I had dealership experience with the same Plano, TX as DFWXF with both the 'old' and 'new' owners. Both treated me as if I were King of the realm. When my car was under warranty (the only time I needed a loner) the loner was a new X-Type with just a few miles on it. On return I commented that the X-type didn't have the smooth ride that my XJ8L had. He just laughed and said,"Not even close!"

After warranty was past I had to use and pay for (once) an Enterprise nothing car, but at least it wasn't very expensive.

 

Been 2 weeks since they told me they would set an new appointment.... not even so much as a phone call.

Crazy ...

 

Using the Louisville, KY, dealer who also deals in Land Rover. Usually get one of those (small LR-something) as a loaner, and once an XF. Handled by Enterprise on dealer premises. 150 miles a day free. This has to be priced in the service for a dealer to survive, and an oil change is about twice the price you'd pay at a place without Jaguar experience. No complaints! Happy to pay for a tech with experience, even on an oil change. It's actually made me consider a Land Rover when it comes time to replace my utility vehicle. So a good loaner is smart business on many levels, but as customers we will pay for it. Sounds fair to me.

 

I find this entire issue a pile of crap. First, judge the car before everything else. Is the Jaguar that you own consistent with your expectations, and do you enjoy driving the car. Second, did you have a good sales experience? Third, were you taken care of properly by the service department? This means that you have to evaluate whether the service advisor was polite, communicative, knowledgeable, etc. Was the vehicle repaired or serviced on time? If it was a repair, was it resolved after the first attempt? That's the stuff that makes good service.

All this nonsense about loaner cars is silly. Worse, for someone to tie it into brand satisfaction is nonsensical and really insulting to what Jaguar is trying to do for the last several years. Jaguar is finally producing cars that people WANT to drive. Cars that inspire passion and attention.

For someone to look past all of this, and make a disproportionate fuss over the loaner car is beyond (fill in the derogatory word). Then for someone to say they "never" were insulted so much in their life??!! Get over it.

Other than that, focus on the car. If you want a higher quality loaner, simply write the dealer's general manager, but to make this issue more than what it is . . .simply is unfortunate and shortsighted.

I don't work for Jaguar, but have an XFR. I get a POS Ford Fusion every time I take my car in for service, and I detest it. However, I'm not going to judge Jaguar based on such minor collateral things. I had a BMW, and they gave me a Ford POS 70% of the time.

Ultimately, if you want Lexus Customer Service, then buy a Lexus and be bored silly by a pedestrian car that inspires dead zero passion.

 

I had similar issues with a BMW dealership, I was taking in a $100K car for warranty service and they would get me a two bit rental POS, I was once given a Nissan Versa, I had to take it because I live 50 plus miles away and I couldn't get picked up by my wife.

After that experience I told the service manager I was not impressed, basically he wasn't interested and said that the dealership didn't have to give us anything.
After several other issues a few months later I sold the BMW and came back to Jaguar.
My Jag Dealership (Wilde Jaguar of Sarasota) garruntee that you will get a like for like if not better, loaner car whenever you take your car in for service.
My first Jag service experience is tomorrow, they called me today to say that my loaner XF will be ready for me by noon, we will see how thing pan out and I'll let you know!

 

People, now I know that you paid a lot of money for a Jaguars, and I apprecitate that, I really do. And I aggree that Enterpirse cars sucks. BUT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A CAR, a machine that gets you from point A to point B. There are people on here that say "Oh well BMW does this, or AUDI does that, or Mercedes does this." Those companies are a lot, lot, lot bigger then Jaguar/LandRover. You mean to tell me that you are going to act so stuck up, for a day just because you didn't get to drive a jaguar loaner. CRY ME A RIVER!!!! IT'S A CAR, A CAR, JUST A CAR. My god, god forebid somebody sees you in a honda. Hey lets say you car was in a accident, what kind of rental car would you expect from you insurance company? Think about it. They realize what kind of car you would get. Worry about more important things in life then some stupid car.

 

No ... I respectfully submit that you do not.

I could be wrong but I would venture to say you would not be happy in going to a nice restaurant - paying $30 to $50 for an entree - and having that meal served in a manner that did not justify the cost (be it the food was cold, or the service was cold). The analogy here (in my case), have the server of that same $50 entree tell you that "You did not specify a hair on your plate or in you food was not acceptable - so it's not our fault".

In my issue it wasn't the fact that the car was not a Jag - it was that the fact that the provided car wasn't in a condition that I would drive. It was filthy on the interior and damaged on the exterior. It was below my standards for maintenance on my personal vehicles and I do NOT have to accept lower standards of maintenance for vehicles from a Dealer that is supposed to be all about the "ownership experience".

When you grow up you may learn (although your post implies otherwise) that even though people may have the means to endeavor on extravagant items - they expected the same level of extravagant service/support.

I expect a certain level of experience, quality, and service at McDonald's. That expectation of experience, quality, and service goes up exponentially at Craft, Las Vegas. In case you missed it - I'll tolerate things at McDonald's that I would NEVER tolerate at Craft (nor would the Chef want me to).

According to you ... it's just a meal.

 

Well, I took my XF in today at noon as arranged, the lady SA came out and greeted me and escorted me into her office, she had a coleague go fetch the loaner (a 2011 XF 3000 miles) while we went over the paperwork, by the time we had gone over the small issues to be done the car was out front, before I had a chance to walk to the car a guy came out and asked if I minded waiting a few minutes while he went and filled it up with gas, of course I said yes take your time. when he came back he re-presented the car to me and apologised for being a little dirty because we had some rain last night.

Overall, I can honestly say that I never got ANYTHING like that at the BMW dealership and would have no hesitation in recomending them to anyone.

 

Vmaxxer, It's just a car. I'll remember to grow up the next time I visit my grandchildren, you dumb you know what.

 

Coming in wayyyyy late here, but what the heck.

I spent 30+ years in dealerships, 23 of them in service and parts management. The "loaner" thing was always a bugaboo.

We used Enterprise almost exclusively for "loaners"...er, rentals. True loaners are almost extinct. "Loaners" are rentals where someone else is paying the bill...but we all know that. Anyhow....

The agreement made with Enterprise is that they would inventory a variety of cars to suit the needs and expectations of our clientele. An EXACT match-up was seldom possible, as one might anticipate, but every effort was made to put a Cadillac owner into some sort of luxury car, a pick-up owner into pick-up, etc.

It wasn't and never could be a flawless arrangment but Enterprise tried very hard, and to their credit, met expectations most of the time.

I certainly expected service advisors to take *some* measure of control and responsibilty for this aspect of the customer service experience. An unscheduled visit might not allow enough time arrange for an appropriate rental to be reserved but a service visit booked a few days in advance would allow the service advisor time to coordinate with Enterprise and "make the appropriate arrangments".

I had regular meetings with Enterprise staff and occassionally included them in my meetings with service advisors to help ensure that we were "all on the same page" with repsect to the various aspects of meeting customer expectations.

One major probem we had with Enterprise was the very rapid turnover of their employees, a situation which made continuity and consistency of service difficult. It takes *time* for a newbie to come up-to-speed on how things are supposed to be handled. It takes *time* to train a person and, even then, some employees are not adept at adjusting their performance and style to suit the occasion. Certainly an executive with a new luxury car has different needs and expectations than a frazzled mom with three toddlers or a construction contractor or....whoever. This is where a strong service advisor can be a real asset by briefing the rental company ahead of time. An example might be a reminder that the frazzled mother, for instance, will need (and certainly appreciate) help in transferring three child seats from her own car to the rental car.

One advantage I had which was being a big enough customer to actually have some sway and influence over Enterprise. This wasn't a matter of browbeating them. Far from it. They wanted our business and were more than willing to accomodate us to the largest extent pratical. Other dealers and/or managers might not have that advantage.

I've rambled long enough.....

Cheers
DD

 

^^^
Excellent post Doug.