How to Manage Dealership Loaner Vehicles Efficiently

Last updated: October 21, 2026

Quick answer: To manage loaner vehicles efficiently, take the whole loop off paper. The customer signs the contract on their phone before pickup. The car reports its own mileage and fuel, so fees go on the card on file at check-in. It pays off in two places. Policaro BMW recovered $688.75 in fees in its first week on Kimoby Go. And across 871 dealerships, customers given a loaner came back about 7 points more often.

Why does a loaner program matter for service retention?

Because customers who get a loaner come back more often. In our Cost of Silence report, which covers 871 dealerships and 16.8 million repair orders, customers given a loaner had retention about 7 points higher than customers who didn't get one. Each group in that comparison counts more than 20,000 customers.¹

Is all of that the loaner? No. Loaners go out on bigger, multi-day jobs, and those customers may be more loyal to begin with. So treat it as a correlation, not proof. But it's a big enough gap to take seriously.

For scale, the average dealership in the report keeps 65.8% of its customers year over year, and NADA’s goal is 72%. A 7-point jump would take an average store past that goal.

For a lot of brands, the loaner is also a requirement. Toyota, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz all run loaner programs with mileage limits, and staying inside those limits is how you keep the program money. That's why having a good loaner management software might be important. We cover the money side in how to maximize loaner fleet profitability.

What does a paper loaner program cost you?

Mostly, it costs you the small charges nobody bills. A car comes back a quarter tank low. A toll notice shows up three weeks later. Someone spots a new scratch after the customer has already driven off. None of these is big on its own. Over a year, across a full fleet, they add up.

Then there's the time. Someone has to copy the license, walk the car, write down the fuel level and the odometer, and file the contract. Do that at 7:30 in the morning with a line at the desk and steps get skipped. The skipped steps are usually the ones you need when there's a dispute.

And when a car goes past its OEM mileage limit, you tend to find out after the fact.

If you're not sure which fees belong in your agreement, our loaner fee recovery guide lists the ones most stores should charge, from daily late fees to detailing.

How do you speed up loaner check-out?

Put the contract on the customer's phone. They get a link, scan their license and sign before they walk in. Your team hands over the keys instead of filling out a form at the desk.

A digital check-out should capture these things before the car leaves:

• A scan of the driver's license
• The signed agreement, with your fee policy spelled out
• A card on file for fuel, tolls and damage
• Starting mileage and fuel level, read from the car when it's connected
• Photos of the car's condition at pickup

Some customers would rather do it in person. A tablet at the desk covers them with the same flow.

The paper you skip also helps later. A signed digital contract with photos attached is a lot easier to point to than a carbon copy in a filing cabinet.

How do you track loaner mileage and stay inside OEM limits?

Let the car report it. A connected loaner sends its mileage, fuel and location on its own, so nobody has to write down the odometer at check-in or check-out.

There are two ways to connect a car. Some brands share data over the air, straight from the manufacturer, with no hardware to install. On Kimoby Go, that covers Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota and Lexus. For any other make, a small OBD2 device plugs in and reports the same data. Some manufacturers block third-party access, so eligibility is confirmed brand by brand and region by region.

Once the data flows, you get an alert before a loaner reaches its program mileage limit. That gives you time to swap it out. You can also set a boundary on a map and get an alert when a loaner leaves your area. More on that in vehicle tracking.

The same data tells you which cars sit idle and which ones are due to retire. That's how you size the fleet. If three cars haven't moved in two weeks, you probably don't need them.

How do you recover fuel, toll and damage fees?

Charge them at check-in, to the card you collected at check-out. Sending a bill a week later for half a tank rarely gets paid.

With fuel and mileage read from the car, the shortfall is a number, not an argument. The photos from pickup sit right next to the photos from return. Tolls and damage get charged under the agreement the customer already signed.

Policaro BMW had exactly this problem. Cars came back with damage, missing fuel or unpaid tolls, and staff were chasing payments long after customers had left. In their first week on Kimoby Go, they recovered $688.75 in damages, labor, fuel and toll fees, charged to the card on file. Here's the Policaro BMW story.

Want a rough number for your own fleet? Plug it into the loaner fees recovery calculator.

How do you get loaners back on time?

Remind the customer before the car is due, and know which loaners are late without walking the lot. A real-time calendar shows every car that's out, and flags the ones that are overdue.

Reservations work best when they follow your DMS. On Kimoby Go, loaner reservations, customers and repair orders stay in sync with the DMS. The customer gets a booking confirmation by text or email, and return reminders go out on their own.

Here's a simple one that gets missed. A loaner often comes back late because nobody told the customer their own car was ready. If you also run Service Lane OS, loaner updates ride the same text thread as the service updates, so the "your car is ready" text and the "please bring the loaner back" text come from the same place.

Put the late policy in writing too. If a customer keeps the loaner past the agreed date, the agreement should say what each extra day costs. Texting customers about it is fine, as long as you follow the consent and opt-out rules.

Where does Kimoby Go fit, and what doesn't it do?

We make Kimoby Go, so weigh this the way you would any vendor's pitch.

With Kimoby Go, your team runs every loaner from booking to return in one place. The contract and the car's data live on the same record, so the fee at check-in is already backed up. It's approved for the Toyota, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz loaner programs. It costs $20 per car per month, or $35 per car with OBD2 connectivity. It's month to month, with 30 days' notice. It runs on its own or alongside Service Lane OS. The full feature list is on the loaner fleet management page.

What to know before you sign. Over-the-air tracking depends on the brand and the region, so some fleets will need the OBD2 device. If your brand's loaner program isn't one of the three above, check its rules with us first. And customers can't book a service appointment online through Kimoby yet. A native online scheduler is on the roadmap, so for now loaner reservations come from the appointments already in your DMS.

If that works for your store, book a demo. We'll show you the booking, the check-out, the live tracking and the fee recovery, on your DMS.

FAQ

What is a dealership loaner program?

It's a fleet of cars your service department lends to customers while their own car is in the shop, usually on multi-day or warranty jobs. Many OEMs, including Toyota, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, run loaner programs with mileage limits the dealer has to follow.

How much does loaner management software cost?

With Kimoby Go, it's $20 per car per month, or $35 per car with OBD2 connectivity. It's month to month, with 30 days' notice to cancel.

Can you charge customers for fuel and tolls on a loaner?

Yes, if your signed loaner agreement spells out the fees and you have a card on file. A connected car reports the fuel level, so the shortfall can be charged at check-in.

Do loaner vehicles help customer retention?

Across 871 dealerships, customers given a loaner had retention about 7 points higher than customers without one. It's a correlation, since loaners usually go out on bigger jobs.

How do you track loaner mileage without a spreadsheet?

Connect the cars. Over-the-air data from the manufacturer or a plug-in OBD2 device reports mileage, fuel and location, and alerts you before a car reaches its program limit.

Sources
[1] Kimoby, The Cost of Silence: Dealership Service Report (August 2026). 871 dealerships, 16.8 million repair orders, 12 months ending February 2026. Retention figures are observed correlations, not controlled experiments.