Test drive etiquette

[CallorFold]

Just have a look around the car - this is obviously an easy starting point.

You're in the market for a car, it might just not be that exact one.

If you've had a look around it and you're happy with everything, then check everything works, again once you're happy with everything, this could very well turn out to be a car you do purchase so carry on to a test drive.

If you've had a look around it and dont like it, dont bother driving it.....

The car I ended up buying was actually bought 3-4 weeks after I first saw/drove it. At that time I was simply looking around and getting a feel for what's out there. The car looked great, everything seemed to work and was a top contender. I drove it at that time and it drove great too. It was still early days so I spent the next few weeks seeing what else was around and didn't find much that compared. I ended up booking another viewing and buying it.

It's a safe assumption that if I hadn't been able to take it for a test drive the first time around, I wouldn't have made the effort to travel back.

[CCM604e]

Big_Dog said:

Surely car sales is a speculative occupation. A chance to sell the car to the OP is what you have when he turns up. If you just want to take the money and be sure of a sale with every customer then open a newsagent.
Not trying to be offensive but a chance to sell is a chance to sell. Alternatively you sit there all day wondering where the punters are.
(30 years in sales)

[nullogik]

Have a family member in the motor trade (used cars). Time wasters or joy riders are a real pain. A typical scenario:

Joy rider comes in and feigns interest in a car right at the back corner of the showroom. You and other staff spend ages digging it out from behind four or five other cars - Murphys Law that some or all will have flat batteries. They then thrash it to death on the test drive - do that when you own it, not when it belongs to someone else. Afterwards finish up the test drive with "I'll think about it" or "I wanted one in red" even though the car in the showroom is obviously another colour and walk away never to be seen or heard of.

Edited by nullogik on Wednesday 20th May 10:40

[Butter Face]

Megaflow said:

An open question for the dealers on this thread.

I am looking to buy a car, outside of £1000 sheds the value is irrelevant IMO, but I have never driven this model of car before, how do you suggest I test drive the car to make sure it suits me before purchasing?

Do: find the car that suits your budget/mileage limit/ colour/ spec/ whatever. Be ready to buy that exact car if it is as described and meets the above.

Don't: wake up on a Wednesday and think 'I might one day want to buy an XYZ', go to autotrader and find the nearest one, waste time going to drive it on the off chance you might one day consider it.

It's not rocket science. You probably don't spend 4 hours at John Lewis watching your favourite show on every TV they have in stock, you look online, you research, you set a budget then you go to buy. Simple.

[Megaflow]

Butter Face said:

Megaflow said:

An open question for the dealers on this thread.

I am looking to buy a car, outside of £1000 sheds the value is irrelevant IMO, but I have never driven this model of car before, how do you suggest I test drive the car to make sure it suits me before purchasing?

Do: find the car that suits your budget/mileage limit/ colour/ spec/ whatever. Be ready to buy that exact car if it is as described and meets the above.

Don't: wake up on a Wednesday and think 'I might one day want to buy an XYZ', go to autotrader and find the nearest one, waste time going to drive it on the off chance you might one day consider it.

It's not rocket science. You probably don't spend 4 hours at John Lewis watching your favourite show on every TV they have in stock, you look online, you research, you set a budget then you go to buy. Simple.

What I am getting at, is what happens if I do as you say and find a car which suits whatever criteria I have set, is as described and I can't find a comfortable driving position, don't like the feel of the steering, or brakes, or throttle response, etc.

All of these things vary from car to car, without being faults, and cannot be assessed without driving it.

Dealers in my experience seem to think that people test drive cars to find out if the car has any faults, I want to test drive the car to make sure I like the car, and check for faults.

For the sake of clarity I have never, yet, test driven a vehicle and then not bought it because I found something I didn't like, this is because I do a lot of research before getting to that point in the process. My point is a car is the second biggest purchase most people will make, and if you aren't going to let me drive it before we even start talking about buying it then I won't be buying it from you.

ETA: your comparison with John Lewis is interesting, for a cheap bedroom TV, I would do as you say. But for a main TV for the lounge, where the cost is going to be significantly higher I would spend some time in John Lewis, not 4 hours, but certainly more than 10-15 minutes, looking at them and making a choice based on what I had read online plus, the picture, user interface, etc.

Edited by Megaflow on Wednesday 20th May 10:51

[ChasW]

My most recent test drive was a Fiat 500 Abarth when ex-demo cars were coming onto the market. I needed a small commuter car. I called the dealer booked the test drive and was convinced I was going to buy the car, so was he. During the test drive I found the little pod on the dashboard, the turbo boost gauge which is not fitted to standard 500s, a real annoyance as it was permanently in my line of vision. It got worse so I had to come clean with the salesman that I could not live it on a daily basis. We were both disappointed but I am glad I test drove it because I nearly bought it unseen as I was so keen and the cars were in short supply. I bought a Mini.

[Steve_W]

I can sort of see the OP's point, although I don't think he phrased it as well as he could have.

If he hasn't had a car for a while (that's how I read it) then the first car he drives might look/drive/feel great compared to what he last drove years ago, but how does he know the next car (different brand/model) isn't even better?

I was in a similar situation a few years back; had been shedding around in £300 worth of Rover's finest 218 Diesel when I got a promotion that came with car allowance. I tested the usual suspects (Audi, BMW, Mercedes), compared to the Rover they were all obviously leagues ahead, but I still test drove to check each to see which I preferred the ride/drive/etc.

I did put a post on here asking what the etiquette was and a couple of dealers very kindly offered to let me test drive their vehicles (thanks gents); one poster even pointed out that the company may have an arrangement with the leasing co. to sort test drives - which turned out to be the case (shame our HR lot didn't mention that up front!).

[ChasW]

When I had a company car the leasing company would help with test drives. Often just a 20 minute dash at other times I had a car for a whole weekend. In one case Vauxhall, the preferred brand, lent me a 2.5 Omega for a week. We went on holiday in it? I later ordered one. It was rumoured that the volume discount was 35% which is why they were extremely attractive on our lease scheme.

[Sheepshanks]

CallorFold said:

The car I ended up buying was actually bought 3-4 weeks after I first saw/drove it. At that time I was simply looking around and getting a feel for what's out there. The car looked great, everything seemed to work and was a top contender. I drove it at that time and it drove great too. It was still early days so I spent the next few weeks seeing what else was around and didn't find much that compared. I ended up booking another viewing and buying it.

I usually buy new cars for all the family, but based on my last experience of buying a used Merc I'd say it's unusual for a car to still be unsold after 4 weeks unless there's something wrong with it, or it's a strange colour, price far too high and the dealer won't budge etc.

[markmullen]

Sheepshanks said:

I usually buy new cars for all the family, but based on my last experience of buying a used Merc I'd say it's unusual for a car to still be unsold after 4 weeks unless there's something wrong with it, or it's a strange colour, price far too high and the dealer won't budge etc.

It's far from unusual, plenty of us in the trade will have stories of cars in the right spec, right price, right condition, that don't sell for weeks. Most dealerships work on 90 days, not 30, before they get rid.

[stedale]

Its worth going on a quiet weekday if you can. I wonder how many test drives turn into sales?

[markmullen]

stedale said:

I wonder how many test drives turn into sales?

I wonder how many test drives where the test driver has decided he's not going to buy the car before he even arrives turn into sales.

[CallorFold]

markmullen said:

Sheepshanks said:

I usually buy new cars for all the family, but based on my last experience of buying a used Merc I'd say it's unusual for a car to still be unsold after 4 weeks unless there's something wrong with it, or it's a strange colour, price far too high and the dealer won't budge etc.

It's far from unusual, plenty of us in the trade will have stories of cars in the right spec, right price, right condition, that don't sell for weeks. Most dealerships work on 90 days, not 30, before they get rid.

ETA: This was from a small independent trader, not a dealership, if that makes a difference to how long cars are held onto...

Bought the car early Feb from a small trader, he admitted things had been slow over Christmas. P/X'd my previous car at a good value and negotiated some off the price too. Had it 3 months now and couldn't be happier It was priced a little higher than others I had seen, but the small premium was absolutely worth the higher quality - I'd seen some right crappy ones in between.

[MDMetal]

There's a difference between test driving a car you'd never buy (literally "oh hey its the new x I wonder how it is") vs a model your interested in. I mean realistically who is going to research a model so completely and find the perfect car that one in the country version to drive 5 hours to then find they don't like how it drives, that's just daft. However I'd never annoy a private seller who just wants to sell their car. Franchised main dealer first then regular dealers. Look for something as close to what you'd buy as possible, don't find one that's on 20k miles if you know your looking at 60k+ for your price range. Don't drive a different engine unless your genuinely interested in how the 2.0 compares to the 2.4. Basically don't be a dick, there's nothing wrong with saying your between a merc and a bmw and you want to see how the merc feels. That's the dealers job to convince you his car is the better one.

For anyone who whines then it's incredibly unrealistic to assume all test drives result in a sale. They pique interest and solidify the customers mind one way or an another. The reverse is also true, you decide this is the car you want but on close inspection the car doesn't look as flawless as it did in the photos. Should buyers then rant at dealers for not taking hires photos of every cm of the car? Of course not

[StuTheGrouch]

markmullen said:

Anyone in future who gets upset that they found a legitimate test drive difficult to get should be referred to this thread to see why some dealers get sick of their time being wasted by people like the OP.

But how do people find cars which suit them? How are people supposed to find out if they like the way a car drives?

If I drive a car but find that I can't get on with the throttle response, or don't like the gearbox, seating position, noise etc then I'll get out and say 'sorry, not for me'. If I'm called a time waster for that then the dealer would be called a prick.

People just popping in and fancy being a test pilot I can understand, but people in a position to buy a car but are somewhat undecided then perhaps the sales person should aim to be better at their job and try harder to persuade that person that this is the car they want.

FFS, people are expected to just hand over thousands of pounds because test driving is a waste of time. Sounds like they are expected to just gamble because sales staff are too lazy.

If a dealer refused me a test drive then I would walk away and they will have definitely lost a sale (then and in the future).

[Baryonyx]

stedale said:

Its worth going on a quiet weekday if you can. I wonder how many test drives turn into sales?

If you're not interested in buying the car OP, don't bother driving it. If you are interested - as in, you'd put the money down once you had the keys back - then by all means, test drive it. Otherwise, you're wasting the salesman's time and you'll have to put up with their st sales patter, and having to dodge that awkward invitation to talk finance once it's over (even if you've said you'd pay cash). I'm sure though, that plenty of people lie to get test drives in cars they want to try out, but have no intention of buying there and then.

On the other hand, salesman often don't help themselves, driving the sale too hard from the off and trying to make you feel like you owe them a sale if they give you a test drive. I've only ever test driven one car that I had no intention of buying, but then I was shopping with a mate and it was a Lancer Evolution VIII. He said he wasn't sure about it, the salesman seemed bored and wanted me to take it out anyway, so we went out, had a great half an hour bombing down a few lanes and took it back. The salesman walked off happy when my mate said it wasn't the sort of car he was after. Perhaps he just fancied a drive out for a change of scenery. On the other hand, I've test driven cars before and discovered faults or just not thought they were that good, and was then treat with the indignation of "what do you mean you're not interested? I've just let you drive it!"

[Steve_F]

Completely agree with what someone else has said, you need to narrow it down yourself before asking for loads of test drives.

Once you have you need to work out which ones you might actually buy and take those ones for a test drive. As others have said, if you can't get a drive of one you're serious about walk away.

If you really want to get test drives randomly then turn up when it's quiet and have a good chat with the dealer, be reasonably honest about it too, give them a chance to organise (ie be prepared to leave for an hour to let him prepare it if buried at the back of the yard). That's only advise for one you're unlikely to buy, if you intend to buy you want to see it start from cold...

I've popped in to a local garage at a lunchtime, had a brief look at a Jag S-Type R, had dealer plates thrown on it and went out for a random drive when not really shopping. Bought it after work that day.

[u0362565]

Wow this thread has exploded. Its used cars i'm looking at, the car is the right trip/model, my biggest issue as shallow as it sounds is the colour. It ticks most boxes, arguably we can afford to buy a slightly newer plate, but not against this slightly older model. But not having tried all the cars i'm interested in i'd be reluctant to buy. I'm probably looking at 3 different models. Another problem is that its ok to say wait until a car comes in that you do definitely want but could be waiting a while if you're picky about trim, colour, age etc especially when you don't have a car to be able to travel long distances to different garages to view them. I have about a 5 mile radius to travel to so pretty restricted.

So my opinion now is, we'll treat the test drive seriously, but its highly unlikely we'll take it being the first car we're viewing. And i will say, this is the first car we're testing, surely then he's going to think they'll need some time to think or test others. Colour is probably a deal breaker for me but perhaps not for my partner who will be driving it most.

Another thing i thought of is if the salesman makes an impression then there's nothing to say i wouldn't go back to this garage to look at other models if they have them. Saying no to one car could lead to sale down the line if they're attitude is right.

[ChasW]

I have mentioned this on another post but some manufacturers use test driving as a marketing ploy. My daughter's BF worked for Mini at Cowley last year. Mini have a scheme whereby employees can borrow a pool car for weekend. There is a minimum mileage requirement, 300 or 400 miles, and virtually anyone can drive the car. The mileage stipulation is to make sure it is used and does not sit in a driveway. As a result I have sampled additional 3 models as have most of my family. We already own a Mini but it was interesting to try a new Clubman, a top of the range new Cooper SD and convertible. Over the course of a typical loan weekend anything between 5 and 10 friends and family drive the car. Many have never driven a Mini before. Dealers must love it as it saves them the effort.

[MDMetal]

u0362565 said:

Wow this thread has exploded. Its used cars i'm looking at, the car is the right trip/model, my biggest issue as shallow as it sounds is the colour. It ticks most boxes, arguably we can afford to buy a slightly newer plate, but not against this slightly older model. But not having tried all the cars i'm interested in i'd be reluctant to buy. I'm probably looking at 3 different models. Another problem is that its ok to say wait until a car comes in that you do definitely want but could be waiting a while if you're picky about trim, colour, age etc especially when you don't have a car to be able to travel long distances to different garages to view them. I have about a 5 mile radius to travel to so pretty restricted.

So my opinion now is, we'll treat the test drive seriously, but its highly unlikely we'll take it being the first car we're viewing. And i will say, this is the first car we're testing, surely then he's going to think they'll need some time to think or test others. Colour is probably a deal breaker for me but perhaps not for my partner who will be driving it most.

Another thing i thought of is if the salesman makes an impression then there's nothing to say i wouldn't go back to this garage to look at other models if they have them. Saying no to one car could lead to sale down the line if they're attitude is right.

Where is the nearest car in the right colour with the features you want? Are we talking across the country or a few extra miles? Also if it's across country is that going to rule out the colour you want or would you sit and wait for the right colour/distance?