Test drive etiquette

[Tannedbaldhead]

unrepentant said:

In fact I'm going to ask you a few questions whatever you pull up in and whatever you want to drive.

Tell me about it. You wouldn't believe the bullst I had to spout to get my arse in the seats of the cars I had short-listed from my company car list and have a proper drive in before ticking the box and posting it back to the fleet manager.

[Sheepshanks]

MDMetal said:

Either way its clear that powerfully built executives know exactly which car to buy without needing to test drive or consider multiple cars. But then people who need to pick between cars clearly are just chancers right?

Bought a new car last year without looking at anything else or test driving it. Salesman wasn't at all happy that we didn't want to drive it - I guess there's a box he has to tick.

I must admit I'm bemused by people that do test drive a lot of cars. A mate of mine will often comment that he was in a particular dealer and he's driven this or that car. When I say are you thinking of buying one, he'll say "no".

[Sheepshanks]

Tannedbaldhead said:

unrepentant said:

In fact I'm going to ask you a few questions whatever you pull up in and whatever you want to drive.

Tell me about it. You wouldn't believe the bullst I had to spout to get my arse in the seats of the cars I had short-listed from my company car list and have a proper drive in before ticking the box and posting it back to the fleet manager.

Try getting a people carrier for the weekend for a family meal out - blimey, that was a right palaver.

[Roo]

Tannedbaldhead said:

Tell me about it. You wouldn't believe the bullst I had to spout to get my arse in the seats of the cars I had short-listed from my company car list and have a proper drive in before ticking the box and posting it back to the fleet manager.

Fleet manager should have been able to organise the test drives for you quite easily.

[Sheepshanks]

unrepentant said:

It's also more of an issue with the kind of cars I sell (and even moreso the kind that Mark M sells) because you get a lot of joy riders. You have to do a little qualifying. I bought my first 2 TVR's from HHC Harrogate. Nigel wouldn't let people have a test drive the first time they came in. You had to make an appointment and come back. Made a lot of sense to me.

Bearing in mind how crashable TVRs are, there's arguably a duty-of-care issue to make sure the person driving it knows what they're doing.

Not so much of a problem in a car with electronic everything.

[unrepentant]

Sheepshanks said:

Bought a new car last year without looking at anything else or test driving it. Salesman wasn't at all happy that we didn't want to drive it - I guess there's a box he has to tick.

I must admit I'm bemused by people that do test drive a lot of cars. A mate of mine will often comment that he was in a particular dealer and he's driven this or that car. When I say are you thinking of buying one, he'll say "no".

As a general rule it's always best practice to have the customer test drive. However, it's not always possible. I've sold several hundred new Range Rovers without a test drive, we simply didn't have a car to drive.

Most customers buying high end cars have decided what they want, they drive it once and buy it. I guess they're decisive people...

[twing]

All that jazz said:

If you seriously think that telling potential customers to "go and hire the car you want to drive first" is a way to win their business then frankly you're deluded.

Deluded? Given that I 've done it many and paid for many of these hire cars/vans I fail to see any delusion. We're all buyers as well as sellers, remember, and I, for one, would much rather have a day's driving around on my own than ten minutes around the block with a salesman.

[All that jazz]

twing said:

All that jazz said:

If you seriously think that telling potential customers to "go and hire the car you want to drive first" is a way to win their business then frankly you're deluded.

Deluded? Given that I 've done it many and paid for many of these hire cars/vans I fail to see any delusion. We're all buyers as well as sellers, remember, and I, for one, would much rather have a day's driving around on my own than ten minutes around the block with a salesman.

I think your "many" is grossly exaggerated. Only a genuine thick tt would do something that retarded and then come back to purchase from you.

[twing]

All that jazz said:

I think your "many" is grossly exaggerated. Only a genuine thick tt would do something that retarded and then come back to purchase from you.

Why? A free days driving to make sure you like a particular model and then come back and drive the actual car you want to buy. I do all the leg work, arrange the time and date, get the hire car dropped to your door. Why in God's name wouldn't you take me up on that? Pull your head out of your arse and think about it.

[sealtt]

Yes just go and test it. Main dealers have demo cars for this reason. I'll often test 5-10 cars before making a purchase. Sometimes I'll only test one. Depends if I know what I want or I'm still trying to find the right model.

All that jazz said:

twing said:

All that jazz said:

This thread just gets better.

Genuinely not sure why you laughed at that.

If you seriously think that telling potential customers to "go and hire the car you want to drive first" is a way to win their business then frankly you're deluded.

I wonder if the 5 customers of million pound cars had to go out and hire one before making the purchase.

[bitchstewie]

twing said:

Why? A free days driving to make sure you like a particular model and then come back and drive the actual car you want to buy. I do all the leg work, arrange the time and date, get the hire car dropped to your door. Why in God's name wouldn't you take me up on that? Pull your head out of your arse and think about it.

So if I decide I don't like it enough to buy one - you're fine with me having paid the cost of hiring a car for the day?

What marque or "tier" of car do you sell?

[Trailhead]

unrepentant said:

As a general rule it's always best practice to have the customer test drive. However, it's not always possible. I've sold several hundred new Range Rovers without a test drive, we simply didn't have a car to drive.

Most customers buying high end cars have decided what they want, they drive it once and buy it. I guess they're decisive people...

Anyone successful enough to be buying high end stuff probably doesn't have the spare time to be arsing around test driving stuff and wasting everyone's time. Really don't understand people who do this.

[twing]

sealtt said:

I wonder if the 5 customers of million pound cars had to go out and hire one before making the purchase.

This is the whole point! They walked in to buy the things, OP didn't! Of course you demo anyone who says " if it drives well I'll buy it". What you don't do is spunk a load of time on someone who wants to drive 10 different cars. If you're that undecided you need to do more research..... or take me up on my free day of driving

[twing]

bhstewie said:

So if I decide I don't like it enough to buy one - you're fine with me having paid the cost of hiring a car for the day?

What marque or "tier" of car do you sell?

Yup! Absolutely fine with it costing you because it could have cost me a lot more if I'd taken you out on a demo.
Very low tier, lowly Fords and similar.
I have such a low opinion of the 5 minute "spin" that when the other half bought a lowly Fiesta recently we hired one for the day, drove to the coast, bit of motorway, A roads, B roads to make sure she liked it. Went to her local dealer, drove the car she liked and bought it.

[bitchstewie]

twing said:

Yup! Absolutely fine with it costing you because it could have cost me a lot more if I'd taken you out on a demo.
Very low tier, lowly Fords and similar.
I have such a low opinion of the 5 minute "spin" that when the other half bought a lowly Fiesta recently we hired one for the day, drove to the coast, bit of motorway, A roads, B roads to make sure she liked it. Went to her local dealer, drove the car she liked and bought it.

If it works for you then fair enough I guess, but personally as a customer, not a cat in hells chance - I'd just go elsewhere.

[MDMetal]

I'm sure that technique works well for lower end cars but what if you fancy a 2nd hand current gen z4 or slk, those things don't hire out cheaply. Anyway the bottom line is a salesman who only wants to deal with customers who are going to buy needs to work in a particular niche everyone else needs to be a bit more open.

[Chris1255]

twing said:

sealtt said:

I wonder if the 5 customers of million pound cars had to go out and hire one before making the purchase.

This is the whole point! They walked in to buy the things, OP didn't! Of course you demo anyone who says " if it drives well I'll buy it". What you don't do is spunk a load of time on someone who wants to drive 10 different cars. If you're that undecided you need to do more research..... or take me up on my free day of driving

I'd actually be pretty happy with the idea of hire before you buy because you'd get a decent length of time to decide if you like the car.

I wonder if high end customers have less to lose if they don't like the car. A new Range Rover could be a drop in the ocean to a millionaire. For someone else a £1000 shed could wipe out their savings so is actually a much bigger decision for them.

[twing]

MDMetal said:

I'm sure that technique works well for lower end cars but what if you fancy a 2nd hand current gen z4 or slk, those things don't hire out cheaply. Anyway the bottom line is a salesman who only wants to deal with customers who are going to buy needs to work in a particular niche everyone else needs to be a bit more open.

The OP was (not) buying something lower end

[twing]

Chris1255 said:

I'd actually be pretty happy with the idea of hire before you buy because you'd get a decent length of time to decide if you like the car.

I wonder if high end customers have less to lose if they don't like the car. A new Range Rover could be a drop in the ocean to a millionaire. For someone else a £1000 shed could wipe out their savings so is actually a much bigger decision for them.

Thank you for understanding

[CrgT16]

I don't like people wasting my time so I don't waste their time. I appreciate some like to try everything before they buy but it's only a car, it's not a future wife!!

I normally do as much research as I can, magazines, online, video reviews so I narrow down my car choice to 2 or 3. If buying used I look for the spec I want including colour and contact a couple of them and buy on condition. A used car I will always want to drive before hand the cash just to make sure it drives as it should and everything works. I would go to a private seller and ask for a test drive just to feel the car, test drive would be my last step before hand in the cash. Like I said I don't like to waste people's time.

When I buy new it's a similar situation really, I know what I want and I will test drive the cars if I am intending to buy. I don't see the point of test driving a car just because I can lie.... What's the point of test driving a car if I am only buying a car in 6 month time?

Never had any problems driving new cars from BMW, Audi or Merc. Last year Mrs. was thinking of getting a 4x4 to carry bikes, windsurfer, etc and as a comfortable car to tour with so we went to our local premium German manufacturers and drove the 3 in the same day. X5 was just new, salesman sat next to me and said pretend I am not here. I politely asked if I could floor it around corners, he said do whatever you like, you are the one driving... Audi guy sat in the back and it was the same. The Merc guy gave us the keys and said, comeback in a few hours... We actually came back within the hour and he asked us if we wanted a go on a ML AMG demo they had, I said no thanks as we would not be buying that, no need to drive it... He sounded surprised I declined that test drive... In the end we bought a Merc but all dealers where really helpful. On new cars a test drive is a bit pointless, not much you can really tell on a quick spin... Used cars different story...

I have bought new cars without driving them after proper research and never been disappointed. Maybe I got lucky.