Warranty Rentals when dropped off at 4:30

[Michael White]

What are the expereinces of other GM stores on warranty vehicles that ge towed in for being unsafe or will not drive at closing time and you have no way of looking at the problem for the customer? This appears to be one of those grey areas. I am interested if anyone has given away a car for this and had it debitted in a audit or turned down by your DSM. Also interested what Enterprise charges other dealers accross the country. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we are considered a very high expense area. The Enterprise companies out here will rent a GEO for $30 a day. You have to complain to get them to give a customer a Grand Am size car. Isn't it interesting how the P&P manual says every effoert shouold be made to give the customer a "like" vehicle, as long as it does not cost them more than $30 per day.??

Mike White

[sallen1]

Michael,

Our experience with disabled vehicles dropped off after hours or late in the day has been o.k. with out debits (so far). Typically, the RO needs lots of documentation of such so that the DSM can see that you made a good judgement giving out the loan car. The only problem really occurs on late Friday/weekend where there's a couple of days till you can look at the car. The real problem occurs when you look at the car on Monday and find the problem was minor or not a warranty event. Obviously, the rental will bounce if you submitt it without a warranty event. If you seem to get alot of these, ask your DSM for suggestions on what to do.

As far as the type of car you get for loaners, we negotiated with enterprise to always have certain cars available for us (they leave them at the shop) for a specified amount. If enterprise can afford to rent a Cadillac for $37, then they are making money on your GEO for $30. By the way, you are not required to use Enterprise, but they will deal with you.

scott

[jrcal]

We also have not had any problems with our DSM over rentals provided for stranded customers. If the car is unsafe to drive we get very little arguements! Our problem is (as mentioned above) those Friday afternoon towed-in vehicles that have to carry over to Monday. You have an automatic 3 days rental if you can get the repairs done in the same day.
What I find interesting is when you call ( or the customer calls ) customer assistance, they sometimes tell customers they can't have a rental until after 24 hours has elapsed! This is their answer to afternoon rentals. Tell the customer they have to wait for a 24 hour period before getting a rental car??? The customers know better than that. Try convincing Mrs. Smith they have to do without a car until after 24 hours when her transmission stops working!!
Anyone remember when GM used to advertise courtesy transportation as a selling tool? Now they are slowly backing out of that program and leaving the Dealers to pick up the responsibility and expense of rental cars.

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JC

[This message has been edited by jrcal (edited 05-28-99).]

[aainc]

Your point about the cost for a rental from an outside provider is very real. There are a lot of reasons for any dealer to consider their rental department. Most of all is to insure that your customer remain your customers. There is also a real financial reason as well. You can maintain your customer service levels as well as rent to those same customers on retail basis and turn your rental car cost into a profit. This has worked well for many dealers, with the proper guidance and controls there is a nice profit potential here. I have helped many dealers who were spending over 100k a year in outside rental, turn a profit and exceed customer expectations. Perhaps you should consider this.

[Michael White]

Our dealership is large enough to be able to support 20 rental cars plus. However, our problem is space. We are maxed out in parking every day by around 8:00am and all employees have to park off site. At our previous dealerhsip we did quite well with our rentals. Unfortunately, space is such a premium we have no choice but to use outside companies. We also have to use Enterprise to so our customers have a 50/50 chance of getting a GM vehicle. Everyone else uses foreign cars because as they put it, domestics are not as profitable in resale.

Mike White