LOL 
The service manager gets nothing out of this punitive approach, it was surely a decision by the GSM/GM in a boneheaded effort to drive sales
This was lemon #1 that was unsafe at highway speeds, that the dealership initially screwed up ordering from the factory, then when it was nothing but problems the GM promised to help (my ask was just to contact the manufacturer and facilitate a buyback after their comedy of errors to diagnose, including several trips in on a flat bed caused by the diagnostics) and then he ghosted me and wouldn’t return my calls or emails. I wasn’t asking the dealership for a dime, just their creditability to say “we tried to fix it, we just have a bad car here”.
Eventually the car got a blog documenting every problem with photos and ROs, a vanity plate that hinted not to ever get one (everytime I went to the store, people asked, because it was a new model). When it went for service with its shame vanity plate, it got a photoshoot in front of the dealer’s sign.
At one point after months of buying ads micro-targeted to the city/county (I had Facebook targeting specific people at the dealership, eg the F&I manager who did my paperwork was a woman over 40 - she got something different than some of the guys in service under 30, who hooked up a defective data recorder that caused the car to break down), the organic SEO took over and for a while — if you googled the dealer, this came up first without any ads. At its peak I think I saw 10,000 page views a month, but usually 3k-5k.
I checked last night and Google Analytics only goes back to November 2015, since then about 5k views total (there was a period where it was offline because Google and Blogger changed how custom domains work and I wasn’t aware it broke). Google analytics was how I found the subreddit someone created that linked to it and detailed what an asshole I was, which I printer and hung on my fridge for a while.
Back OT where @max_g is so good at keeping us.
Of course it’s not up the Service Director on loaners, it’s either the GSM or GM (either because they think it drives sales, OR they don’t want to punch so many loaners). But if service gets negative feedback because if it, it’s going to get addressed in their management meetings.
If I lived there, and all the dealers do this, dinging each service dept until one of them starts offering loaners would not only give me an option for service where I get a loaner, but increase the amount of service business that dealer gets. This is either a sales or inventory decision, and making a fuss might just be helping that Service Director get what they have been asking for.
I had a BMW in for some warranty work on Monday and by some stroke of luck was able to get a loaner. In talking to the loaner manager he told me their normal inventory of service loaners is around 82ish cars, on Monday they had a total of 10 in service. He said sales is swiping them all and selling them😁
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Well for Jeep that is the narrative if you bring it for service. No loaner if you dont buy it from them. But if you willing to do those 400 dollar service at 10k miles, loaners will magically appear.
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My first oil change on my first new car I thought I have to take it back to the place where I bought it and it happened to be the biggest snow storm for that year. Took me 2 hours cross town by bus and drove the car home. So I learned quickly that I don’t have to do that. I would be livid for an expensive brand like RR and not being able to get a loaner. My local BMW dealer using Uber a lot now and one time when service took longer than expected they will pay for rides back to dealership to get a loaner. Back in the days people complained about Enterprise, I can see that when someone drop off a 7 series and having to go to the Enterprise counter.
This will be the next big thing service depts move to:
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Maybe for the lower end of the market … any brand aspiring to luxury will have customers expecting loaners
That was my initial thought
But for a quick service that is same day (in a non pandemic environment) something like this to go from dealer to office and back is pretty easy, especially if you’re used to parking in the city.
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If it’s a same day service, I typically night drop and Uber/Lyft to pick up when it’s ready, don’t want to waste time trying to coordinate shuttles etc. Even when I added Polestar to the XC60 I did that, what annoyed me was the dealer said it would be ready next day, never called, closed for weekend. I haven’t been back there.
But if my car is there for 2-3 days, especially if I spent RR money, I expect transportation that goes where/when I want, and I’m glad to schedule it ahead. Even if it’s all warranty work, the dealership is getting paid on that, and for enough hours of warranty work there is almost always $ for a rental car. Ford and Mazda would even spring for a rental if they had it more than a day - my first Cmax had defective paint covered under warranty, they put me in a rental car the entire time they had it.
This is the most likely excuse I’ve seen in the entire thread on loaner shorter: not enough new cars coming in, sell everything that isn’t nailed down.
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This reminded me my 5 months of Enterprise loaner paid by BMW. I had a 14 year old 325CI ( still miss it sometimes), received the Takata airbag recall letter, called local dealer and was told parts are on backorder. After sending an email about my concerns driving a vehicle with potentially non-functioning airbags, I received a call and offered a rental while vehicle is waiting for the parts. It took them over 5 months to replace the airbags while I cycle through Enterprise fleet.
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Perhaps this type of thing is why Audi was offering Silvercar with new purchases?
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Never anticipated for this to be such a hot topic 
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Raise some cane. If it will take longer than a reasonable lounge wait then it’s a reasonable expectation you should receive a loaner.
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There’s new policy regarding loaner sales that should alleviate this some.
2,500mi or 3mos in service for BMW.
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That’s terrible that they wouldn’t give you a loaner. I’ve gotten the same speech many times. I’ve gotten it from Chrysler, Ford (I actually found a good dealership nearby [Beyer Ford in Morristown, NJ] that doesn’t care if you bought the car from them), Mercedes, Kia.
My BMW dealership only gives loaners for oil changes if you drop it off on Friday. It’s right next to where I work and it would be more convenient to drop it off Weekday evening and pick it up next weekday evening or whatever, but I guess they don’t give loners for that. I’ll probably try a different dealership next time to see if they’ll give me a loaner on a weekday for an oil change.
At an efficiently run service department, it would be faster to wait ~20-30 min for an oil change rather than drive away in a loaner and then come back
Loaners are only necessary for routine maintenance when the service team won’t even touch your car for X hours after your appointment
No loaners today at the local Mercedes service department. Dropped off an E-Class for service, drove out in a Ram 1500 Quad Cab Hemi from Enterprise. 
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Was the truck all that was left in Enterprise’s lot?
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I got the choice of a Ram, a Ram Classic, or an F-150.
Enterprise was packed, not just from this Mercedes dealer, but also other dealership shuttles dropping off customers, including the local JLR store. Seems like dealers are running short of vehicles to sell – either to consumers or as loaners!
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