A man is going viral after sharing the unusual reason he postponed routine maintenance on his Mercedes GLE 63 S. It wasn’t a mechanical issue, he says. It was the loaner car. Kareem Simpson (@talkingwithkareem) filmed the video from inside his car and explained that he had scheduled a maintenance appointment with Mercedes, which he says the dealership had been reminding him about throughout the week. But before confirming, Simpson said he made one thing clear: If the dealership planned to keep his car for any length of time, especially over the holidays, he expected a loaner. According to Simpson, the dealership did offer one. The problem was that it wasn’t the loaner he wanted. Simpson says he told the Mercedes representative he would only accept a Lamborghini and wasn’t interested in any other option. As of this writing, his video detailing the exchange and his decision to delay the appointment had racked up nearly 3,500 views. What Happened at the Dealership? Simpson says the conversation initially didn’t go the way he expected. When he first mentioned wanting a Lamborghini, he claims the Mercedes representative laughed, assuming he was joking. But once he clarified that he was serious, Simpson says he was told the dealership didn’t have any Lamborghinis available to loan. Lamborghini, after all, isn’t part of the Mercedes family. For Simpson, the request came down to standards. He explains that because he regularly drives a GLE 63 S, he felt any loaner should match that level, or exceed it. “I said, please, can I get a Lamborghini?” Simpson recalls, adding that he asked for “the top of the line. The best of the best.” He says the representative told him she’d do her best, which left him hopeful as he headed into his appointment. Simpson describes arriving at the dealership excited, expecting a “nice little loaner car” he could drive over his birthday and the holidays. “I turn in my car, I’m so excited,” he says, adding that he was ready to “put miles” on whatever they gave him. Instead, Simpson says he was offered a GLB SUV. He admits he was disappointed and told the employee he didn’t want to spend the holidays driving it. At minimum, he says, he would have accepted a G-Wagon, though his preference remained the Lamborghini. Customer Says He Walked Away In the end, Simpson says he scrapped the appointment altogether. “That is exactly why I’m rescheduling,” he recalls telling a Mercedes representative, even though it meant pushing routine maintenance back by several months. Simpson stressed that nothing was actually wrong with his car and that the visit was strictly preventative. “You guys didn’t call me. I called you,” Simpson says. “Long story short, I’m back in my baby.” Not everyone watching his TikTok was on his side. Many commenters argued that Simpson’s expectations were unrealistic and that the dealership wasn’t at fault. “Damn people today just nuts,” one person wrote. “Who the hell [does] this guy think he is,” another asked. Still, some viewers backed Simpson, saying a loaner should at least be comparable to the vehicle being serviced. “Yeah, that’s uneven,” one commenter said, comparing the Mercedes GLE 63 S to the GLB SUV. “You should AT LEAST get the equivalent to what you have!” another added. Can You Choose Your Loaner at a Dealership? The website for Mercedes-Benz of Rockville Centre makes it clear that customers can ask for a specific loaner—but that’s about as far as it goes. There are no promises. Most of the time, what you end up driving is whatever basic sedan or small SUV happens to be available, not the newest or flashiest model on the lot. “Our fleet rotates frequently, and we cannot guarantee a particular vehicle type,” the New York-based dealership notes. There were other holes in Simpson’s approach as well. While it’s not clear which Mercedes dealership he went to, the Rockville Centre location spells out strict limits on how loaners can be used. Within Long Island, for example, the dealership notes that drivers are capped at 100 miles per day. In other words, getting a loaner isn’t a free pass for daily, several-hundred-mile joyrides while your everyday car is in the shop. (Unless, perhaps, a service advisor signs off on an exception.) Timing matters as much. Loaners may be complimentary, but fleets are typically small and book up quickly. That’s why scheduling service weeks in advance might give you a slightly better chance of getting one—especially if you have a specific car in mind you’ve been wanting to test drive—than calling a few days before your appointment. As for pushing for a specific model—and insisting that you will only drive one car off their lot—that’s where customers need to temper their expectations. Sure, you can make the request—and sometimes it pays off. But at the end of the day, availability almost always wins. Motor1 has reached out to Simpson via a direct message on TikTok. We’ll update this if he responds. We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motor1.com? Take our 3 minute survey. - The Motor1.com Team