dealer charging for a test ride...

[MrsMiggins]

I've been speaking to a dealer about a test ride of one of their demo bikes. Apparently they charge £25 for a test ride. Now that's not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, but it seems wrong to me somehow, even though you get it back if you buy.

Am I just behind the times? is this the way test rides are now, or is this dealer an exception?

[MrsMiggins]

The bike's a GSX-R1000, which is one of a few I plan to test before I make a decision. Given that my list has 4 or 5 bikes on it £25 a pop will add up.

Problem I've got is a lack of local dealers, so they don't know me and I don't know them, for whatever difference that might make, and I'm already facing a 200 mile round trip to the shop in the first place! (Not their fault, but I want to spend the money on the bike, not on test rides!)

Might have to take a couple of days off and head somewhere with more dealers so I can test them all back to back.

[MrsMiggins]

2 Suzuki, 2 Kawasaki and 2 BMW, all new. That's at least 2 dealers, probably 3 by the time I find dealers with demo bikes. There's no way i'm spending £10k+ on a bike without a test ride first.

If I have to pay I'll suck it up, but I'd obviously rather not if I can avoid it.

[MrsMiggins]

I'm about 30 miles north of Aberdeen. I think I'll speak to some dealers in Glasgow and find out the score with them first.

[MrsMiggins]

Spoke to the dealer this morning and arranged the test ride. We agreed that I can also take their demo Hayabusa out if I want to.

The more I think about it the more I really want the GSXR, even though it's far more competent than I'll ever be!

[MrsMiggins]

Paying is turning out to be the lesser of 2 evils. By the look of it I'd travel twice as far to get a free test ride - that's just not very cost effective.

I still kinda resent it though.

[MrsMiggins]

Just for 'closure'...

It was a "test pilot tax" and I didn't have to pay it. Took the bike out for around 50 minutes and reckon I'll be putting a deposit down in the next couple of weeks.