Starting My Second Week Without My Volt!

[volt3939]

A few weeks back I stopped by a dealer to get some work done (side pole intrusion updates, airbag inspection, 120V cable replacement and PI0645 strut noise problem, plus a problem with the charge door falsely reporting it was open), parts were supposedly ordered at that time. On Thursday of that week, I was called and asked to bring the car in on Monday as the parts were in.

Last Monday I dropped my car off for service on the above issues. Was told that it would take "a week". Friday got a call back saying that some parts had not come in, that hopefully they would be in Monday or Tuesday.

I would feel a lot better about this if the car sitting in my driveway was a Volt, rather than the Acadia that's occupying the spot now. What does it take to get a Volt as a loaner? Can someone pull some strings?

[dwl]

Depends on what your dealer has in stock for loaners or how they deal with loaners. Some dealers just pay for your rental through a rental agency. Some larger dealers have a dedicated pool of loaners. I've even had a smaller dealer give me a car from their lot to drive as a loaner. They're all individual businesses and handle things as they see fit.

The service department I normally go to has one Volt in it's loaner pool. And that always goes out to Volt owners who bring their Volt in for service. Of course, if there are multiple Volts in, someone loses out. And they always make sure it's available for anyone that brings their Volt in for the battery enhancements. So they don't accept more than 1 car at a time for the enhancments.

If I'm concerned about it and don't have a critical service need, I just make sure that the Volt will be available before I bring mine in.

Just talk to your service department. No one can make them do anything. But they might be able to work with you and figure something out. There's no secret string to pull. Just ask. The Volt Advisors can ask for you and maybe apply a little more pressure if they meet some resistance. But they can't make the dealer do anything that they don't want to, or aren't willing to do. They can just have that dialogue for you that you would have otherwise had yourself.

[marlow]

DWl is right about the dealers, however you can always ask what they can do to get you a loaner more to your liking.

[JamesMcQuaid]

That's atrocious. I bet the service writer is driving your car home at night, and is using your Volt to bar crawl all over town, expecting the car to help him score with the babes. Seriously though, when I had the battery enhancement done, they had me bring the car in, they ordered the parts, and I took the car home the same day. I only dropped the car off after the parts were in.

When you get surveyed, you can respond that you were "not completely satisfied".

[volt3939]

That's atrocious. I bet the service writer is driving your car home at night, and is using your Volt to bar crawl all over town, expecting the car to help him score with the babes. Seriously though, when I had the battery enhancement done, they had me bring the car in, they ordered the parts, and I took the car home the same day. I only dropped the car off after the parts were in.

When you get surveyed, you can respond that you were "not completely satisfied".

Well, they did put 21 miles on it last week! Now OnStar is reporting all dashes instead of battery %, EV Range and Total Range. The tire pressure is reported OK, along with Oil Life and Fuel Left. Maybe they just now took the battery out. That would blow, since they said they had all the parts for that the week before last, _before_ I took it in. If they bumped me for someone else, I'm gonna get pissed!

[saghost]

Call your Volt Advisor. They've been able to get a lot of help out of dealers that people had issues with in the past.

[dwl]

Ask for an explanation of the delay. If their answer doesn't satisfy you, fill out the survey accordingly. Those surveys matter to these places. They won't be happy with a bad review. And most places will do everything they can to make things right if you're unhappy. To encourage you to give them good marks. And, if they don't, they deserve what they get.

Just talk to them. You don't need to speculate here. Get a dialogue going by calmly explaining your concerns and requesting a status update and explanation. Just see how they react.

[JamesMcQuaid]

Well, they did put 21 miles on it last week!

Yikes! When you pick up the car, I'd check under the seats for women's panties and such You don't want your wife to blame you for what the other guy did...

I feel your pain; I can't even stand to travel on business anymore because it takes me away from driving the car.

[DonC]

Wow. Nice planning. Get the car in and then see if you have the parts?

I wonder if they get a kickback on the loaner rental?

[volt3939]

I get the feeling that I wiil get a call soon. They just put another 3 miles on, and filled the tank. Still not plugged in though...