Car in shop--who pays for loaner?

Hi all--

Not sure if this is the right subforum; apologies if it isn't.

My leased 2017 Leaf died three weeks ago, almost exactly one year into the 3-year lease. Dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree and the car wouldn't go into gear. I had it towed to the local dealership (not the dealership which sold me the lease--we bought from a dealer in another town, partly due to inventory at the time).

When I called to follow up I was told there was a short somewhere and they had to find it. Days later they said it was "somewhere in the rear of the car." Then eventually they said the main battery was bad. I asked if they could provide me a loaner car (they didn't offer), and I was told that corporate offered a 5-day "goodwill" rental, which I took advantage of, but had to return after five days.

I called the Leaf Consumer Support, and the rep was very nice. He said he was "absolutely shocked" that the dealer had "snatched the rental away " from me "when they haven't even diagnosed it yet" (which sort of contradicts what the service advisor had been telling me). He offered to intervene, told the dealer that "all dealers give customers loaner cars in this situation" but the dealer held his ground.

I called the dealer I leased the car from, just out of curiosity, and asked him what their policy was in this situation. He told me that corporate paid for the loaner. I repeated this to the Consumer Support guy... who didn't respond to that, so much as waving it off. Sigh. Consumer Support guy has since authorized another five days, so I've got a loaner right now, but I have to give it back after five days or pay out of pocket, which I don't think I should have to do. We're paying the monthly lease to have a car, after all, right?

The service tech, meanwhile, keeps bumping the length of time my car will be ready. It's always about three days from now, "we hope."

My main question is: does anyone know the final answer to this issue? Is corporate responsible for a loaner? My reading of the warranty seems to imply that, and it would seem logical, since corporate is pocketing the lease payments. But I can't find something in writing to take to the Consumer Support Guy. Thankfully our household has another car, but I can't make any appointments or commitments b/c spouse has the car often during the day when he goes to work, and this is getting on my nerves.

Other question is: is this ridiculous for a bad battery, to just tinker with my car for weeks on end? The NY Lemon Law kicks in after 30 days, but I suspect all I would get for a leased car would be released (sorry) from the contract, rather than a replacement car or a real solution. And honestly I don't want this to go on another 10 days anyway.

Thanks in advance for any input.

It's very simple. You're not entitled to anything. Full stop.

Some dealers or repair facilities will give loaner cars. Some never do. Some have "rules" that are location specific and are always bent like "if the repair is more than 3 hours, then you get a loaner of a car of equal class or lesser than what you brought in". That type of stuff.

Them giving you a rental car for 5 days is nice and above what they are required to do which is absolutely nothing. It sucks, but it is what it is.

When my Leaf was in the shop for half a year being repaired for 2 hit and run parking lot crashes that happened while it was parked and I inside with the temp tags even still on, I got nothing. I just used a different car. Since it was an insurance claim, my insurance offered to give me a rental car, but I had no need for it. But Nissan offered nothing and neither did the repair shop. The delay was 100% Nissan's fault waiting for parts to come into stock and ship. But I still had to pay insurance and the car note itself for months as it sat in a garage bay.

ReisheJ said:

Other question is: is this ridiculous for a bad battery, to just tinker with my car for weeks on end?

The NY Lemon Law kicks in after 30 days, but I suspect all I would get for a leased car would be released (sorry) from the contract, rather than a replacement car or a real solution. And honestly I don't want this to go on another 10 days anyway.

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Seem ridiculous to me, if it truly is a bad battery. But I took my car in 3 times to have a wire unplugged for a TSB that should document the procedure in detail and the technician couldn't, so... nothing surprises me now.

Using the principal of "Getting to Yes", what you need to consider is your BATNA (Best alternative to a negotiated agreement). Based on what you said, it sounds like in 10 days, you can invoke the lemon law, stop payments, hand them the keys and walk OR you could wait until they fix the car. These two options are your BATNA.

I would verify that with the lemon law, I could walk from the payments in 10 days without penalty. If I have confirmed that I could actually do that, this is what I would do:
I would then contact both the dealership and Nissan corporate and inform them that I'm displeased with the length of the repair. I would tell them that I'm paying monthly for the car, and through no fault of my own, the car had a failure. I would inform them that it's been 20 days and I've struggled to get reliable transportation at that time, due to the loaner policy and their conflict on who pays for the loaner.

I would then explain that my primary goal is to get my car back in working condition that has been diagnosed and repaired correctly and to have reliable transportation until that occurs. I would inform them that repeatedly negotiating for 5 more days on a loaner is not what I'm interested in--I want reliable transportation until my car is fixed. If they were willing to provide me a reliable loaner until the car was repaired, I would happily wait another <insert time here>, if necessary, to give them time to schedule and do the repair properly. Then see what they offer.

If they are unwilling to negotiate and provide me with those asks, I would inform them that, given they've refused to give me reliable, hassle free transportation, I plan to invoke the NY lemon law and return the car in 10 days, and I will find a new car. The threat that they're getting your car back is likely to get them to start negotiating and get your car fixed fast or reliable transportation. They don't want the car back -- the car has depreciated far faster than the lease payments in the first year of a 3 year lease, so this is a very bad deal for them.

If they refuse to negotiate even with the lemon law on the table, you're back to your BATNA. Either they'll fix your car within 10 days or you'll get a new car.

Finally, because I believe strongly in ethics, I have to do a morality check on my plan. Do I feel that I'm ripping off Nissan by doing this? In my opinion, I feel that you've given them more than enough time to do that repair and you're paying monthly for reliable transportation that you're not getting, so I don't feel that you're doing anything wrong invoking the lemon law in this case. If they had a reasonable explanation about why the repair was taking so long and they were doing their best to serve me, then I would have an ethical concern and would not use the lemon law, but I didn't hear that in your statement.

If you do invoke the lemon law and get out of the lease contract, you can go somewhere else and get a cheap used Leaf, 2018 Leaf (moar range!), or another car if you want.

Note: I am not a Lawyer and this is not legal advice. I have no knowledge as to what the New York lemon law says.

When my Leaf was in the shop for half a year being repaired for 2 hit and run parking lot crashes that happened while it was parked and I inside with the temp tags even still on, I got nothing. I just used a different car. Since it was an insurance claim, my insurance offered to give me a rental car, but I had no need for it. But Nissan offered nothing and neither did the repair shop. The delay was 100% Nissan's fault waiting for parts to come into stock and ship. But I still had to pay insurance and the car note itself for months as it sat in a garage bay.

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This is substantially different from the OP's situation, in that the car's damage happened at your end. You might not have been at fault in the accident, but the dealer and Nissan were completely uninvolved. So you are using oranges to explain apples. The OP already wrote that Nissan's position is apparently that they pay for loaners while a warranty-covered defect is repaired. You just seem to want to slam the OP for no good reason.

To the OP: that dealership has NO IDEA what is wrong with your car. I suggest you get it to another one, with Leaf-certified techs who know what they are doing. It may be as simple as a defective 12 volt battery...

One post slipped in ahead of mine.

LeftieBiker said:

When my Leaf was in the shop for half a year being repaired for 2 hit and run parking lot crashes that happened while it was parked and I inside with the temp tags even still on, I got nothing. I just used a different car. Since it was an insurance claim, my insurance offered to give me a rental car, but I had no need for it. But Nissan offered nothing and neither did the repair shop. The delay was 100% Nissan's fault waiting for parts to come into stock and ship. But I still had to pay insurance and the car note itself for months as it sat in a garage bay.

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This is substantially different from the OP's situation, in that the car's damage happened at your end. You might not have been at fault in the accident, but the dealer and Nissan were completely uninvolved. So you are using oranges to explain apples. The OP already wrote that Nissan's position is apparently that they pay for loaners while a warranty-covered defect is repaired. You just seem to want to slam the OP for no good reason.

To the OP: that dealership has NO IDEA what is wrong with your car. I suggest you get it to another one, with Leaf-certified techs who know what they are doing. It may be as simple as a defective 12 volt battery...

One post slipped in ahead of mine.

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Not at all. What I said is true. Nissan Motor Corporation is under zero obligation to provide you with a rental car or loaner car for any work done while under warranty or otherwise.

What Nissan does offer, like most auto-makers, is a credit back to the dealership in certain situation. Each dealership is a franchise and independently owned and operated. They have no federal regulation that obligates them to give you anything either. Nissan, like every other car company, knows that providing an alternate vehicle when your vehicle is getting repaired, helps with good-will. So they will put a value on various repairs and reimburse the dealership for up to a certain amount on certain repairs. If the dealership wants to give you a loaner (an extra car that the dealership owns) or send you down the street to Hertz, it doesn't matter.

In this case it sounds like the repair had a goodwill amount that Nissan would cover for rentals. That's 5-days. The dealership extended that to the customer. This customer has provided this independent franchise dealer zero income or profit. Not an existing customer, didn't even purchase the vehicle there.

When you have a relationship with the dealer they will routinely go out of their pocket, especially if they have a loaner available vs. 3rd party rental, to keep a good customer.

What a minute.... I've never had any vehicle service at the dealer w/o a loaner or rental.

So you're saying that Nissan does not provide loaners? The leaf now was the only one I purchased used and it's our first Nissan so I'm unaware of this, but looking at a 2018 leaf now and stumpled on this.

In fact, the reason why I'm going from a 2017 XC90 to another brand mainly because Volvo is going away with loaner but makes us go rent a vehicle when in service. To me, this is consered "bad service" especially for something under warranty.

dvu said:

What a minute.... I've never had any vehicle service at the dealer w/o a loaner or rental.

So you're saying that Nissan does not provide loaners? The leaf now was the only one I purchased used and it's our first Nissan so I'm unaware of this, but looking at a 2018 leaf now and stumpled on this.

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I haven't had a chance to read the OP's post, but as a general rule, non-luxury brand automakers do not tend to provide loaners for repairs or maintenance. I can say this w/experience w/Toyota since 1991 (well, let's just count 2006 to present) and Nissan since late 2001. I'm on my 4th Nissan (02 Maxima bought new, 04 350Z bought new, '13 Leaf leased new, '13 Leaf bought used).

The only times I've ever gotten a loaner from Toyota was when they had to keep my car overnight to cold soak in order to repro an issue. I had to go back to the dealer to have them loan me a Camry Hybrid. I can recall no other time I've received a loaner.

For Nissan, for probably 95+% of my visits, I've never gotten a loaner. It's not just provided. Heck, some Toyota and Nissan dealers only have a 1 way shuttle. Long ago, Nissan of Fife (in WA) was willing to provide a loaner I "split" w/a coworker as we were both going there to get warranty work done. I got a loaner or rental car maybe two other times. Another time, I don't recall the reason, but I was provided with a rental by Pacific Nissan in Seattle (dealer closed AGES ago and then was literally demolished years ago). The rental agency only had a POS Chevy Metro (at least it was a 4 cylinder) or a cargo van.

I think I got provided a rental once more for something else by a Nissan Sunnyvale, I think. I don't remember why. I recall there ended up being some confusion as to me being charged for it or whatever. It was resolved amicably.

Generally speaking, the dealer might provide a rental/loaner if the car's going to be in the shop overnight or longer or if there's some maintenance package (usually $100+) that includes a "free" rental/loaner. For something long term, yeah, one would hope they'd provide something for the duration.

Want a more guaranteed loaner? Buy a luxury brand.

dvu said:

What a minute.... I've never had any vehicle service at the dealer w/o a loaner or rental.

So you're saying that Nissan does not provide loaners? The leaf now was the only one I purchased used and it's our first Nissan so I'm unaware of this, but looking at a 2018 leaf now and stumpled on this.

In fact, the reason why I'm going from a 2017 XC90 to another brand mainly because Volvo is going away with loaner but makes us go rent a vehicle when in service. To me, this is consered "bad service" especially for something under warranty.

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Nissan, the big company in Japan that's actually "Nissan Motor Company", does NOT provide loaners. As far as I know, no company guarantees a loaner vehicle. That would be a huge liability.

Some automakers however are much more generous with loaner vehicles. Remember the automakers are not mom-an-pop shops that will give you a car to help you out just because. They are gigantic companies that have calculated the cost benefit of giving out loaners outweighs the actual cost in some situations and for some people.

For example in the Lexus dealership we go to where we have bought about a dozen vehicles over the years, we can go get a loaner any time we want. If we take cars in for service, even if it is just an oil change we can get a loaner. They will even send a sales person out to our house or office to drop off a loaner vehicle and pick up the car to be serviced all for free, just the normal cost of service. Now Toyota Motor Corporation has absolutely nothing to do with this even though that is Lexus. The local dealership is owned by a company that owns several in the area. We have given them business over the years plus lots of service. Read that as $$$. Therefore they are incentivized to treat us better and prioritize loaner vehicles and service so we keep coming back and buying cars. This is a transparent scheme, and it works perfectly. Another benefit is that when you give a loaner car, it is by definition an almost-new vehicle and usually of the same make/model or class that you have. It is harder to go back to your actual car when this one you are sitting in with new-car-smell is so very very nice. Dealerships know this. Give out loaners, get a sale. Porsche even incentivizes just this. They recommend dealers give everyone coming in for service with a Porsche, a Porsche loaner from a class above or more. You bring in your 2012 Panamera in for service. Drive out with a 2018 Panamera Turbo or something like that as a loaner.

Individual dealerships set their loaner programs. It has nothing to do with brand. Even if you search for Volvo's loaner program, you won't find it. What you will find is a bunch of dealerships across the country that "partner with" Volvo to extend a loaner program and the stipulations are varied. I have never seen a guarantee of one.

The only time where you are somewhat entitled to a loaner vehicle is for safety recalls. If your vehicle is in for recall work and the work will take longer than X amount of time, the auto maker (Nissan/Ford/Toyota/etc) may be required to give you one based on local jurisdictions. There is still no FEDERAL law that forces that. Just search for horror stories about the air bag recalls. The Takata air bag recall is serious. If you get in an accident and it sends shrapnel into your face, that's bad news. These cars originally had a "DO NOT DRIVE FOR ANY REASON" type recall. By the time the scope of the problem was discovered, and the limited global supply was realized, this just wasn't feasible and it became "DO NOT DRIVE FOR ANY REASON.... but it may take us 2-3 years to fix it for you... Your call on your face, you've been warned". If you don't get a loaner car for that under federal protection or auto makers, you don't get one for a failed battery.

^^^^
Since Lexus was mentioned, I'll mention a side story. I've never owned a Lexus but actually was loaned a Lexus HS 250h for a week sometime between 2009 and 2011.

Ages ago, there was some social media contest thing re: Lexus HS. If you got enough people to vote for you, you could win the use of a Lexus HS for a week. There was also some drawing (I think) to receive a 2 or 3 year lease of it.

I barely made the cut for the HS for a week. I picked a dealer near me and picked up the car. I recall signing some sort of rental agreement and the owner was a bank w/Japanese name (it wasn't well known IIRC so probably not UFJ, Mizuho or Sumitomo). The car was brand new with almost no miles on the clock but already w/Lexus of Bellevue service loaner decal on the back window. I told the service guy I'd be putting a few hundred miles on it. He didn't care. I asked what the arrangement was and what the deal was w/the weird bank. IIRC, Toyota apparently allocates them cars as loaners. The dealer leases them and uses them as service loaners. At the end, of lease, the dealer buys them and sells them as used cars.

Because I won and picked them, they got allocated 1 more car (for the above). So, it sounded like a win win for them.

(That dealer is pretty fancy inside (far beyond any non-luxury brand dealer I've set foot in). I remember a big fish tank and escalators. Google has pics of the inside,)

Thanks for that... I've always own EU brand and one Lexus beside the leaf so I wasn't aware of this. It has always been as you described, gotten a pretty decent loaner.

Definitely a good to know so I don't go screaming at Nissan SA when I have to Uber home. Lol

cwerdna said:

^^^^
Since Lexus was mentioned, I'll mention a side story. I've never owned a Lexus but actually was loaned a Lexus HS 250h for a week sometime between 2009 and 2011.

Ages ago, there was some social media contest thing re: Lexus HS. If you got enough people to vote for you, you could win the use of a Lexus HS for a week. There was also some drawing (I think) to receive a 2 or 3 year lease of it.

I barely made the cut for the HS for a week. I picked a dealer near me and picked up the car. I recall signing some sort of rental agreement and the owner was a bank w/Japanese name (it wasn't well known IIRC so probably not UFJ, Mizuho or Sumitomo). The car was brand new with almost no miles on the clock but already w/Lexus of Bellevue service loaner decal on the back window. I told the service guy I'd be putting a few hundred miles on it. He didn't care. I asked what the arrangement was and what the deal was w/the weird bank. IIRC, Toyota apparently allocates them cars as loaners. The dealer leases them and uses them as service loaners. At the end, of lease, the dealer buys them and sells them as used cars.

Because I won and picked them, they got allocated 1 more car (for the above). So, it sounded like a win win for them.

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Yes Toyota does most of that weird marketing stuff though the Lexus brand.

For example we just had the US Open (golf) in town and this dealership got allocated about 50 RX and NX SUVs just for the event. They all got plastered with logos for the golf stuff and the dealership. When the tour left, they all went back to the dealership to be sold as used. A "used" fully decked out 2018 RX with 50-60 miles on the clock for $10k less than the base. And there were about 50 of them. All gone in 2 weeks. That's good movement for a $50k vehicle... And because of those sales, they get even more allotment for the 2019 models. I believe the dealership did keep 2 of them on as loaners because everynow and then you see it driving around still with all the dealer and golf stickers on it.

I am really surprised that more people don't realize that a dealership in the US is not the same as the company that has the logo on the cars they sell. This is the exact thing that Tesla is fighting to allow, direct auto-maker to consumer sales without requiring a 3rd party dealer.

Nissan, the big company in Japan that's actually "Nissan Motor Company", does NOT provide loaners.

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Yes, semantically that's true. But since no one refers to "Nissan-affiliated dealers" when we talk about a loaner from a Nissan dealership, it's common usage to just write "Nissan."

Cwerdna, the OP was talking about a long-term stay in shop because a dealership was unable to diagnose a problem under warranty. This is the kind of circumstance in which loaners are expected. The situation wasn't a simple warranty repair.

2k1Toaster said:

I am really surprised that more people don't realize that a dealership in the US is not the same as the company that has the logo on the cars they sell. This is the exact thing that Tesla is fighting to allow, direct auto-maker to consumer sales without requiring a 3rd party dealer.

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I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't realize this (for US dealers) until I saw Tesla getting into battles with entrenched auto dealership groups.

I now tell people to Google tesla franchise laws for background info. I suspect that before Tesla, a healthy majority of Americans had the same incorrect beliefs (about automakers owning dealerships of their brands). And with Tesla battles, perhaps the majority has gotten smaller?

I have no idea about the arrangements outside the US.

It doesn't help much when the Nissan-dealer shuttle driver calls me (for pickup) and says "this is Dan from Nissan". He doesn't even say his dealer's name.

dvu said:

Thanks for that... I've always own EU brand and one Lexus beside the leaf so I wasn't aware of this. It has always been as you described, gotten a pretty decent loaner.

Definitely a good to know so I don't go screaming at Nissan SA when I have to Uber home. Lol

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Again brand has nothing to do with it really other than how valuable they think you are. The local Toyota dealership has given me a loaner before for a few of the services I've brought the Prius in for like brake pads around 160k miles. I didn't buy it there, never service it there except for the stuff that annoys me to do myself or I can't (windshield (x3 or x4) and brakes so far). But we did buy a Prius C from them years earlier and had the "free services" done there. They are free to us, but the dealership bills Toyota Motor Corporation and gets profit from them. So in return, I was a customer than brought in revenue in the past.

Likewise my local Nissan dealership completely changed their tune when I rolled up in the Lexus to pay for the Leaf TCU upgrade. Adamant that they can't provide a loaner because they were low on stock... Yeah right. I just look like I'm too broke to afford a new car in my t-shirt and jeans and the loaner money would be wasted on me. I Ubered it back to work since the shuttle service would take 1.5 hours to go 10 minutes with all the stops (there were 5 others in the van already) and home that evening. A week later or so (why are these TCU upgrades so hard for them to figure out!?) I pulled up to pay on my way home in the shiny RX. As I was paying "oh, why didn't you ask for a loaner we could have given you this brand new Maxima for the week". He obviously sees a hundred of me every day so didn't realize I did ask and he lied to me.

Anyways, this speaks poorly of the dealership, but is common. It has nothing to do with Nissan the company. And complaining to Nissan will get you nothing more than a "we are so sorry" letter that they have printed by the millions and could care less about.

LeftieBiker said:

Nissan, the big company in Japan that's actually "Nissan Motor Company", does NOT provide loaners.

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Yes, semantically that's true. But since no one refers to "Nissan-affiliated dealers" when we talk about a loaner from a Nissan dealership, it's common usage to just write "Nissan."

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Agreed. I do it too. But the point is that the "Nissan affiliated dealers" are who you make the deal with and who control the loaner car keys. "Nissan Motor Company" has nothing to do with it even though it's their logo plastered on the side of the building. This misleads people to thinking "this car lot is owned by Nissan" and that's absolutely not correct.

But doesn't the "brand' US corporate have anything to do with the private dealers?

The luxury brands, Mercedes in particular has a level of customer service that has to be met by MB USA from what my SA told me. MB service department is top notch in my area and Lexus is equally great if not far behind.

The private dealers represent the face of the brand, it's bad business just like any franchise, it's bad business for everyone if one dealer screw up.

dvu said:

But doesn't the "brand' US corporate have anything to do with the private dealers?

The luxury brands, Mercedes in particular has a level of customer service that has to be met by MB USA from what my SA told me. MB service department is top notch in my area and Lexus is equally great if not far behind.

The private dealers represent the face of the brand, it's bad business just like any franchise, it's bad business for everyone if one dealer screw up.

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Yes those are franchise agreements. The "level of service" guarantees in the contract between the franchise and the brand company are really not all that high. It is really just the minimum bare level. Just like most fast food places are independent franchises. If you want to put the name up to attract customers you have to play by a set of rules.

The agreements are much more on the finance side. Remember customer service is only as important as the bottom line. Agreements for "you have to sell X cars a month minimum" or requiring them to agree to nation wide sales and incentives going on and even stupid nit picky stuff like the sign has to be of a certain size, these certain posters have to be up in the showroom or some of my favourites are plaque walls. I believe MB has a clause that forces the dealership to show an employee achievement wall in the showroom. Walk into any MB and it will be visible. Some, like my local one, has it hidden in the hallway by the elevator to the underground dungeon... I mean showroom. Others like the one further away has it on display right behind reception. It's about brand cohesion for sure. But loaners don't make that cut.

Like I said, I believe the only automaker to even prioritize loaning is the fancy-beetle company, Porsche. And with the markups they get, and the low volume of sales in the US, they can afford to have loaners out there especially when it translates to sales more often. If you drop $300k on a car, you're not even blinking about what the payments would be on that. It's just another night on the town and you got a new toy. In 2 years at the first major service, they get you in another shiny brand new car. Lets talk trade-in.

dvu said:

But doesn't the "brand' US corporate have anything to do with the private dealers?

The luxury brands, Mercedes in particular has a level of customer service that has to be met by MB USA from what my SA told me. MB service department is top notch in my area and Lexus is equally great if not far behind.

The private dealers represent the face of the brand, it's bad business just like any franchise, it's bad business for everyone if one dealer screw up.

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For example here is part of a Lexus agreement between "LEXUS, A Division of TOYOTA MOTOR SALES, U.S.A., INC." and a dealership. This is really the only "customer service" part of it:


VIII. DEALER SERVICE OBLIGATIONS

A. CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS

DEALER and DISTRIBUTOR agree that the success and future growth of
the LEXUS franchise is substantially dependent upon the customers'
ability to obtain responsive, high-quality vehicle servicing.
Therefore, DEALER agrees to:

1. Take all reasonable steps to provide service of the highest
quality for all LEXUS Motor Vehicles, regardless of where
purchased and whether or not under warranty;

2. Ensure that the customer is advised of the necessary repairs and
his or her consent is obtained prior to the initiation of any
repairs;

3. Ensure that necessary repairs on LEXUS Motor Vehicles are
accurately diagnosed and professionally performed; and

4. Assure that the customer is treated courteously and fairly at all
times.

Here's a public copy one: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1019849/000095012402000556/k66280ex10-2_4.txt

Notice how it drones on and on and on about things like keeping enough cars on the lot, only using OEM parts, and making sure things look pretty and up to the Lexus standard. Then the part about customer service gets 4 bullet points that are completely subjective. #2 is standard contract law liability. If you perform un-authorized work, you may not get paid or worse if it causes a problem! #3, is the same deal. Don't screw up work and make liability claims. #4 actually has nothing to do with how you feel as a customer and everything to do with federal laws regarding discrimination.

VIII. A. #1 is the only thing that has anything to do with how you are treated as a customer. As you can see that single sentence entitles you to nothing. It is all up to the dealership. But if you are chronically a jerk to customers and those driving the brand in for service and Lexus agrees with the customers, then they may fine you up to making you take down all Lexus-y things.

The agreement I've seen was basically this word for word a while back. I am sure they could modify it for every dealer, but really why bother

2k1Toaster said:

Like I said, I believe the only automaker to even prioritize loaning is the fancy-beetle company, Porsche. And with the markups they get, and the low volume of sales in the US, they can afford to have loaners out there especially when it translates to sales more often...

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Tesla has, sorta. https://www.tesla.com/Blog/creating-world%E2%80%99s-best-service-and-warranty-program-0 was posted and that was true for awhile, until people stopped receiving Teslas. There are tons of reports of people receiving random other cars.

A few months back, a co-worker was given a loaner for his Model 3 (ended up being in the shop for over 2 weeks to fix a minor issue). They were out of Teslas and he received a Chrysler 300C. He felt it was a terrible car and was unhappy with that. After a few days of that, he went back to swap it for a Model S loaner (much more appropriate given what he paid for his 3 and that we have free charging at work, not free gasoline).

I just found https://insideevs.com/musk-tesla-service-loaners-will-be-loaded-model-s-x-p100d/ but I have no idea how true that is at all nowadays, given the above.

Around here, it seems pretty common for luxury dealers (e.g. BMW) to provide service loaners.

But the point is that the "Nissan affiliated dealers" are who you make the deal with and who control the loaner car keys. "Nissan Motor Company" has nothing to do with it even though it's their logo plastered on the side of the building. This misleads people to thinking "this car lot is owned by Nissan" and that's absolutely not correct.

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I don't think that you're deliberately trying to mislead, but you're giving the impression that the dealership owns and is responsible for leased cars (going back to the OP's case) and this isn't the case. NMAC owns the cars, Nissan essentially owns NMAC, and dealerships have to abide by Nissan/NMAC's rules in dealing with lessees. So expecting "Nissan" to provide a loaner for warranty repairs that take weeks because the dealership is incompetent is closer to being reasonable than just dismissing the idea of a loaner in that case as a right, instead of a privilege granted at the dealership's whim. There is a Hell of a lot wrong with the US franchise system, but there is still a direct link between your leased Nissan and Nissan, via Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation.