Courtesy car

[Potplant19]

Before I spend too much time complaining thought I'd check here...

We have a hybrid car, less than 4 years old, under warranty. On Monday the doors wouldn't unlock, not a battery or key issue and we called the AA to home start us. Diagnostic machine said hybrid issue, lots of warning lights, but they managed to get it going and recovered to the manufacturer garage where it's under warranty.

No word from garage since then. We called yesterday and they said they wouldn't be able to look at it at all until middle of next week. No timescale of when it might actually be returned to us. Asked if they have any courtesy cars. No. Apparently just really busy with recovered cars. We've not actually checked if our insurance has a courtesy car included but I'd rather not go down that route in case it impacts our premiums etc.

We live in a city, both cycle, school etc. walkable so it's not terrible, but we do have a few things we need the car to get to - swimming lessons etc.

Aibu to expect a courtesy car whilst they take their time figuring out how to fix whatever is wrong?

A courtesy car would be great, but if they don't have any available then there's not one to have. Have you asked to be first in line for one when someone returns the one they currently have?

There’s no obligation for them to provide one, some dealers will and others won’t - so “expecting” is a bit unreasonable. It’s a nice gesture if they do but they can’t provide what they don’t have. Is a cab an option for the longer journeys?

Most of the time there just aren’t enough courtesy cars for them to provide, but that’s what you use your car insurance for if needed.

Car insurance won't help if it's just a mechanical fault.
If it's drivable now, could you ask for it back and then book it in for a later date?

We can get taxis, I just resent having to pay for them. If it wasn't under warranty we'd simply take it to a garage who could attempt least give us a timescale, but it is, so we just feel a bit stuck.

I had a similar issue recently - and a similar surprise that a courtesy car isn't automatically offered.

It just seemed completely reasonable to me that if a car was under warranty and there's a prolonged wait, why wouldn't it be their responsibility?
With our dealer, they technically don't have to provide one unless a part is on back order. I suspect that's a fairly standard clause.

I had to ask a couple of tines and did get a courtesy car.