Just hire a car for a few weeks! Simple really...
New Car Rant
- Thread starter Southy_
- Start date
Just hire a car for a few weeks! Simple really...
That's not what @Pooh was saying.
Manufacturers force franchised dealers to spend exorbitant amounts of money on their showrooms to meet Manufacturer standards (a certain tile must be used, a certain style of desk etc etc) which means that the funds arent there to invest in workshop facilities or a higher wage bill from extra techs being employed.
Being unable to put monies into the workshop as they are required to be put into the showroom is NOT the same as the dealer "wont put money into the workshop".... They cant spend non-existent money.
Its just easier, however, for people to believe dealers are all swindlers and don't care about their customers once the sale is done.
Also - Warranty work is the poorest paid work out there. The manufacturer pays buttons to the dealer compared to non-warranty repairs/servicing etc.
And who is going to cover the cost of hiring a similar sized car for 3-4 weeks just to wait for the diagnostic, then continuing to hire it while then waiting a similar amount of time for parts and a repair slot to fix it?
It would be cheaper to pay a local garage to complete the job than waiting for Hyundai to diagnose the issue under warranty, which defeats the point of having a warranty.
If I was offered a warranty on a car but I wouldn't be able to have any inspections done without a month wait, I wouldn't be buying that car.
Then catch a bus!
You cant expect a garage to drop everything and put you at the top of the que just because you have a warranty!
Look how long a wait it is these days to employ a good builder....
Comparing it to a builder isn't right, that's a new service.
The warranty you have already paid for when buying the new car. If you've paid for a builder and they delay the job because they've overbooked with other work you'd have a right to be annoyed.
I've never had to wait more than a week for wait with car or 2 weeks for courtesy car when having warranty work on my car and that's with them wanting the car for an entire day to check to see if a hose was leaking (it was, it was obvious but still wanted it for a full day).
This is just for the garage to LOOK at the issue, depending on parts availability it could be months until they get around to sorting it.
A warranty is basically free repairs on defects and faults that are not due to your negligence. They are for peace of mind that you will not be lumbered with a pile of expensive crap with no cover.
I agree that some wait times are laughable, as is the fight to get a courtesy car. Out of curiosity what would you deem acceptable? Personally I have sworn off some brands for failing to provide an emergency (car unusable) warranty repair slot within one week and also having me fight for a courtesy car.
What if there are no buses, especially at the times he might need them?
I don't know if you're just being obtuse, but the OP has chosen to buy a car in a way that *should* be absolutely minimal risk of something going wrong, and if it does, you've paid the premium to have it fixed and the impact to your life minimal. We all accept that the more you cheap out, the more hassle it'll likely be to get something repaired or replaced - some are happy to take on this hassle because they have the time, means or skills for it not to be an issue. The OP obviously doesn't have this luxury, so he has correctly chosen to buy in a way that is supposed to be the pinnacle of the buying and owning experience.
If he had bought a £500 banger from Dodgy Dave down the road - then yes, the bus/train/taxi/hiring his own car should be something which he should absolutely expect to have to do. But if you've bought a brand new £40k(?) car from a main dealer, with the main dealer warranty - you shouldn't have to even start thinking about this stuff.
No, but you CAN expect a business to be run in such a way that a customer, who has bought their car from you in good faith, can have their car fixed under warranty in a timely manner. The OP said some dealers were quoting nearly 2 months until they can book it in just for diagnosis - which tells me there is a colossal failure in some area of their business. In no one's book is this even remotely acceptable.
Completely invalid argument. There is no expectation for said "good builder" to take on your job in a timely manner. You owe him nothing and he owes you nothing.
It's a sign of the times unfortunately, although I have no idea what the driver is behind it. I had an oil change warning come up which wasn't a big issue considering my service was due soon (service #2 of 3 of the service package), but I had to wait almost three months to get a service slot!
One probable cause in my case is Alfa Romeo have removed a lot of the dealerships since the brand became part of Stellantis, and the dealer network wasn't great to begin with in terms of consistency. Thames Motor Group is one of the better known ones which is where I bought the car from and get it serviced, I think they've become ridiculously busy since the dealership network became smaller.
One probable cause in my case is Alfa Romeo have removed a lot of the dealerships since the brand became part of Stellantis, and the dealer network wasn't great to begin with in terms of consistency. Thames Motor Group is one of the better known ones which is where I bought the car from and get it serviced, I think they've become ridiculously busy since the dealership network became smaller.
Its a business. They have other customers. They may be extremely busy.
Doesnt matter how much you have paid. A queue, is a queue. Do they demote others because one has bought a brand new car with a warranty?
I agree with this. I was quoted 10 - 12 weeks wait for a diagnosis slot for my I-Pace warranty repair and told I would not get a courtesy car unless I was prepared to wait almost 6 months. I am leasing but JLR are getting a lot of money out of my custom and I find their attitude appalling.
My previous Audi had a faulty charging port that would only charge on DC rapids. Audi deemed this as not an emergency, I had to rapid charge only for three weeks which was a massive chore and then when I brought it in I had to argue and plead for a loaner. The service manager did at least organise a loaner and apologised for the three week wait as he agreed a BEV unable to home charge was not acceptable. At the time I thought this was poor service but oh boy would I love that now from JLR.
By contrast Volvo had a one week turnaround for a warranty repair booking on my wife’s C40 and offered me a lift but my work was only a 15 minute walk away. It was repaired the same day, fully valeted and I was offered a lift from work, which I declined again. Cannot fault their service.
So it pays to look at customer reviews for the place you will be buying from and using for your warranty repairs. I did this for my I-Pace but but stupidly thought, nobody could be that bad.
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You miss the point. If any dealership/manufacturer is quoting 10-12 weeks for booking slots and 3 or 4 months for repairs and also refusing to offer a courtesy car for any excessive repair times, then they have failed at a fundamental level. They should be investing into proper repair/tech facilities and customer support.
For clarification, I’m referring to (as is the OP) actual issues that leave a car unusable, not simple service bookings.
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Yeah a pretty poorly run one by the sounds of it? Which is what the OP is complaining about?
Er... I don't think anyone is questioning that they have other customers and that they're extremely busy? I think people are discussing whether or not the extreme wait to have your car fixed is acceptable in the backdrop of having bought the car new with the warranty and as such you are almost "locked" into using that warranty as you've paid for it.
I think you're missing the point here and you keep talking about the OP going to the front of the queue and other people being relegated etc etc etc - the question that is being asked is why the queue is so long in the first place and whether or not the business is fit for purpose with wait times like this for their customers. I don't think the OP would even be worried about it if he didn't have a warranty which was sold with the car - he would just go elsewhere. However the sales department trying to attract extra sales by making promises about the supposed high quality aftercare that a customer receives if they buy one of their cars, in the form of offering main dealer warranties, only for the customer to find out that the warranty is useless because the business is useless is a bitter pill to swallow.
Would the OP even have bought the car if the dealership told him that if something goes wrong with the car it'd likely be a 4-8 week wait before they could even see the car? I suspect not, but obviously since they were trying to flog him a car, they won't tell him this.
Ok, yea, i see your point and agree
I think I'd be opening a complaint with Hyundai UK as this is clearly not acceptable. Workshops and service bays have been cut back to the bone so when the unexpected happens, like a repair, there's no spare capacity as there's no member of staff available. And as someone above said, they're all fitters with the ability to follow instructions and guides that tell them what's wrong, how to access it, what tools they'll need and how long it should take them.
No, they get their **** together and serve their customers properly.
This nonsense of "you need to wait a month before we can see you" is absolute tosh and the only reason it exists is because of defeatists like you.
Defeatists! Lol...
If a place is extremely busy how can they physically make a slot appear early?
Not sure if you know this but, there is only 24hrs in a day!!!
My mate is a plumber and he has a 2 month waiting list. He physically cant fit anyone in earlier!
Then he should employ someone and increase his income significantly.
Do you understand how business works at all?
Plumber: "Yeah earliest I've got is 2 months time. That work?"
Nobody: "You know that's fine, the leak shouldn't do too much damage in 2 months. See you at Christmas then?"
As some else stated. It's a 2019. It's FOUR YEARS old. It's not brand new.