Loaner Car Is Within Local Only?

coolwater · November 18, 2007

Dealer loaner car should be driven within 'local' only?

A long distance round trip is not allowed?

SW03ES · November 18, 2007

Nobody has ever told me that, what dealer is telling you this?

homemechanic · November 18, 2007

Nobody has ever told me that, what dealer is telling you this?

what does your rental contract say??

some cheap a$$ rental companies used to put word likes not allowed to drive vehicle out of the state. they use gps system to track a vehicle for where it goes. i don't know if that is still legal anymore.

SW03ES · November 19, 2007

I have a Lexus loaner agreement and I read the back of it, nowhere does it say it can only be operated locally. It says it cannot be driven out of the country (i.e. to Mexico or Canada), but thats all.

1990LS400 · November 19, 2007

I wonder if the loaner agreement could differ by dealer and location. The loaner is really a "free" rental and the agreement I sign when I get a loaner from the Lexus dealer looks about the same as the agreements I sign when I rent cars from from a regular rental company. A loaner is really not free at all unless your car is being repaired under warranty.

I see nothing wrong with a Lexus dealer limiting the use of a loaner car to a specific radius around the dealership. I have noticed that the local dealer service writer always asks how far I plan to drive the loaner I am being given. It has never been over about 15 miles so I have do not know what he would have said if I told him I was going to drive 1,000 miles.

From my rather extensive experience in renting cars, I would have to say that a standard rental agreement always limits where one can take a vehicle. It is usually no big deal to ask that the allowable area be expanded somewhat but expanding it a lot can significantly increase the rental cost. I almost always ask that the allowable area be expanded and make sure that this expansion is documented on the rental agreement.

I see nothing wrong with rental companies using GPS devices to monitor where their cars are taken and I see no legal need for them to disclose that they are using such devices. If someone signs a rental contract and then violates the contractual agreement, then I have no sympathy if he gets caught.