Warranty Question

[BLUMAX]

Wasn't sure which topic to put this under but here goes ... the question is about getting a loner car while my baby is in for some warranty adjustments. Now I know several of you have mentioned getting one, but my dealer says thats for GM to decide but he can only have a rental for me, then submit it and see if the general will reimburse, is this right?? I thought part of buying this thing was getting a loaner anytime it went overnight to the shop, am I wrong? For the record it's going in for:
1. steering rattle
2. hood adjustment - not on straight
3. windshield popping noise above 65mph, on it's not the rubber flaps on hood hinges
4. Some tranny shift hesitation when going slow
5. lopey idle

Sorry about the long thread, but I had to ask.

[WOJO 1]

BLU MAX. I see your number 4 issue of tranny hesitation while going slow. On my truck, every so often it feels like the tranny slips briefly then catches. Seems to happen when cold. Starting to bug me, so I would like to know what they say about yours. Haven't had to take it in yet for updates so just curious.

[KompressorMan]

Blu,
I've never had a problem getting a loaner. I do know that your truck has to sleep over to qualify.
Herb

[bora]

I have the same slip/hesitation problem when cold, it happens once per day and then never again.

[mattb5150]

Just had mine in on wednesday and asked the service manager for loaner. He said he could do that and that it was usually if your vehicle had to stay for 4 hours or longer. They gave me a green Aztek, too bad for the wife, I still had my 6.5 to drive.

[csimo]

The GM warranty includes "courtesy transportation" if your vehicle is in for any kind of service. This is only a ride home, or to work, etc.

If the vehicle is to be in service overnight the GM warranty provides for a loaner car at no charge.

The kicker is that it also says "at participating dealers".

I would ask why your dealer doesn't participate in a GM sposored program.

[bbattrell]

The service adviser at my dearship, told me the loaner car is only good for 36,000 miles, except if there is a delay in receiving parts.

[Geerrhead]

That's interesting. My tranny slips every morning to!! I seems the TCM can't decide which gear to be in. The motor revs up to 1500 RPM then slams into gear. I hope you have better luck with the service department than I have had. They will not even take the time to go for a ride with me! I love the truck, but all these service problems are getting to me.

[hoot]

I have had 0 service so far at 35,000 miles. My Ally did the morning slip thing a couple of times early on but hasn't done it in 30,000 miles. I believe it likes to be thrashed a little along with the 55-0 downshift lesson.

I have not experienced a limp or any other quirks with Ally in probably 10,000 miles.

They just seem to get better the more you run them.

[Redhawk]

There has been a great deal of conversatioin on the forum about the tranny problems you mentiion. Mine had it too, but I took it in get the update. AS has been mentioned, sometimes the dealership may not know about the update, so you might have to prod them a little. Anyway it worked. No more slamming into gear off idle and more positive shifting. My dealership also gives me a car when service is overnight, or like yesterday when my wife's Envoy was in for running boards, we got a car for the day.

[et]

Blu Max,

Which dealer in the Portland area?

[Russ Denman]

IMHO - Weston GMC has a great service department. I bought my DMAX there and they took care of the ECM and TCM updates to fix the Cruise Control business and the second to first shift problem. They are off of 223rd and Stark in Gresham.

In my previous life, I worked at Truck HQ in Pontiac, MI. When my mother had issues with a GMC dealer in 1989, I took it upstair to the warrantee folks and they told me to have her take it to Weston's from that point on.

[FrozenAKJoe]

I would have to agree with most everyone else. Your vehicle has to me admitted for an overnight stay in order for you to get a loaner. The shuttle van is what you get if it's in there for just the day (my experience, at least). This is with the GM dealers I've done business with.

On a side note: A few years ago I decided to take a chance and go with my first non-GM product, buying a '99 Dodge 3500 4x4 (approx $35k MSRP). I took it in for a tranny shifting problem (lazy shifting). The truck only had 8k miles on it, and the service writer said that they'd probably need the truck for several days. I inquired about a loaner and was told that since I didn't buy the "extra" warranty, I was out of luck. After several choice words and a substantial raise of the volume of my voice in the service area, he gave me my loaner. To make a long story short, because of this and other related incidents, my opinion is that Anchorage Chrysler Dodge has the absolute worst service of any dealer I've ever been to (my Dmax is my 5th new vehicle). I will never buy another Dodge/Chrysler product and I'll never give this dealer another cent. I sold my Dodge with 26k miles on it for a loss and ordered my Dmax. I haven't looked back once. Good riddance!

[BLUMAX]

Thanks for the feedback folks, that's what I love about this site. Anyway "He's" in the shop today so I'll update later on the tranny problem, just like everyone mentioned the service writer didn't have a clue on this tranny hesitation thing, the other problems are pretty standard. "ET" since I didn't like the attitude of "CARR Chevy", I switched to "Ron Tonkin" who's closer to home, and who explained better the loaner, yes if it's a overnight stay they provide one. I only tried CARR because that's where I bought it, should have known better, I've always got good service from Tonkin. Thanks "Russ Denman", I forgot about Weston, if Tonkin doesn't do good I'll try them. Thaks again for all the info