When you buy a new car, fortunately there's a warranty on it. That's only fair when you spend a few thousand euros.
Yet it does sometimes happen that a new car breaks down.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened with one of our renters' new cars.
The car broke down right in the middle of the Noorderbrug bridge in Maastricht. That's not a very pleasant place to have a breakdown.
When the renter called, one of our team members drove out quickly to the stranded driver. Together, they towed the car to our Maastricht office, where the renter was given a replacement car.
The car was less than a year old and still under warranty. It even had mobility warranty coverage. So the renter could also have called the manufacturer's roadside assistance service instead of us.
But anyway, we were glad the renter was back on the road quickly.
We towed the broken-down car to the relevant dealership.
Side note: I'm not a big fan of car dealers. You'll notice that more often — I can't help it. Sorry if you work at a dealership, or even own one.
Just the name alone: dealer.
In Belgium they've handled it better. There they call such a company an 'autoverdeler' (car distributor). I picture a sort of Father Christmas handing out cars to people with limited mobility.
In the Netherlands, such a company is called a car dealer. That makes me think more of another kind of dealer — one who delivers pills or weed and keeps you addicted to his product. Maybe car dealers should try that too, but most car dealers give me the impression: glad you bought a car from me, now please stay away as long as possible afterwards.
We tow the stricken car to the car dealer.
I walk inside, through the showroom full of beautiful, gleaming, new-smelling cars. Hey — not even a salesperson comes up to me.
Past the sales desk to the service desk.
'Can I help you?' asks a (still at this point) friendly technician.
Sure thing! I say. 'I have a stranded car with me. I bought five cars here six months ago. One of those cars has broken down, so I've towed it here. It's outside.'
'Right outside here?' asks the technician.
'No, at the Vrijthof. I said: I towed it here.'
The technician's face falls. 'Then I can't help you,' he says. 'Mobility warranty only applies if the breakdown occurs while on the road.'
'The breakdown did happen on the road,' I say. 'The car broke down on the Noorderbrug, but we rent out cars. So I gave the renter a replacement and towed the broken one here.'
'Then I really can't help you,' the technician says seriously. 'If there's no active roadside breakdown, we cannot accept the car.'
I think: this technician must be joking. I ask him: 'You are the service representative, aren't you?'
'That I am,' he says, 'but in this case I cannot provide any service.' A clever service employee!
'And does it matter that the car is still under warranty?' I try.
That didn't matter either.
We should never have been so helpful as to tow the car to the dealer. It would have been better to let our renter wait on the Noorderbrug. Then hopefully the dealer would have come to us…
I slowly started getting a bit angry. You spend tens of thousands of euros in exchange for a few cars. Surely you can expect those cars to keep going for a year or two, right?
Or is it somehow normal for a six-month-old car to break down on the Noorderbrug?
'Shall I tow the car off your property onto the road, and then call the mobility service?' I ask, more or less as a joke.
'Then you might be able to get help,' says the service technician. And he meant it.
'Don't you think that's a ridiculous idea?' I asked him.
Well, perhaps so, but those were just the rules.
And that's exactly my problem with most car dealers. Hiding behind rules, regardless of whether those rules are absurd or not. There's often no thought given to how best to help the customer.
Have you had similar experiences with car dealers? Or actually very good ones? I'd love to hear from you!
Are you looking for a car but would rather not buy one from a dealer? I'm going to help you find a good car hire in the Heerlen area to find. New or used, classic or sporty, anything goes. leave your details here.
