I am out of warranty on this car and for normal maintenance I use my local independent garage, they provide a free loaner. Oi change - free loaner. I live 4.5 miles from their garage, it is a 9 mile round trip.

At the moment I am involved in an oil consumption warranty issue so I am dealing with the Volvo dealer. They've always provided a free loaner when getting work completed and have done this before. Today I noticed a small charge on my credit card, it was a $1.97 charge from the dealer. So I call and ask, what is the charge? Hint -- I'm already guessing.

I live 3.2 miles from the dealer and drove the car home from the dealer and back to the dealer....I drove no place else. That is 3.2 miles round trip.

The woman in the service department says, "that charge is because you did not return the car with a full tank, you used 1/16 of a tank, it's in the contract." My question, how do you know that I used X amount of gas? She said they check through OBD and it says I went 8 miles and used 1/16 a tank of gas, it's in your contract.

The point is not the $1.97 amount. There is no gas station on the dealer lot and you will always need to use a tiny bit of fuel getting from the gas station to the dealer. In my story, if I had driven to a gas station to put in those couple of sips of gas, the station would be further to the dealer than it would be to drive from my house. Therefore I would use more gas than if I drove straight from my house. The point is this is their little sneaky way of making that free loaner a not-so-free loaner.

I called the main dealer location and spoke with someone who gave me a wonderful sales speech explaining that this is a benefit to their customers, that they contracted with a third party to monitor their loaners. That many, many customers would come in after a long day, barely making it to the dealer in time to return the car and didn't have time to go to a gas station and asking can I pay you for the gas? So we started this monitoring as a service for people who can't get to the gas station before returning the car and it gets charged to your credit card.

The woman said this is not the first time she has heard unsatisfactory reports (complaints) from people who live close to the dealer. They get a loaner and only drive to home & back and then will get a charge for gas.

Ok, I get it, some people may have tried to game the system and made their sales calls all day then returned their car with a half tank of gas. But for as long as I've been driving (since the 1960's) it has always been with rentals, loaners, etc. that you have to return with a full tank. Normal old school world was that the people would look at the gauge to see if the needle was on full or the digital was on full. Now it is down to a computer algorithm that makes it an impossibility to ever, ever return the car at full.

My friend, the Lexus driver says he never sees such a thing from his dealer and charging for 1/16 of a tank seems petty. Let me do some math. If I used 1/16 of a tank of gas to go 3.2 miles, that means the loaner car would only go not very far on a tank of gas.

Needless to say I am already miffed about the possibility of a piston ring issue and then for $1.97 they are willing to upset the balance of an already teetering relationship? Not the way I ran my business but --- ok it is a brave new world. From now on my wife drops me off and picks me up. We buy our cars in cash and this is our third Volvo. Maybe Lexus might be seeing our next big check?

 

sounds like an issue with an employee at the dealer, not Volvo and probably not even the dealer per se. Did you talk to the service manager or sales manager for the dealership? The gauge is not accurate enough to know if you put in the 1/4 gallon to cover your 8 miles so I'm surprised it was even noted. The good news is most dealers have automated surveys and even ask for references to post on Google etc - you now have a great opportunity to call the dealer out for a poor experience. Social media is a powerful consumer tool.

 

I have talked to the service manager. I posted the same to SwedeSpeed and some Jaguar forums that I am on and very different responses. Jag forum said, what a petty thing for the dealer to do. On Swedespeed there were these people who just didn't get it. They kept thinking it was the $1.97 that upset me and that isn't it. What got to me was the idea that I have no leg to stand on because the dealer used the "the computer says" template. Yeah nothing on the gauge would ever show X amount of used gas in a 3.2 mile trip. Plus the woman at the service desk said I went 8 miles --- I did not.

Several houses around me, we are a Volvo neighborhood. Within three houses we have 5 Volvo's (it was 6). The one neighbor said that he has done what I did many times (using Volvo loaner) but he figured it was such a short drive, how could you ever correctly replace the gas and it was such a small amount. It wold be a quick blip of the fill-up handle at the gas station.

Yeah I get it, if I had used their vehicle to run around the city, using a good measurable amount of gas, I would replace the gas. And when I did drive the loaner more than 3.2 miles, to appointments, I have replaced the gas. The gauge showed I used a good amount of gas. Because it is statistically impossible to ever, ever return the loaner at 100% full, I'll just consider that bit of goodwill toward customer service dead.

It is just odd, that's all and it took me by surprise. The service manager said that he isn't behind the charge for such small use but with sales margins so low, the bean counters want it.


QUOTE=mt6127;529952]sounds like an issue with an employee at the dealer, not Volvo and probably not even the dealer per se. Did you talk to the service manager or sales manager for the dealership? The gauge is not accurate enough to know if you put in the 1/4 gallon to cover your 8 miles so I'm surprised it was even noted. The good news is most dealers have automated surveys and even ask for references to post on Google etc - you now have a great opportunity to call the dealer out for a poor experience. Social media is a powerful consumer tool.[/QUOTE]

 

I realize that every dealership is different, even within a brand, but..........
I have used 3 different Volvo dealerhip over the past 25 years and MY EXPERIENCES are;
1) Waiting rooms dated, I have yet to see complimentary water/sodas/coffee let alone snacks.
2) The dealer closest to me now still has OUTSIDE drop off/pickup. This is the only dealership of any brand I have seen do this since the '70's.
3) Had a car returned to me that looked like they used it in the Paris-Dakar Rally (now known as simply The Dakar) I stood there looking at the car and the lot boy asked if it was my car. I explained that it wasn't muddy when brought in and he said "Oh, we always test drive them after brake service". I was in a major hurry and was already late so I just left. I left a note on the dealer robo survey and did get a reply that next time they'd "Run it through the car wash for me". They didn't but at least it was as I left it that time.
4) Parts counters seemed designed to discourage purchasing anything. One is hidden in a building that is part of a seperate, nearby building, the "parking lot" is actually used for overflow stock storage, sometimes you can find a spot, sometimes you park on the street and walk. Never a person behind the counter, you dial a phone and wait.From the time it takes for him to arrive I assume he was testing a car somewhere near Dakar when I rang.

But, I've never been charged for gas and, like you, if I just drive it home and back I don't put gas in it. Bet they start that soon. Maybe they'll start prorating the fluid changes and whip out a tread gauge too

 

Ha! When so few miles are driven, my question to the dealer would be, "If I put more in than I used, do you give me some money back?" I think what really got me started was the new service department associate. She is very snippy and shouldn't be at a counter. So to begin with I was not thrilled and then (this is the biggie) she said I went 8 miles. I knew darn well I din't go 8 miles and she was so darn forceful with standing behind her 8 mile figure. Will they soon start charging for air and no I don't mean nitrogen. One time I tried nitrogen in my Jaguar tires, didn't see any reason to stay with it. Consumer Reports writes - "CR's tests show that using nitrogen is not worth the money or inconvenience".