What’s the weirdest courtesy car you’ve been given?

[JJ0063]

A wanted thread has appeared and it’s just reminded me of a courtesy car I had years ago.

This then got me wondering.. what’s the strangest courtesy car you’ve been given? 

My most surprising  two I can recall are an L reg 3dr turquoise Frontera convertible like this back in around 2010 so even back then it felt very old! IIRC had quite fancy pattern cloth interior too..

And then up to recent times about 2 years ago I had to take some staff to an event at work (I work in the insurance industry so we have good relationships within hire car companies) and asked for a 9 seater. Normally we’d get a VW transporter or something.. to my shock a Tourneo ProCab turned up.. that was a fun day driving to Birmingham and back fully branded!

 

 

[robthedonkey]

When my bx needed a couple of plates welding in I dropped it off at my local shite friendly mot tester garage...

He has a few old rovers classic jags all sorts...

He assured me I could borrow a runner to get to work

He gave me the most mental courtesy car I've ever known

A Ford ka with puma 1.7 engine... No rear interior... Ignition barrel was broke and had a doorbell for starter... Door lock was broken and replaced with a. Hasp and padlock.... 5 inch bean can exhaust.... Nato green roller Ed paint... A roof rack bolt dthrough roof skin. Turned out was the apprentices car and he was on holiday



Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[Wack]

Not wierd as such but a weird experience 

My wife's car had been damaged so we got a courtesy car 

She isn't a confident driver 

This is how it went 

Lad brings a brand new delivery miles scenic round which he's quite proud to do 

He gives her a piece of plastic 

What's this 

The key 

How is that a key , what do I do with it 

Put it in this slot 

Views slot with suspicion 

How do I start it 

Press this button 

Views button with suspicion 

How  do I stop it 

Press the same button 

Look of dispair 

Sits in it 

Where's the handbrake 

You press this bu 

Right that's it , take this stupid car away and bring me one with a key and a handbrake 

He looks at her like she's mad but comes back with an astra 

 

 

 

[bunglebus]

I was given a K10 Micra 1.3 auto as as courtesy car for an insurance repair in about 1999 or 2000, was quite old even then. Fun though, did good handbrake turns. Apparently.

[twosmoke300]

@stilo_active 😂

[barefoot]

A Renault Traffic with two go karts in the back, or possibly a 1957 VW pickup?

[catsinthewelder]

The last time I put the Focus in the local garage I was given a choice of;

Big Red, a late 90s Discovery which is also their tow truck.

The world's fastest Corsa, a nicely worn in Corsa C 1.4 TD which I chose and enjoyed.  It's still at the garage but seems to have a few front end parts missing at the moment.

[carlo]

Quite a few years back the local garage in Devon let me use a 1984 Cavalier 1.8CDi they had lying around, even then it must have been 20 years old.   I remember thinking what a cracking engine it had, really strong and quick.  Can't say much for the rest of the car.

[DavieW]

A 15 year old VW Polo from my local VW main dealer. Turns out it wasn't meant to be given out to customers - it was the collection and delivery driver's "dump" car.

Same dealer gave me a brand new, taxed while I was waiting, Golf as the salesman had sold the courtesy over the weekend.

[eifion]

I got this delightfully clean* Peugeot 205 from my local garage when my last XM went in for some work. The XM never got fixed and I ended up buying the 205. It's a lot cleaner now.

[Dan the van]

Long time ago but I dropped off my then bosses SL55 Kompressor to the far side of London for some warranty work.I got given an ancient diesel Primera with 285000 on the clock.It was so hateful I really would have rather used the train.😳

[anonymous user]

3 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

The last time I put the Focus in the local garage I was given a choice of;

Big Red, a late 90s Discovery which is also their tow truck.

The world's fastest Corsa, a nicely worn in Corsa C 1.4 TD which I chose and enjoyed.  It's still at the garage but seems to have a few front end parts missing at the moment.

Sounds like a place I have used. Their Corsa lacked a working speedo but had an old Sat nav blu-tacked on the panel. Unfortunately it ran out of electricity. I charged it up at home and got it back to them. It ran out of electricity again just as I was getting in their yard, the steering went funny as it lost the assistance, there was not enough left to put the window up.

I then got loaned their Land Rover 110 Station Wagon, which was used as a breakdown. It was very damp inside, but I was grateful for the transport. A colleague was not impressed, I gave her a lift in it. She looked in the centre console and found an old pair of pants.

I had some very nice VWs loaned to me when I had a continually ill Polo, although on one occasion the only thing they had available was an LT van, again better than walking.

[dollywobbler]

 

[Inspector Morose]

This was the courtesy car from Kelvin when he took my Wartburg 311 in for a bit of driveline work. This was 1998.

[bunglebus]

They make a joke of it, but I'd be quite impressed if I was given "The Loaner" from The Mask

[TataBobu]

A 25 years old Daewoo Tico when I left my Cielo for a cambelt change. Didn't take it, though, as the garage was 400 meters from the office, and the work was done during office hours so had no need for one.

[privatewire]

I’ve had a Daihatsu YRV from a body shop in Bridge of Weir, a Suzuki Splash from another body shop in Ayr. ( Both cars dreadful) The best courtesy vehicle was a Peugeot Partner I got from BT Fleet, when they discovered that our new Vauxhall Combis could randomly burst into flames, because the Pug had no ladder rack, it meant I didn’t have to climb a pole for about 6 weeks!

[wuvvum]

I took my old Saab 99 to a local Saab specialist for some brake work, maybe 15 years ago.  The only car he had available for me to go home in was a 1953 Austin Somerset.

[phil_lihp]

Back in about 2005, a local used car dealer, now long gone, who'd taken my Fiesta back in for repair loaned me the only thing they had spare, a very shabby Peugeot 309 GTi which I guess had been taken as a trade-in and at that time, a worthless old nail.  It was very saggy, had a blown exhaust, didn't want to start or idle when cold, the passenger door dropped when opened and it was a bastard to drive smoothly in traffic.  Hilarious fun though, still fast and I was a little sad to hand it back - looking back, knowing now that garage's reputation, entirely possible it didn't have an MOT.

[stuboy]

not wierd but a modified nova on twin carbs, roll cage and 4 point harness with sparco seats...

[Macscrooge]

A bright, really bright, green Fiat Panda in about 1993. (Standing in for my Peugeot 309)
 

Triumph Acclaim in c1990. It cut out under anything more than gentle throttle pressure. (Rover R8 214)
 

Daihatsu Copen. I’m 6foot2 and the only way I fitted in was with the roof down. I own shoes bigger than that car. (Volvo 945!)

[Missy Charm]

Nothing memorable, personally,  a Clio, I think, and an old Peugeot 206.  The 206 was a local BMW specialist's courtesy car and was given whilst my far superior*(1) 3 Series coupe was in for something or other.  I remember getting about a mile or so in the Peugeot and experiencing the magical state of ecstasy known as 'not driving a BMW'.  I sold the BMW shortly after for a pittance*(2), and felt a lot happier.  It was the right car on paper in so many ways, but I just didn't like it.  Hard to explain why.  

*(1) it wasn't

*(2) it was a black 318is two door coupe on an 'M' reg, it had a manual gearbox, no modifications and was about as clean as such a car in daily use could be.  The damn thing, nowadays, would be worth a fortune.  

[Bear]

Took my XM to East End Garage in Chirnside for new spheres and LHM change

Loaned me a 289000 mile CX Pallas auto

I went to St, Abbs but was so chilled out and listening to classical music that I drove to Tranent.

Bought it off them and then got addicted to DIRAVI.

[balford]

Not unusual, but slightly unexpected. In 2007 I traded my ol' faithful 406 for a 407, which thanked me by having an ABS sensor shit itself (a theme that would become familiar). Luckily it did this one day after pickup so the garage had no issue with covering it under warranty.

The courtesy car was my old 406

[Bear]

6 minutes ago, balford said:

Not unusual, but slightly unexpected. In 2007 I traded my ol' faithful 406 for a 407, which thanked me by having an ABS sensor shit itself (a theme that would become familiar). Luckily it did this one day after pickup so the garage had no issue with covering it under warranty.

The courtesy car was my old 406

That's happened to me before...

Also when my Fiat Marea had problems, Croall Bryson in Duns reminded me that I'd left them my XM to sell...

[Alusilber]

Not weird as such, but last year, SWMBO took her Pug to the local Pug franchise for the Puretech disintegrating wet cambelt recall. The dealer also had a Suzuki franchise, and her courtesy car was a new Vitara, plastered in larger stickers advertising Motability, even on the rear side windows. Lovely 😬.

[Six-cylinder]

In the late 2000s I used a Mercedes specialist and they would give me a 20 year old C reg 190E Auto loan car. In solid mid green with green checked interior he apologised that a C class was not available. I learnt to love that car and one day they gave me a C class and I asked if the 190 was available, when he established I was not joking he explained others customers did not like it and it was gone. He then said he would have given it to me if he had know I liked it that much. 

[loserone]

 

2.0 petrol manual.  Sadly now weighed in.

[JayB]

I used to get my Volvo V70 serviced at a Volvo independent in the middle of the Fens. The very first time, they apologised that they didn't have any of the normal courtesy cars left but did I mind having an old 1992 940 Turbo? It was so much fun that on subsequent services I used to ask for it every time. I even remember getting it a little bit sideways on that awful little roundabout that used to link the M6 and A14.

[JJ0063]

Another I’ve just remembered was my late father used to have a Rover 400 saloon company car and when it went in for servicing, Rover always used to give him weird and wonderful courtesy cars..

MG F, this must have been circa 98 when they were still newish.

Another one, I can’t remember if it was a 200 or a ZR but a hearing aid beige one fully liveried in some sort of rally decals.