Have had to put car in garage few times recently and they give me one of their courtesy cars. They charge for petrol used which im fine with but it just seems a lot to me - 15 pence per mile  and then on top of that they charge me petrol vat In total last time it came to about £36 for not even three quarters of a tank. Is this a lot or is it just me being completely clueless on how the car world works?

Thanks , Kate

It's a lot!!! Every time I've had a courtesy car, I've had to arrange Insurance(which your own Insurance Co SHOULD provide for no charge!! seeing as how your car is in the Garage...it's only replacing one car for another after all) and just put back into the tank anything that has been used?? ie if it was a quarter full tank of fuel, that's what it goes back with!  These have always been with Main dealers though and I've probably bought the Vehicle off them on the first place. All the best, Dawn

Our cars is in the garage too as the imobaliser key has become scrambled and wont let us start the car.We have to buy a new key now which is now on order but will take anywhere from a week to ten days to come through.Has anyone else ever had to pay over £90 for a car key?Daylight robbery if you ask me.If we didnt have it fixed and dissconected the imobaliser our car insurance would go up so we dont win either way.:rolleyes:

Hi Guiness

Yes I have actually paid over £90 for a new key.  A few years ago my husband had a Range Rover and I accidentally put the key through the washing machine.  Needless to say it didn't work.  Now these keys were not the same - you had a no.1 and a no.2.  Now I was sure that the key that I had washed was the no.2 but no the dealer insisted that I had to buy no. 1 and then if that did not work they would order no.2 - hey guess what no. 1 didn't work so all in all this cost me £200 because they would not take the no.1 key back. Very happy when he said good-bye to that car!

Sue

I am so glad that im not the only one thats has come across this situation.I did start to think the chap was pulling my leg.I am a semi-trained car mechanic but unfortunately not the electronics side.I mainly deal with basic engine/break repairs and a little pannel beating and body spraying. :)yes............a female car mechanic :D

It depends how you look at it :) If you look at it as a 'free' loan car, then you should be able to put your own petrol in :) However, some garages charge for loan cars and so, bearing in mind that the going rate that companies pay employees for the use of their own cars is 40p per mile, 15p is quite cheap :)

Daisy

With the old Fords, you had to have the red key to program a new key.
If you did not have th red key and need a new key cut you had to also get the red key programmed at a ford garage which last time I enquired it would have cost £80. Hence why our N reg Transit van has only got one key that will start the engine!!!!
Lea :)

I had a courtesy car from the garage on Friday while my car was being serviced and MOT'd.  Got in the courtesy car (a Skoda Octavia) and discovered that the fuel light was on.  I had to drive tentatively to the nearest garage not knowing how far I was going to get.  Got there and realised that I had parked up at the wrong side of the pumps for the fuel cap.  Tried to get into reverse - and tried - and tried.  Ended up giving up and driving down to the roundabout and over to the garage on the opposite side of the road.

Right side of the pump this time but do you think I could get the little door open to the fuel cap???  I was there for about 5 minutes looking like a right wally and in the end I had to call over to a chap coming out of the garage and walking back to his car (put on my most feeble female act) and got him to save the day for me!!

I literally put £3 of fuel in the tank - just enough to get me to work and back to the garage and just as I was returning it, it went back onto the fuel light, so at least I wasn't leaving any fuel for them!!

My family own a Ford dealership. We lend our customers courtesy cars if required, we try to ensure that they are clean and fueled before they are used, customers are expected to replace any fuel used. They are also expected to have fully comp. insurance cover, through their own agents, not unreasonable?. Usually the customer will have the unpleasent experience of a "bill" for works done, so we try to be as fair as possible.

As for the "key" it is normal now adays for them to be set up with a computer, due to the technology of the modern day cars!  so a bill of £80 is not out of the ordinary, sorry to say!

I agree about the key yes it is normal and it's what the car makers charge (not the garage).  However it is a bit of a rip off, we use very similar devices at work which cost about £5 and reprogramming them is very easy.

Steve

Totally agree it's a rip off alright but the garages can get away with it.

I've got a VW and I can reprogram a key in about 5 minutes using my laptop and a piece of software called "vagcom" this is just what the garage will do and then charge you circa £80 for the pleasure !

It's only because the average driver doesn't have the equipment or software to do it so they can charge what they like, it's not difficult, five minutes on a laptop ...... it's a licence to print money ! !

we have to pay for the diagnostic equipment, train someone to use it, to meet the standards set by the manufacturers. Quite often if you have a franchise, there is a set price.  So we don't sit at home thinking "what shall we charge the next person who comes in wanting their keys set!" rubbing our hands together.

We have a Laguna 7 seater and to buy the key was seventy eight pounds and to re programme was twenty eight pounds.It had to be taken to a Renault garage but i must admit they were very efficient,quick and polite.I couldnt of got a better service else where.I know how garages work having worked in one myself for years and i know all about the added extra charges some of them add on and im so pleased to say that we have none of that tom foolery.That was one of my main worries when the chap said that we may need to replace the internal censor too at an extra cost of over a hundred and fifty pounds.We had a call today to say the car was ready for collection,3 days early,works all done and no extra to pay.Im sooooooooo pleased. :)

another whinge I have about courtesy cars is... you pay more insurance for a people carrier (ok - dog carrier) but when someone ran into it and it was being repaired my insurance co gave me a ford focus. Absolutely useless especially as you weren't supposed to put dogs in it!

Whenever I have a courtesy car, it comes free of charge, I sign to accept the insurance but I only have to return the car with the fuel I have used; this has been my experience over 15 years and a number of garages/providers, none have been ny different!

Nothing in life is free :) It's included in the servicing charge. I don't require a courtesy car as my office is within walking distance of the dealers, so I am paying for your courtesy car :D

Daisy

thankyou for your sharing your views , at least i don't have a car with key problems like some of yourselves! was just wondering tho - im paying for the petrol and then the petrol vat on top of that , isint vat already added onto the price of petrol before you pay for it? hope this makes sense.

Thanks , Kate

They're charging you a mileage charge really - they can charge whatever they like and then they have to add VAT on the top (it's just the same as they charge you for labour and parts and then add the VAT on top of that ) :)

Daisy

ah , i understand it now :rolleyes: