Courtesy cars

[Iain]

Thought I'd bring this subject up (probably not the first time it's appeared) after last night at work. A bloke had bumped the rear of his Hyundai Santa Fe into a metal barrier in a carpark a few weeks ago and sent it in for repairs yesterday. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him drive in last night in a Citroen C1!

So he's gone from this:
http://img.meinestadt.de/pix/neuwagen/hyundai-santa-fe-1.jpg

to this:
http://www.auto.cz/base/2005-21/titul_citroen_c1_4291b6a693331.jpg

Needless to say he had the mickey taken out of him for most of the night. :p :

What embarassing courtesy cars have you been forced to drive? I've been quite fortunate, having only had 3 Renault Clios, all of which were fairly normal, except for the one that reeked of Fishermans Friends. :mark:

[bowler]

it's a loan car.

much better than no loan car

good incentive to get it right next time

[janneppi]

And i'd say it's a much better car anyway. :)

[Daniel]

I'd say it's a better car too ;)

[BDunnell]

Definitely!

[LotusElise]

Nothing wrong with the li'l C1 - much nicer than the other thing!

The first time I had my car serviced, they gave me the worst loan car ever - an underpowered, dirty Xsara 1.4 LX with a gentleman's magazine in the glove box! I found it hard to drive and nearly crashed it because the steering was so unresponsive.

The second time I got a C4, which was lovely - very nice inside and fun to drive.

[52Paddy]

My dad had a 1996 Volkswagon Golf up until a few months ago when he crashed into somone's old Honda Odyssey along the quays in Dublin city. He expected the car would be repairable because the cosmetic damage wasn't too heavy. He was sent to Dennings Garage to get it looked at and they gave him a 2006 Nissan Micra. It looked quite embarresing in the front garden and the ride on the car was really uncomfortable. On the plus side, he said it was very economic (at least compared to the Golf, which clearly wasn't).

When the news came about the Golf, it wasn't great because, due to the cars previous history of problems, the car was a write-off. We had no car for a few weeks but eventually came across a 2001 Ford Focus Estate which we are all very pleased with.

[fly_ac]

What embarassing courtesy cars have you been forced to drive?

I have my own automotive workshop and ,therefore out of courtesy, lend customers my courtesy vehicles when their vehicles are being repaired. Now the problem I have is customers complaining about courtesy vehicles.

Now this is some of the things I tell them.
1. There is a reason why it is called a COURTESY VEHICLE.
2. Would you rather want to walk.
3. If you want a better COURTESY VEHICLE buy your own.
4. ...well in that case use public transport.
5. Nobody FORCED you to drive the vehicle.
6. You sir expect of me to return your vehicle to you CLEAN, so why the F#@K is my COURTESY VEHICLE full of sand and F&@K!NG beer bottles. :mad:

There are many other complains about COURTESY VEHICLES, the bottomline is nobody have to lend you one and you don't have to drive one either just because you don't like the vehicle. It is all in the NAME :eek:

[LotusElise]

You make sure there's no offensive magazines in the glovebox though, don't you?

[Iain]

Nothing wrong with the li'l C1 - much nicer than the other thing!

I wasn't having a go at the Citroen, I thought it was quite nice. Very funky styling. Just thought it was funny that he went from a big offroader to a tiny wee city car.

[fly_ac]

You make sure there's no offensive magazines in the glovebox though, don't you?

Once found offensive magizines when a vehicle was returned, :s hock: not in the glove box tho
one of my employees add it to his collection. :D

[LotusElise]

I wasn't having a go at the Citroen, I thought it was quite nice. Very funky styling. Just thought it was funny that he went from a big offroader to a tiny wee city car.

No offence meant - glad you liked the C1 too.

[CarlMetro]

When my wife had a minor prang in her Astra a few years ago the garage gave her a metalic pink Micra, complete with the garage name, logo and telephone number splashed on every available panel. She was embarrassed enough when she banged the car, but even more so when she drove the Micra into the works carpark the following morning though :laugh:

Personally I've driven a couple of Clios a Vauxhall Nova and a Pug 206, all of which were better than walking, although in the case of the Nova, it was a 50/50 thing.

[captin 1 VXR]

we use to have a bedford midi ( when thay had just come out ) and the gear box fell apart :mad: .

so vauxhall uk luton loaned us a brand new vectra 2.0ltr thing . very clean :rolleyes: . but we had it for 2 weeks and we used it to pick up a few light things . :rolleyes: like 10 bags of cement 6 rolls of roofing felt ( not all in one go ) .

we forgot to take one roll of felt for a week . ( oh and this was in the middle of the summer ) we retuned the vectra . and the firm had to buy the car as vauxhall said we destroyed it :eek: . boss went mad :p :

[Knock-on]

A chappie I know crashed his little car and the garage gave him something twice as powerful as a courtesy car.

Madness!!

[fly_ac]

I once loaned one of my courtesy vehicle’s to a customer whose vehicle came in for engine repairs, the vehicle had to stay for some time.
A week later a lady phoned me and asked if I know that my vehicle were in an accident, because the person driving my courtesy vehicle drove into her daughter’s car. Needless to say I was not aware if this incident.

I then phoned this customer to tell him that his vehicle was repaired and ready for collection, without saying anything about my courtesy vehicle. The customer said that he would come to collect his vehicle within a couple of days, that’s when I started putting some pressure onto this customer, telling him I needed the courtesy vehicle for another customer. He then told me that he had a minor accident with the car.

That customer told me his side of the story, and he was a liar too.
The accident happened the same day he received the courtesy vehicle from me( a week before), he was drunk at the time(came from a work party) on his way home. He was driving to fast, ram this young lady’s car from behind in his so called attempt to stop. The car behind him had to swerve to avoid the accident and ended up on its roof, next to the road.
Three car damaged beyond repair. That’s his MINOR ACCIDENT.
That was about four years ago, he is still paying for the damages of the accident, got a suspended sentence and were under house arrest for 18 months and had to do community service(working with paramedics at accident sites)

He is still one of my customers today.
Needless to say he does not consume any liquor anymore and does not ask for a courtesy vehicle(and he won’t get one) when his or his wife’s cars need repairs.

[fly_ac]

I once loaned one of my courtesy vehicle’s to a customer whose vehicle came in for engine repairs, the vehicle had to stay for some time.
A week later a lady phoned me and asked if I know that my vehicle were in an accident, because the person driving my courtesy vehicle drove into her daughter’s car. Needless to say I was not aware if this incident.

I then phoned this customer to tell him that his vehicle was repaired and ready for collection, without saying anything about my courtesy vehicle. The customer said that he would come to collect his vehicle within a couple of days, that’s when I started putting some pressure onto this customer, telling him I needed the courtesy vehicle for another customer. He then told me that he had a minor accident with the car.

That customer told me his side of the story, and he was a liar too.
The accident happened the same day he received the courtesy vehicle from me( a week before), he was drunk at the time(came from a work party) on his way home. He was driving to fast, ram this young lady’s car from behind in his so called attempt to stop. The car behind him had to swerve to avoid the accident and ended up on its roof, next to the road.
Three car damaged beyond repair. That’s his MINOR ACCIDENT.
That was about four years ago, he is still paying for the damages of the accident, got a suspended sentence and were under house arrest for 18 months and had to do community service(working with paramedics at accident sites)

He is still one of my customers today.
Needless to say he does not consume any liquor anymore and does not ask for a courtesy vehicle(and he won’t get one) when his or his wife’s cars need repairs.

[XR8]

I own a smash repair bussiness and I no longer have courtesy cars!
Like when i gave a customer a car as he said he could not get to work without a car.Come friday he barrels into our office and says that the car has been stolen from the railway station car park!(needed to drive to car to the carpark so he could catch the train to work?) So he says what are you going to do about the child seay I left in the back?
Another customer comes in a few days after rtecieving a loan car and reports it stolen from his front yard and says so are you going to give me another one? It doesnt matter what loan car you give people they are never happy so I now say I am not in the loan car bussiness I am in the smash repair bussiness so if you whant a loan car go to HERTZ!

[fly_ac]

It doesnt matter what loan car you give people they are never happy ....
You are spot on with that one.. :up:


.....so I now say I am not in the loan car bussiness I am in the smash repair bussiness so if you whant a loan car go to HERTZ!

I followed the same line as you with my courtesy vehicle's, however I still retained 2 for my regular customers. ;) as I do automotive repair and servicing.
The rest I refer to a car rental company. :D

[LotusElise]

Although I am guilty of whinging about courtesy cars, I have never damaged one and have no intention of doing so.

[fly_ac]

..........I have never damaged one and have no intention of doing so.

It's strange but I have heard those words before from some of my customers. :eek:

Aaaaah Yes those famous last words. :cheese: :p :

[Dave B]

I've had a Fiat Punto Automatic (woohoo, nearly one litre and a whole three gears :s ) and, even more embarrasingly, had to park a Ford Ka in the Silverstone paddock.

[nicemms]

A Couple of years ago my Dad had an Audi A4 1.9tdi and when he took it in for a service he was asked if he wanted an Audi TT 3.2 coupe for the day.

Needless to say he took them up on their offer and even managed to borrow it overnight!!

Unfortunately he had a 1.0 Toyota Yaris which was quite a big step down considering he now drives a Celica. He didn't like it much specially since he had to drive it on the motorway a few times.