open that day so I had to get a shuttle.

They told me specifically that they DO NOT do loaner cars for customers AT ALL. So how are people getting them at Maranello and why the #%#$ would they lie to me?

Check the date on that post.

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by Havok_2011

Wow this is shitty

I always thought it was smart to give out BMW loaners while getting your car serviced. I know a few people that ended up buying the car they were using from BMW while getting their original car serviced.

Are they really hemorrhaging for cash that they would do something so cheap like this? I wonder if Benz or Audi or doing the same thing or not. I know Mazda dealerships to do this kind of rental crap.

I agree but it just doesnt make sense for them I guess. I often thought that they should give me a similar or better version of what I am driving near lease end. I usually get 320 or X1 (I had 335 e92) and I don't care what they give me but I've often thought about and older guy that leaves his 750 or 650 and gets into vinyl seated 320. Theyre probably pissed.