Company cars experts

They only had Polos. I don't take any attitude to the desk - the car is
booked by Leaseplan and already set before I get there anyway.

My experience tells me they're all shit - booked a warranty repair on a
known issue, took car in, only to get it back, not fixed, because they
wanted to see the car before ordering parts which were also on
back-order, meaning a 2nd visit was required. Then their courtesy car
broke down on my way home.

So, I try another dealer, who not only gives me a totally unsuitable
car, but also doesn't call me when they've finished the job, finish the
job later than promised and broke the door handle on the front passenger
side. Oh, and they 'forgot' to reset the service indicator, so I had to
take it back to them, too.


I may try the other local-ish dealer, but 2 shit jobs from 2 dealers
doesn't fill me with optimism.

You know **** all about my job - my diary isn't set in stone by myself.
It's a retail ops. role, meaning plans can change from morning to
afternoon. Being stuck in a gutless 1.2 Polo when you've had a call
about issues in a store over the top of the mountains is hardly ideal.

Mind you, you were used to a Golf SDI, so almost anything would have
similar glacial performance to that. If my lot tried to fob me off with
such a shite car for work, they'd be looking for my replacement.

 

SteveH says...

"It's all about the badge"

 

I don't know Steve's daily life, so it may not be possible that he
could've scheduled himself around when it's convenient for the dealer.

If two dealers gave me the same standard, but one gives a better
courtesy car then why would I choose to use the other one? I've had my
car into two main dealers for servicing. Both did the work fine, but
one replaced my washer fluid[1] and put fuel additive in[2], without
warning or asking. As I've got a choice I'll lean towards the other
dealer now, as they don't **** me about trying to do little jobs to add
value to a service, and I won't have to explicitly ask them not to
steam clean the interior, replace the mats, uprate the brakes or
generally pimp my ride in case that's their "standard service".

[1] it was full, as I know some dealers will top it off and charge for
the lot. I didn't realise this dealer was one of them
[2] something I have no truck with, and have never had before

 

In

"They all do that, Sir".

VW service departments are pretty uniformly gormless. When I worked as a
salesman in a huge VW dealership it was a pretty hopeless task getting
anything at all done by the service department - they were always over-run
by recalls and warranty jobs

The hire company I worked for in 2005 returned almost all its VW fleet
within 6 months and to Ford, Mercedes and Peugeot. VW unreliability nearly
bankrupt them. It got to the point where if a VW was due in at a branch the
staff would be on the phone trying to swap it for a Mondeo or Focus before
it arrived because a broken VW would take a long time to fix and the branch
was responsible for cars that weren't on hire, which meant people didn't get
performance bonuses if too many VWs turned up. At one point on my fleet
there were 12 Golf FSis, and eight of those were at the VW dealership
waiting for major mechanical repairs.

Bizarrely, Seats were mega-reliable.


--
Pete M - Using the Scouse Side of the Force -
<space vacant>
Mercedes 190E Auto
OMF#9

Ok, I admit it, I like Renault 5s.

 

We have just bought some new VW Golfs for the engineers
these work out at £ 56 month tax for 22% tax payers
(fuel benefit extra)
Golf is £ 16k (retail) and emission 135 for the 1.9 Tdi
might give you an idea
hth

 

darsy says...

Yeah, I've had Stockwell as part of my sales patch too.

 

I remember having wandered up the Falls road in the late 70's and my
Mum asking an Irish lass directions to some hospital with her English
accent.

My Dad went absolutely spare when he heard about this.

I didn't understand why for a good long time (I was 9 or 10 at the
time).

 

How about 'it's all about being given the apropriate tools to do the
job'.

It's also about the company valuing their management team and not
expecting them to go about their business in a pikey spec. car to save a
few quid a month.

 

SteveH says...

It's a car that gets you from A to B.

Oh do **** off and take some trolling lessons, you nob.

 

SteveH coughed up:

My experience of VW main dealers is that they don't like giving you a
relief car if you didn't buy the car they are servicing.


--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Aye, they'll bend over backwards if you bought the car from them.

Don't really understand why it's such a PITA experience - VW own 50% of
Leaseplan, so you'd have thought they'd ensure Leaseplan customers got
decent treatment.

 

SteveH coughed up:

Back when I was a sales rep, our cars wee leased by Camden, who
arranged for the relief car to be waiting at the main dealers on the
day of the service, then picked up once the work was completed.

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

I fail to see your point here.

The car is part of the overall package. If the car is some base spec.
slug, then the job instantly becomes less attractive meaning it's harder
to recruit and retain the correct calibre of people to the role.

 

I don't have a pikey spec car.

I don't have a pikey spec. car - I wouldn't be doing this job if that
was all they'd give me.

My complaint was about the courtesy car.

 

Yebbut, who wants a car that makes you look like you're only .22?

 

Buy an octavia instead.

 

It has crossed my mind, but I'm likely to stick with the company car -
I'm hoping to be able to get my hands on a Jetta 2.0TDI Sport DSG next
time - they're listed at roughly the same price as my current Passat.

 

I looked hard at one before buying the Silver Tuddy. And a Superb,
believe it or not.

 

On the occaisons when I've had a oourtesy vehicle, I've never GAF about
it.

<Thinks>

Local dealer used to run a Cagiva River as the available shop hack. They
called it the "discourtesy bike".

 

<G>