Today i talked to my salesman about loaners. He said that if you purchase a brand new Acura from a Acura Dealership, you will get a loaner when ever you bring your car in for service for 4 years within the day you take possession of your car, regardless of where you bought it and/or where you are going for service. Assuming you have car insurance.

He didn't say anything about age .. so i'm assuming legal driving age just like legal age to have a liscence to operate a car.

Anyone have any info on loaner?

 

I brought my car in for service for a non warranty fix and they didn't give me a loaner... said they would only honor warranties. I think that was BS, but maybe just a crappy dealership with crappy sales men. I didn't have a car to drive for a while...

 

when my car needs service im going to call and see if i can get a loaner (at 17) cause i have insurance im covered on what ever i drive so ill be like ok thanks bye next dealer. but if none will let me than its ok lol

but i know i wont get a loaner first of all you have to be 25 in most areas....18 in others. and im not even 18 haha. ill have my mom get the loaner for me but.... i wanna drive an auto tsx and i know she wont let me drive it. shes parranoid and says "if you get in an accident they can sue us and take our house" bla bla bla speech but whatever.

 

Typically, the Acura loaners are only available to individuals over the age of 25. Otherwise, they just set you up with a rental car from the company they have an agreement with.

Most dealerships do loaners, but many of them don't use late model vehicles, so don't expect to always get something nice like a TL or TSX. Also, it's a good idea to let them know that you'll be needing a loaner on the day of the service. Oh, and the loaners are usually only given out when the repair requires an extended period of time (warranty repairs or extended maintenance, but not for oil changes and simple things).

 

I would give you that speech.

My buddy's brother got a rental car right after having an accident with his dad's car. He had no insurance on the rental, and owes them thousands for a brand new Grand Prix!

 

You believe a car salesman ?

This is what I've learned -
ACURA Loaner cars (NOT rental), regardless of type of service, are NOT a priviledge, totally at the discretion & convenience of the dealers.

someone tell me if I am wrong.

 

I agree. This has been brought up many times before, and practice seems to vary from dealer to dealer.

 

Part of my purchase included free loaners for life. However you need to schedule them ahead of time, they're really good about getting you one .

 

My dealer provides loaners if you book ahead. However, I think the loaners are Neons - Chrysler dealership next door is owned by the same company. I've never used the loaners, instead I use their shuttle service. They drop me off at work and pick me up after. That works out fine for me.

 

to make you realize how good your Honda/Acura is right?

 

Acura must have some weird policy. I've been getting loaners since I was 23.

 

I thought when we are refering to "loaner cars" in this forum, we mean ACURA cars ? - anything else is considered a "rental" ?

 

Actually, she's right. This is also the dealer's concern. You screw up, and they could be on the hook for millions. Unless you're insured for the full amount of damage you can do. In California, minimum liability insurance is something like $20K. If you do more damage than that, they can come after you or anybody else who is connected to you or your car. You can get more liability insurance, but for younger drivers they often cut it off at $100K max. Older guys like me can fully protect themselves. (Currently carrying $500K on the car, and an umbrella policy that takes it up to $2m.)

 

Possibly. However, I was vaguely aware of some discrepancies between an Acura and a Neon before I bought the TSX.

Seriously, I'm sure it's just a dollars and cents issue. Providing Neons from their sister dealership is no doubt the cheapest way to provide the loaner service. I think it's a bit penny-wise and pound-foolish and rather symptomatic of Acura's image problem - the cars are fine, but in general, the dealers don't come across as offering high-end service like other luxury brands.

 

Hmm. Interesting distinction. Free rental != loaner if it's not the same brand? I'd consider any car that the dealer provides to me for free to be a "loaner", whether it is their own marque or not. Either way, expecting an RL or NSX owner to toodle off to work in a bright yellow stripped-down Neon is pretty tacky, IMO.

 

or until the next general manager decides to change the policy and not honor the deal you had.....

 

basically it depends on the dealership since it seems like each dealership has its own policy. but so far i've gotten a rsx, tl '03, and tsx as loaners. but as long as it's for major work or some fix covered by the warranty.

but if its a simple oil change, my dealership does not give out loaners

 

It is definitely a dealer thing, not an Acura thing.

The Acura warranty is pretty explicit about the fact that it doesn't cover the loss of use of your vehicle, even when it's being repaired under warranty. IOW, they don't have to do anything.

That said, I've been told by a friend at Honda finance that they do give dealers incentives to provide loaners or rental cars to customers who are in for warranty service. Among other things. Incentives include great deals on cars to be used as loaners/demo vehicles and other kickbacks. Dealers do have a good deal of lattitude in how they allocate these, and certainly can make it subject to local laws, their own insurance, etc.

This is the kind of thing that does differentiate Acura (and pretty much everybody else) from Lexus, for example.

In my experience, dealers generally favor their own customers (the ones who bought the car from them) for loaner cars over people who are just coming in for service.

 

the distinction was necessary because if you have read posts on this topic - a LOT of bitching is about getting a (shitty) rental car.
I think to (most) dealers, loaner != rental.
My dealer to me: "sorry we have no loaners. We'll give ya a rental car...."
So I got a shitbox power-nothing Neon.