Extended Test Drives

Author
Discussion

Fast Bug

11,597 posts

160 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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I think with service it's a case of whatever is there on the day

surveyor

17,767 posts

183 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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Certainly a few years ago our local MB dealership had one C class. The rest were all A class. Or so they said.

I think they leaned on sales guys to help out on occasions though.

Loyly

17,990 posts

158 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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The Moose said:
Did you buy?
I didn't as my Daytona is mint, but it really impressed me and made it a bike I would give serious thought to in future, whereas before that I would have looked straight past the Street and onto the Speed Triple.

Were I after a new bike then yeah, I would have bought one and I did give it serious consideration at the time.

unrepentant

21,212 posts

255 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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papa3 said:
As i understand it the buying model in the US is totally different from the UK. We don't push to conclude a deal on the first visit to the dealership and very rarely deliver a vehicle on the day of sale. We are seeing more first visit buyers as the shopping process is now so heavily influenced online but delivery will be 3-5 days after.
We don't do spot deliveries unless we absolutely have to. 95% of buyers have already researched online before they set foot in a dealership. We are low pressure and in a relatively good position as the next nearest same brand dealer is 60 miles away. However if you sell Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, Nissan, Honda etc.. the next guy is just down the road. We have 5 VW dealers in the city, god knows how many Toyota and Nissan. If you sell any of the mass market brands you'd better close them or the next guy will.

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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300bhp/ton said:
flick through the owners manual.

Seriously, that has to be one of the most stupid things I have ever read related to the need to test drive a car, most people don't even bother flicking through the owners manual once they have bought the car.

Sheepshanks

32,522 posts

118 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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unrepentant said:
We are low pressure and in a relatively good position as the next nearest same brand dealer is 60 miles away.
What's that in time though? My experience of the US is people think nothing of driving chunky distances because it's generally pretty easy and everything is spread out anyway. In the UK there might be another dealer 20 miles away but it could easily take an hour to get there.

Sweeping generalisation, but I'd say there are far too few dealerships in the UK.

unrepentant

21,212 posts

255 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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Sheepshanks said:
unrepentant said:
We are low pressure and in a relatively good position as the next nearest same brand dealer is 60 miles away.
What's that in time though? My experience of the US is people think nothing of driving chunky distances because it's generally pretty easy and everything is spread out anyway. In the UK there might be another dealer 20 miles away but it could easily take an hour to get there.

Sweeping generalisation, but I'd say there are far too few dealerships in the UK.
Depends who's driving. wink

We have a small dealer about an hour away but the nearest grouping is 200 miles away in Chicago. My point was that if you go into a Toyota dealer and don't see or get what you want you can drive 10 minutes to the next one. Many people will just call or email all of them for a price and it's a race to the bottom.

I looked at a new Mustang once, new model year just out, and the sales manager offered me invoice before I even drove it! I bought a Camaro instead on the same terms. Those guys churn sales people because when you sell everything at invoice and you're commission only you don't make much money!

RB Will

9,662 posts

239 months

Sunday 16th July 2017
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Tried to sort a decent test drive in another Leon at another dealer today after the last rubbish one.

Not sure this one is going to be much better. This was from me being in the dealership not on phone or email and actually chatting to the sales guy telling him my problem with the last test drive.
He said their test drive route is pretty similar in that it's just up a 50mph dc round a roundabout and back.
Tried asking if I could take it a bit further onto a better road, with some actual corners and no traffic and he said probably not as they don't want people ragging the cars around.

I don't really know what the salesman are expecting? I'm test driving the fastest, sportiest model in the range and they expect me to base my decision on it based on how it handles a trundle in traffic and and then telling me how much fun it is when they have driven it and given it some stick.

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

252 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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Fast Bug said:
I think with service it's a case of whatever is there on the day
And the invisible on-going war between sales and service.

"If sir wants to try an E-Class because sir thinks sir might want to buy one, sir should talk to sales about it and sales can fund an E-Class demo to take care of sir. We'll give sir an A-Class because we don't care if sir wants an E-Class or not. Or a 5-Series, frankly."



PixelpeepS3

8,600 posts

141 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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RB Will said:
Tried to sort a decent test drive in another Leon at another dealer today after the last rubbish one.

Not sure this one is going to be much better. This was from me being in the dealership not on phone or email and actually chatting to the sales guy telling him my problem with the last test drive.
He said their test drive route is pretty similar in that it's just up a 50mph dc round a roundabout and back.
Tried asking if I could take it a bit further onto a better road, with some actual corners and no traffic and he said probably not as they don't want people ragging the cars around.

I don't really know what the salesman are expecting? I'm test driving the fastest, sportiest model in the range and they expect me to base my decision on it based on how it handles a trundle in traffic and and then telling me how much fun it is when they have driven it and given it some stick.
Slightly off topic - your website isn't working..

RB Will

9,662 posts

239 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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PixelpeepS3 said:
Slightly off topic - your website isn't working..
Thanks for the heads up. I will investigate. Sorted. Link had .co.uk rather than .com

Edited by RB Will on Monday 17th July 14:02

Antony Moxey

8,014 posts

218 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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I guess it boils down to whether the dealer thinks the OP is a serious buyer or not. When I had my X-Type in for a service a couple of years ago they phoned me later that day to say they needed it in overnight. When I'd dropped it off I'd mentioned I would be interested in part exing it for an XF so on hearing they wanted to keep it overnight I said to them if they gave me an XF until the end of the following day (see how SWMBO and the kids liked it etc etc) on returning it would tell them there and then as to whether I would buy it.

They ummed and ahhed for a bit so I said one thing was for certain and that was without the extended drive the decision would definitely be a no. So they gave me the car, had a great drive round in it, let the missus have a drive and did the deal when I took it back the following day. Everyone was a winner!

93DW

1,268 posts

102 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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RB Will said:
Tried to sort a decent test drive in another Leon at another dealer today after the last rubbish one.

Not sure this one is going to be much better. This was from me being in the dealership not on phone or email and actually chatting to the sales guy telling him my problem with the last test drive.
He said their test drive route is pretty similar in that it's just up a 50mph dc round a roundabout and back.
Tried asking if I could take it a bit further onto a better road, with some actual corners and no traffic and he said probably not as they don't want people ragging the cars around.

I don't really know what the salesman are expecting? I'm test driving the fastest, sportiest model in the range and they expect me to base my decision on it based on how it handles a trundle in traffic and and then telling me how much fun it is when they have driven it and given it some stick.
Would you let someone, who's only driving credential is a pink card, start pushing your car to the limit a few minutes after getting into it for the first time? I've had to ask people to pull over before because their idea of "seeing what its got" has been dangerous and one occasion nearly killed a pedestrian.

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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93DW said:
Would you let someone, who's only driving credential is a pink card, start pushing your car to the limit a few minutes after getting into it for the first time? I've had to ask people to pull over before because their idea of "seeing what its got" has been dangerous and one occasion nearly killed a pedestrian.
I'm not sure he mentioned pushing it to the limit. This forum is very binary.

Fast Bug

11,597 posts

160 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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Rawwr said:
I'm not sure he mentioned pushing it to the limit. This forum is very binary.
No, but 'giving it some stick' would suggest not hanging about. I've ended a few test drives early and had to ask numerous to slow down.in my time due to people driving like a dick.

RB Will

9,662 posts

239 months

Monday 17th July 2017
quotequote all
Don't need to push it to the limit but would like to have at least a semi spirited run in it. See how it is on a bumpy road as I spend more time on a/b roads than town driving and what the power delivery is like, play with the different drive modes, get an idea of the fuel economy etc
I don't see why Seat are so fussy about it.
Subaru let me have their top performance model for a week. Lotus let me take an S1 Exige home to see if it would go on the driveway.
Even the local used sellers have been good. With my Audi allroad they just gave me the keys and said take it for a spin and another dealer with an RX8 again just gave me keys and off I went.
The Renault and Honda dealers came with me in the 182/ type r but they did let me go out of town onto country roads.
None of the cars were ragged or crashed but then again I expect I'm a bit more respectful of other people's things than your average punter.
As I said I don't understand how the dealers think the customer is going to form an opinion of a performance car by trundling about in stop start traffic.

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

252 months

Monday 17th July 2017
quotequote all
RB Will said:
Don't need to push it to the limit but would like to have at least a semi spirited run in it. See how it is on a bumpy road as I spend more time on a/b roads than town driving and what the power delivery is like, play with the different drive modes, get an idea of the fuel economy etc
I don't see why Seat are so fussy about it.
Subaru let me have their top performance model for a week. Lotus let me take an S1 Exige home to see if it would go on the driveway.
Even the local used sellers have been good. With my Audi allroad they just gave me the keys and said take it for a spin and another dealer with an RX8 again just gave me keys and off I went.
The Renault and Honda dealers came with me in the 182/ type r but they did let me go out of town onto country roads.
None of the cars were ragged or crashed but then again I expect I'm a bit more respectful of other people's things than your average punter.
As I said I don't understand how the dealers think the customer is going to form an opinion of a performance car by trundling about in stop start traffic.
You're an excellent driver (everyone is).

Except most of the public aren't, especially when driving a car that is:

  • unfamiliar
  • fast
  • not theirs
  • not likely to ever be theirs
  • occupied by a salesman who needs to be impressed by a 4-car overtake over a crest. In the wet. One-handed.

RB Will

9,662 posts

239 months

Monday 17th July 2017
quotequote all
SpeckledJim said:
You're an excellent driver (everyone is).

Except most of the public aren't, especially when driving a car that is:

  • unfamiliar
  • fast
  • not theirs
  • not likely to ever be theirs
  • occupied by a salesman who needs to be impressed by a 4-car overtake over a crest. In the wet. One-handed.
Having spent a few years working for local dealers I'm actually very experienced in all those situations, except parts of the last one tongue out

limpsfield

5,871 posts

252 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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RB Will said:
SpeckledJim said:
You're an excellent driver (everyone is).

Except most of the public aren't, especially when driving a car that is:

  • unfamiliar
  • fast
  • not theirs
  • not likely to ever be theirs
  • occupied by a salesman who needs to be impressed by a 4-car overtake over a crest. In the wet. One-handed.
Having spent a few years working for local dealers I'm actually very experienced in all those situations, except parts of the last one tongue out
Did you buy?

93DW

1,268 posts

102 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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So we have somebody who wants to drive the fastest variant of a car. As fast as they can for as long as they can, and now we learn he "used to be in the trade" Full house gentlemen!