Most disastrous test drive
Discussion
Ever had one of those half hours that forced you not to buy a car? Many years ago I was in the process of looking for a replacement car for a daily Sheffield to Manchester commute - being fairly young with a little money I scoured the copies of What Car? and came to a decision I'd like to try a new Citroen BX in Meteor guise. What could go wrong - dark grey metallic, a magic carpet ride, gadgets galore and a pretty good trade in price.
To cut a long story short - it chewed its gearbox up (it had less than 500 miles on the clock) and the salesman said it was the third he'd heard of that month that had done the same thing, just in the north west. Funnily enough he didn't quite get me to sign on the dotted line - I got the bus back to the dealer and left him at the road side.
SD
To cut a long story short - it chewed its gearbox up (it had less than 500 miles on the clock) and the salesman said it was the third he'd heard of that month that had done the same thing, just in the north west. Funnily enough he didn't quite get me to sign on the dotted line - I got the bus back to the dealer and left him at the road side.
SD
I took a 306 DTurbo out for a test drive and as i was pulling down a sliproad onto a dual carridgeway the engine started running away on me. Luckily had a clue what to do clutch in, keyed off, pulled onto hard shoulder and stalled it on the brakes, but was running at 5k rpm chucking out black smoke for ovewr 30 sec befor i got it stopped! Luckily no major damage, car restarted so drove it gingerly back to the guys house.
Turns out the owner had overfilled with oil, so turbo drain wasnt working. Explained what had happened and walked away.Should have learnt did buy another a few weeks later, but was a terrible car, got shot of it 6mth later
Turns out the owner had overfilled with oil, so turbo drain wasnt working. Explained what had happened and walked away.Should have learnt did buy another a few weeks later, but was a terrible car, got shot of it 6mth later
I remember the Lotus one. I thought it was an Exige though.
The below one ended with the death of the driver, although deliberately it would seem.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/salesman-o...
The below one ended with the death of the driver, although deliberately it would seem.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/salesman-o...
Edited by Sneaky Schnell on Sunday 27th February 10:43
I was talking to a dealer friend of mine yesterday and he was whinging about a car they've just had to write off from their demo fleet. It seems a prospective purchaser decided to go through a puddle that was a bit deeper than they thought, the engine sucked up water and so got trashed, the electrics were shorted out and the interior got nailed, so the thing was a write off. Apparently the "puddle" was 3 ft deep...
What a muppet.
What a muppet.
Accidents happen all the time on test drives, sometimes bad ones, the most tragic I know of was with TMS TVR in 2005, the salesman was killed when the customer lost the car into oncoming traffic, what makes that one so unbearable was that Toby had only popped in on his day off and taken the customer out as a favour. I have only had to stop 3 test drives in 20 years but came close a number of times.Think of our commission as danger money.
On a lighter note. I have had a car taken off me on a test drive (not in the UK) by a chap who produced a shotgun and suggested 'I get out of the car' to which my response was, 'All yours, mate'.
On a lighter note. I have had a car taken off me on a test drive (not in the UK) by a chap who produced a shotgun and suggested 'I get out of the car' to which my response was, 'All yours, mate'.
Accompanying a french chap as he drove my MX5 when I was selling was pretty hairy.
Going the wrong way around a roundabout was one of the few issues with that one. The chap didn't speak any english so I couldn't even tell him to swap over and let me drive. His gf had been translating but we'd obviously had to leave her behind.
After I'd concluded the sale, my mother was seriously concerned about them reaching Dover safely!
Going the wrong way around a roundabout was one of the few issues with that one. The chap didn't speak any english so I couldn't even tell him to swap over and let me drive. His gf had been translating but we'd obviously had to leave her behind.
After I'd concluded the sale, my mother was seriously concerned about them reaching Dover safely!
TVR1 said:
Accidents happen all the time on test drives, sometimes bad ones, the most tragic I know of was with TMS TVR in 2005, the salesman was killed when the customer lost the car into oncoming traffic, what makes that one so unbearable was that Toby had only popped in on his day off and taken the customer out as a favour. I have only had to stop 3 test drives in 20 years but came close a number of times.Think of our commission as danger money.
On a lighter note. I have had a car taken off me on a test drive (not in the UK) by a chap who produced a shotgun and suggested 'I get out of the car' to which my response was, 'All yours, mate'.
Christ, I remember Toby... My Dad bought his Tuscan from TMS and he was one of the lads we spoke to a couple of times. Met him at the motorshow at the nec as well. Poor guy.On a lighter note. I have had a car taken off me on a test drive (not in the UK) by a chap who produced a shotgun and suggested 'I get out of the car' to which my response was, 'All yours, mate'.
Didnt involve driving actually, but booked a test drive of a Boxster at a OPC. Turned up all excited and had finance all sorted. Had previously spent time with the sales guy working out the best options etc, not on a brand new one, but figuring out which of the nearly new ones they had for sale.
Anyway, blocked out an hour or so for the test drive and turned up early for the appointment. Waited and waited. Spoke to the receiptionist about the wait, who appologised and explained they were running behind a little. Ok, waited some more. 2 hours late now, and trust me, there is only so much coffee and wandering around Porsche's you cant drive you can do.
Anyway, after 3 hours and the sales guy sitting shrugging his shoulders and not offering an appology did I ask to see the dealer principle. Explained my case, wife was pregnant too, and he simply offered no excuse, no appology but simply forcefully explained that if I was really interested that I should book another appointment, even then not offering any guarantee that I would actually get to drive a car!
I walked. Never got to drive one. Sure fire sale and they really couldnt give a hoot. I mean, sticking around for 3 hours wasnt enough, they wanted more? Funny thing, a friend who had his Boxster stolen had it recovered for repairs to the same dealer. They did such a shoddy repair that Porsche GB had to step in and resolve the issues. I understand that the dealership changed management soon afterwards....
Worst test drive? One that I didnt even get to have one!
Anyway, blocked out an hour or so for the test drive and turned up early for the appointment. Waited and waited. Spoke to the receiptionist about the wait, who appologised and explained they were running behind a little. Ok, waited some more. 2 hours late now, and trust me, there is only so much coffee and wandering around Porsche's you cant drive you can do.
Anyway, after 3 hours and the sales guy sitting shrugging his shoulders and not offering an appology did I ask to see the dealer principle. Explained my case, wife was pregnant too, and he simply offered no excuse, no appology but simply forcefully explained that if I was really interested that I should book another appointment, even then not offering any guarantee that I would actually get to drive a car!
I walked. Never got to drive one. Sure fire sale and they really couldnt give a hoot. I mean, sticking around for 3 hours wasnt enough, they wanted more? Funny thing, a friend who had his Boxster stolen had it recovered for repairs to the same dealer. They did such a shoddy repair that Porsche GB had to step in and resolve the issues. I understand that the dealership changed management soon afterwards....
Worst test drive? One that I didnt even get to have one!
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