Test drive etiquette

[bitchstewie]

I would love to fit bodycams on some of the dealers who have taken part in this thread and see how they conduct their private lives when it comes to buying stuff.

I would assume that they simply walk into shops and other businesses in stony silence and refuse to so much as speak to any of the staff or accept any offers for advice unless they know that they intend to purchase there and then.

[hajaba123]

Butter Face said:

Go on, for fun, name the one brand who can deliver all of those

BMW, Mercedes, Audi..

What do I win?

[JamieBurford]

littlebasher said:

Maybe he'll have more luck than i did at the weekend, with a car i was seriously considering buying

Here's the actual conversation, after looking around the car and general chit chat

Me : "Can i have a test drive?"
Dealer : "Are you going to buy it?"
Me : "Depends on how it drives"
Dealer : "Well, if you not going to buy it there's no point in wasting the fuel that's in it"

And that was the end of that - for a car i would have bought had i liked the way it drove.

This happened to me, I wanted to test drive an e46 touring that I had every intention of buying, dependant on the drive, but I was told "it's just been washed and don't want to get it dirty". Needless to say I walked away. This was a dealer in Leicester somewhere.

[maurauth]

Butter Face said:

Go on, for fun, name the one brand who can deliver all of those

I'm a bit biased at the moment but:

2 seater: SLK
4 seater: C class Coupe
5 seater: E class Estate
4x4: GLE
Fun car: depending upon your budget but at the age you can afford it there's plenty of choices including AMG GTS etx

Of course I'd say pick the AMG for all of them but hey haha

[andymc]

bhstewie said:

I would love to fit bodycams on some of the dealers who have taken part in this thread and see how they conduct their private lives when it comes to buying stuff.

I would assume that they simply walk into shops and other businesses in stony silence and refuse to so much as speak to any of the staff or accept any offers for advice unless they know that they intend to purchase there and then.

in all honesty I decide what I want and then go and buy it, life's too short

[bitchstewie]

andymc said:

in all honesty I decide what I want and then go and buy it, life's too short

Of course you do.

I'm sure you've never ever taken up a minute of anyone's time and then uttered the words "I need to have a bit of a think about it".

[Roo]

bhstewie said:

andymc said:

in all honesty I decide what I want and then go and buy it, life's too short

Of course you do.

I'm sure you've never ever taken up a minute of anyone's time and then uttered the words "I need to have a bit of a think about it".

Car salesmen are some of the easiest people to sell things to.

They've done their research, want an easy life and appreciate that the person selling them something has probably a lot their time wasted already that day.

[Butter Face]

hajaba123 said:

Butter Face said:

Go on, for fun, name the one brand who can deliver all of those

BMW, Mercedes, Audi..

What do I win?

A cookie


I had only thought of Mercedes, I'd forgotten the Z4 for BMW, Which Audi would you say 2 seater? R8? TT Convertible?

[hajaba123]

Butter Face said:

A cookie


I had only thought of Mercedes, I'd forgotten the Z4 for BMW, Which Audi would you say 2 seater? R8? TT Convertible?

yes, either of those would work, I'll have an R8 please

[Butter Face]

bhstewie said:

andymc said:

in all honesty I decide what I want and then go and buy it, life's too short

Of course you do.

I'm sure you've never ever taken up a minute of anyone's time and then uttered the words "I need to have a bit of a think about it".

I'd throw myself off a bridge rather than say 'I need to have a think about it'

I have no problem saying 'It's too much money for me' or 'It's the wrong colour' or 'It isn't what I'm after'

My biggest pet hate is people who say 'that's food for thought' or similar. I understand some people genuinely need time to consider options, discuss finance etc but just say it, we're all humans, stuck on this stuplid planet together, it's not hard to say what you really mean.

[andymc]

Butter Face said:

bhstewie said:

andymc said:

in all honesty I decide what I want and then go and buy it, life's too short

Of course you do.

I'm sure you've never ever taken up a minute of anyone's time and then uttered the words "I need to have a bit of a think about it".

I'd throw myself off a bridge rather than say 'I need to have a think about it'

I have no problem saying 'It's too much money for me' or 'It's the wrong colour' or 'It isn't what I'm after'

My biggest pet hate is people who say 'that's food for thought' or similar. I understand some people genuinely need time to consider options, discuss finance etc but just say it, we're all humans, stuck on this stuplid planet together, it's not hard to say what you really mean.

,
food for thought, check insurance, ask the wife etc etc, no what you mean is you've wasted my time and have no intention of buying, just remembered the S Class test drive, so will you be leaving a deposit? er no think it might be expensive to run

[bitchstewie]

Butter Face said:

I'd throw myself off a bridge rather than say 'I need to have a think about it'

I have no problem saying 'It's too much money for me' or 'It's the wrong colour' or 'It isn't what I'm after'

My biggest pet hate is people who say 'that's food for thought' or similar. I understand some people genuinely need time to consider options, discuss finance etc but just say it, we're all humans, stuck on this stuplid planet together, it's not hard to say what you really mean.

"I need to have a bit of a think about it" was exactly what I meant.

My current car is a Golf 7 - I'd done a load of homework but there's a point where until you try one you simply don't know if it's right for you or not.

A reasonably local dealer had one on the forecourt with 6 miles on the clock in the ideal colour and spec but I'd never driven a Golf so I turned up unannounced and asked for a test drive of a similar model - if they had said "Will you buy it if you like it?" I would have walked.

As it was we did the test drive, did the numbers, I said "I need to have a bit of a think about it" and I went away and called back an hour later to put down a deposit and had the car off them.

The guy I dealt with knew that not everybody is the same and he sold a car, some on here clearly wouldn't have given me the time of day.

[unrepentant]

Sales people generally are decisive. When I arrived in the US 5 years ago I decided to buy a muscle car. I dismissed the Challenger as I hated the interior, decided I would buy a V8 Mustang or a Camaro SS. Went to my local Ford and Chevy dealers, told them I was buying a car today and it would be one of those two. Drove both, bought the Camaro and drove it home that night. The sales manager at the Ford store asked me what I was going to do for a living and offered me a job on the spot. I didn't take it but it planted a seed.....

[Tannedbaldhead]

unrepentant said:

Sales people generally are decisive. When I arrived in the US 5 years ago I decided to buy a muscle car. I dismissed the Challenger as I hated the interior, decided I would buy a V8 Mustang or a Camaro SS. Went to my local Ford and Chevy dealers, told them I was buying a car today and it would be one of those two. Drove both, bought the Camaro and drove it home that night. The sales manager at the Ford store asked me what I was going to do for a living and offered me a job on the spot. I didn't take it but it planted a seed.....

You can't say one profession is more decisive than another. Too much of a sweeping generalisation. It's all about individuals and even then a decisive individual one day can be a muddled shambles the next.

I must have sickened a particular BMW salesman I had spoken to three times, done the figures with and who had me out on a long test drive only to suffer me agonising as I compared the 3 Series Coupe's various qualities with those of the new VW Corrado that had just come out at the time (old story, I know). I eventually bought the Corrado. That one anecdote proves beyond doubt that, firstly, I am indecisive and consequently all surveyors must be indecisive too.
Then again I once passed a new MX5 driving past me on a sunny day with its roof down, thought "hello that looks good" drove along the road a bit noticed the Arnold Clark Mazda showroom had a pile of pre-reg MX5s sitting on the forecourt £4k off list and bought one on the spot. Does that now mean I'm decisive and consequently all surveyors are too?

Also your anecdote proves that cars need to be driven to make that final choice.
Just out of interest was the BMW salesman hard done by? Should he have chased me and said "don't bother coming in for a test drive till your ready to buy?" Interested to hear a salesman's perspective.

[buyer&seller]

bhstewie said:

I would love to fit bodycams on some of the dealers who have taken part in this thread and see how they conduct their private lives when it comes to buying stuff.

Even better, I'll tell you what will be far more amusing, a body cam fitted to some of the know it alls on here while they are running their business's or doing their job so everyone can tell them how they can do it better even though they know little or nothing about how to do it, now that would be fun.

[Ayahuasca]

A lot of the car dealers on here deem to hate their customers and hate their jobs. If that us the case FFS do something else.

[Butter Face]

Ayahuasca said:

A lot of the car dealers on here deem to hate their customers and hate their jobs. If that us the case FFS do something else.

How'd you get to that conclusion?

I love all of my customers and love my job. I just hate some of the Muppets I have to deal with sometimes. Thats's the same in any sales industry, there's always a % of morons.

[ORD]

[quote=buyer&seller]

bhstewie said:

I would love to fit bodycams on some of the dealers who have taken part in this thread and see how they conduct their private lives when it comes to buying stuff.

Even better, I'll tell you what will be far more amusing, a body cam fitted to some of the know it alls on here while they are running their business's or doing their job so everyone can tell them how they can do it better even though they know little or nothing about how to do it, now that would be fun.

Get over yourself. You're not a consultant doctor or engineer. You show people cars and ask them to buy them. It's the same as selling cheese.

[Fox-]

Brian Trizers said:

But all the real customers start out as 'window shoppers'

Absolutely.

Surely if the real customers are NOT window shoppers why do they need a salesman? They could order the car from a computer terminal in the dealership - they already know what they want, why waste time doing anything over than placing that order?

Surely the reason why a car dealer or a mobile phone shop has a salesman and a supermarket has a checkout is because the salesman is there to convert potential sales into actual sales whereas we all know what we want from Tesco so need nothing more than somebody to take the money.

A good salesman takes the guy who isn't sure what he wants or might not buy today and sells him a car he's happy with at a price that entails good margin for the dealer.

I take up almost no time at all when I buy a car. I know what I want, I generally call up about a car I'm probably not even interested in test driving, and place a deposit over the phone if the price works and the condition is what I want. Dream customer? No, because you are not going to get me to buy GAP, Tyre Insurance, Supaguard and pay £2k over book, whereas if you spend 2 hours with Mr Indecisive and you are a skilled salesman you very well might get him to do all of those things, even though he took up 2 hours of your time and I took up 10 minutes and didn't even ask for a test drive pre deposit.

[Fox-]

twing said:

The salesman at Team Central must be over the moon everytime you book a service

He ought to be, the more customers his employer has the more viable they are surely? The margin on service and repair is fairly decent, surely?