awryexperiment

I was talking with my wife yesterday and reminding her to tell me when she hits 4500mi so I can schedule the 1st maintenance on her 2010 Q5. She asked if she would have to wait for it or how it would be handled. I told her I thought they would offer a loaner but now I'm not sure.

Is it std practice for Audi dealers to give loaners when you have routine maintenance on your vehicle?

I am going to call the dealer (Flemington Audi) also.

Old Dog

It would be extremely rare to get a loaner for routine maintenance. Usually you have to wait, or what my dealer offers is a shuttle service back home with a pick-up once the car is finished. However, depending on your location to a public transit connection, they may drop you off there and pick you up at a pre-arranged time.

Normally loaners are given if your vehicle has to remain in the shop for a day or more. I think it would just be too much for any dealer to hand out loaners for regular maintenance visits where there could be dozens in there for it .

puregreddy

I wouldn't say it is common practice, but it does happen. The three Audi dealers within my area all provide loaners anytime I've taken my car in for routine service - regardless if you are under factory warranty or not.

Dealers all handle it differently. The dealer closet to me even pays for a rental car (hertz/enterprise) when they are out of loaner vehicles for that day......

The G Man

Same here, if I schedule well in advance, I always get a loaner for schedule maintenace.

jtie

First two times they gave me a loaner and the third time they had a shuttle take me. When you set up your service appointment tell them you want a loaner and see if they'll give it to you. My 5k, 15k, and 25k service all took them more than half the day to complete. The dealer here might just be busier than other dealers though.

At my 25k service they said they were low on loaners and offered to drive me to work and pick me back up with the shuttle so I said sure. They were supposed to call me at 11am when the service was done, they didn't call even though I was very clear I needed my car back by lunch and would reschedule if they couldn't do it that day. They promised it would be no problem to have it back by noon. I called repeatedly and the service desk's phones just kept ringing. It wasn't until I called the front desk and demanded she walk back there and get someone that I finally talked to a service rep around 2pm. Finally get a ride back to my car at 3:30. Had an 8 hour drive ahead of me and still hadn't gotten to pack the car or eat lunch. I'll always get a loaner if I can from now on so I can go back there in person and see WTF is going on and not be stranded.

HaveBullDogWillTravel

I've been given a loaner every time I've taken my car in for anything. All depends on the dealer. The loaners are completely financed by individual dealers. AOA does not subsidize.

gat821

+1. As mentioned it does seem to depend on the dealer. From other threads where loaners are mentioned, I get the sense that dealers in larger markets do this less. Makes sense since they don't have as many cars on hand for the volume of people coming in for service.

Coolieman1220

i look forward to loaner cars. I try to schedule long weekends or road trips w/ them. Ski trips or just random visits to places just to put a lot of miles on a car that's not mine!

Old Dog

That's exactly what my situation was here in the Montreal area with my dealer and thus my reply. It's good to know that some dealers are forthcoming with loaners even for routine maintenance. Good for all of you that have this service .

asm777

My Audi dealership has provided me a loaner car whenever I've had to leave my car. Whether it was a 5K service or just to have them check why the rear view camera would stop working intermittently (they didn't even find anything wrong with it that time!).

The MB dealerships in my area however are completely different... they got rid of shuttles so either you get your own ride or wait around if you're in for anything other than a major service... one time, I couldn't get a ride so I waited 2 hours while they determined that they needed parts after which they begrudgingly gave me a beat up Chevy Cobalt from Enterprise which I had for a week while they were working on the car...

The loaner policies seem to be inconsistent across brands and markets from what I hear...


Most recently, I had a loaner car for 4 days (M-Th) while my car was in for 5K service because the dealership had to order some parts. Since I was over my lease mileage for the month, it was great to have the loaner! (I used about 10% of my monthly mileage on the loaner). =)