Questions About Test Driving

bobst

I was serious, Joel.

With two of our last three car purchases, we went on the test drive alone. The other time we told the salesman to be quiet and he was.

You and I would get along fine, Joel. I would not buy a car from you and you would not sell one to me. As long as we can agree that George Bush is a great president, we would have nothing to argue about.

british_rover

I am self editing now for the greater good.

driveright

the key to getting a test drive without the dealer

The last time I took a solo test drive, it was a small car with a large salesman. He begged off the drive, and asked me to sign an extra form.

joel0622

Then we are going to get along fine Bob. I support my Commander and Chief

Maybe it is due to the fact that it is hard to convey a tone on a message board. When I first read your post I took it as , get in, sit down, and shut up. I am sure your request comes acroos much more cordial in person

bobst

I think I said to the sales person, "It's fine if you want to come along, but please don't say anything at all".

Since we and the sales manager had already agreed on a fixed OTD price, the salesman knew we would buy the car as long as it seemed OK on the test drive. He stayed perfectly quiet and we bought the car and left very happy.

isellhondas

I'm responding late to this post however, if a customer told me to sit down and keep my mouth shut, I would find them another salesperson!

How downright RUDE!

In 12 years and thousands of test drives I have NEVER had a customer tell me that!

oldfarmer50

"...if a customer told me to sit down and keep my mouth shut..."

Perhaps Bobst gets his way by bringing along his large "associate" Vito who assists noisy salespeople into the trunk.

biancar

I'm sure you're right that it could be said in a rude way, but - an Infiniti salesman lost a sale with me when I was comparing the Maxima to the Infiniti a few years ago. He would NOT shut up on the test drive! His constant yammering was so annoying. Finally I said something like "Excuse me, I really need to just concentrate on the car for a few minutes" but whoosh, he was still off to the races with his mouth.

I liked the car well enough, but couldn't wait to get away from him.

Some of us are just like that, and wouldn't it be better to find a way to ask an overly-yakky salesman to please pipe down for a few minutes? Being polite with these guys (as I was) seems to go right over their heads.

tidester

Being polite with these guys (as I was) seems to go right over their heads.

I think it actually unnerves them. They are just good at covering it up.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

isellhondas

I normally don't talk much. I can tell when a customer wants to talk and when they want to concentrate on the car more.

stevedebi

Was on a Subaru Forester in 2003. The car had a huge sticker on the right side of the windshield, which prevented my seeing out very well.

The salesman was eager to show me just how much power came from the combination of the boxer I4 and full-time AWD. He floored the transmission, while yakking about the power. Within 20 seconds I was feeling nauseous from the movement of the car body. When he pulled over to let me drive I was actually not interested in the car at all anymore. He didn't realize that I don't drive my cars for performance, and the demonstration was counter-productive.

I ended up buying a Honda CR-V; very good vehicle...

zoesam

Just came across this old post. Nothing rude about this at all. I take 2 test drives on anything I have serious interest in. The sales rep can come along on the first one, but they do need to be quiet & not tell me which route to take the test drive on. Test drives are to get the feel of the vehicle, the road noise, the engine noise, etc. Can't do that if the sales rep won't shut up. Maybe women are more sensitive to this, but if any sales rep tried to tell me what route to use for a test drive, we'd be back at the store in under a minute. If I'm thinking of spending $30-40K on something that will depreciate the second I buy it, then I will use my route that tests for all the conditions I want to experience & they will be quiet while I do it. I've never had a rep who isn't respectful of my requests. Well, except for Toyota, but that just seems to be their way of doing business, which is why I'll never buy one. I'm honest, I make appts, I'm respectful of their time & I expect them to be respectful of mine.

Second test drive is all day &/or overnight. It is to see how the vehicle functions in the way I would use it every day. I have done 10-15 of these recently & no dealer has ever blinked. They expect you to do it. Some will not do overnight, but I've never met a dealer who wouldn't let you take it all day. I've never heard of a dealer not allowing an all-day solo test drive & I would run away as fast as I could if I ever encountered one.

oldfarmer50

"...I've never heard of a dealer not allowing an all-day solo test drive..."

Those must be generous dealers. If the guys in my area are doing it they don't let on. Do they require you to sign anything first?

You say that you have done 10-15 all day test drives recently. I assume not all from the same dealer.

I wonder what the car sales guys have to say about their store policies on day-long tests.

joel0622

If you have agreed to a price and we have a financing package we might allow you to go for the day. But if it is just so you can decide between it and 4 other brands or something we would not be a player.

oldfarmer50

"...we would not be a player..."

Dang! I was hoping that my rental car days were over.

zoesam

From reading up on this forum, perhaps this is a regional thing, but I have never encountered so much as a sneeze at the idea & several have allowed overnights. In fact, one dealer insisted I take 2 vehicles, the one I was interested in & a fully loaded $55K one. And a few dealers have delivered it to my home for the test drive. The overnights have been a purely convenience thing - my schedule for the day makes it easier for me to bring back tomorrow.

Most have required me to sign something, typically just a form indicating what day/time I agree to return it by. Some haven't even taken a DL copy (if you can imagine that), one required me to sign a form stating that my insurance was covering me. They have almost all required a copy of my insurance card & if I'm taking it out of the county, two had to verify my insurance by phone.

No not all 1 dealer, there were probably 10-12 different dealers involved & in no case did I have a conversation about financing or price. In fact quite the opposite, these were my 2nd calls to dealers that had a model I was willing to consider. I should make it clear that in no case was I joyriding. There's nothing fun in this for me AT ALL! I consider it painful research & I just happen to be very analytical & haven't bought a new car since the early 90's, so I'm thorough. I should also mention that several of the sales reps never even bothered to follow up with me! I assume it's the high turnover in the business, but it floors me, since I used to be in sales & can't imagine not following up under these circumstances.

joel0622

That is great Zoesam. Probably has closed a sale or two in the past.

After we had a guy use one of our cars to commit vehicular homicide years ago we started getting nervous when the cars left our site.

Things we have had happen on solo test drives

1. Homicide

2. Robbery

3. Used truck to move

4. Picked a new fridge up at Lowes

5. Drove truck through a house

6. Ticketed for going 108 MPH

7. Said he was going to show his wife, didn't tell us she was in Knoxville (200+ miles away)

im_brentwood

Sounds about right.

Jaguar used to do this "Weekend test drive" promotion, and all it attracted was people who wanted to play with a Jaguar for the weekend. After 3 jokers in a row we started telling people that we were no longer participating. One guy in particular threw an absolute fit.. sorry, tough.

Turns out the same guy had borrowed an XK8 and an XJ8L from our competitors for the weekend already.

Uh huh. Yeah, suuure you need to see if it fits in your garage.

Any dealer that lets a customer test drive a car solo without getting a copy of their license and insurance gets what they deserve.

isellhondas

And we rarely if ever get asked for extended test drives.

People who do this usually aren't serious anyway.

The poster said he had done this 10-15 times recently?

I rest my case.

zoesam

Homocide? Robbery? OMG! And to think, I don't even drink soda in a test drive vehicle for fear of hitting a pothole & getting the interior dirty.

Whatever works for you & I can understand getting nervous after I read your list, but aren't those situations the bizzare exceptions?

Every sales rep & dealer is gonna do what works for them. I do take exception to isellhondas comment. I am quite serious about buying, in fact, I made an offer today, but I'm an analytical buyer. How on earth would I know which car is right for me until I drove them all & drove the ones I was serious about for a few hours in the way I would normally drive them? It's my money, I'm going to do whatever I need to to be sure it's the right vehicle for me. Obviously, I wouldn't do it with you. Lucky for me, the local Honda dealer was incredible, the sales rep delivered the car to my home for the day test drive & she even gave me a ride home that night. In general I try to work only w/female sales reps cuz they tend to understand analytical buyers. I certainly wouldn't buy on emotion or a false sense of urgency. Being cautious & thorough is how I choose to spend my money when making such a huge purchase. If a sales rep or dealer doesn't like it, I'll find another one. There are plenty of them out there who understand analytical buyers.

verdugo

I think he meant he's done that 10 to 15 times for all his purchaes, not just one purchase.

british_rover

He said...
emphasis mine.

No not all 1 dealer, there were probably 10-12 different dealers involved & in no case did I have a conversation about financing or price. In fact quite the opposite, these were my 2nd calls to dealers that had a model I was willing to consider. I should make it clear that in no case was I joyriding. There's nothing fun in this for me AT ALL! I consider it painful research & I just happen to be very analytical & haven't bought a new car since the early 90's, so I'm thorough. I should also mention that several of the sales reps never even bothered to follow up with me! I assume it's the high turnover in the business, but it floors me, since I used to be in sales & can't imagine not following up under these circumstances.

Leads me to believe this was 10-12 over night test drives for one purchase. You are only going to buy one car so you see how this perception comes out among sales people. Now you are going to have 9-11 sales reps who all think overnight car buyers aren't serious just reinforcing what they thought before.

Did you drive 10-12 different cars or were they different trim levels of different models?

I can understand wanting to take a model home overnight once you have narrowed your choices down to only two or three models but taking all the vehicles you are interested in home seems silly. Get your choices down to a handful and then take those cars home if you can't pick one clear winner out of the group.

joel0622

Ya one guy used a 95 Mustang to hide around the corner in until his life partner who was a Taxi Cab driver got in his cab. When he got in the cab the guy took off and got all the way up to 3rd gear going about 100MPH and rammed into the side of the cab. Killed the cab driver and paralyzed the other guy.

Our robber told us that he needed to show the car to his wife. Well that was partially true, he picked up his wife and proceeded to go and rob a gas station. He rolled the car like 5 times in the chase and totaled it.

But the best I have ever seen is the young Hero that came in and stole an Expedition. This cat was good. I took him 3 days to do it and he was smooth as silk.

Day 1

Comes in and says he just graduated from Vandy and his parents (mom a lawyer, dad a metro LEO, so he says) are buying him a Expedition for graduation. He even had a Vandy T-shirt on and a bogus Vandy ID he showed to get the College Grad money. Picks one out test drives with the salesmen and says he loves it and will go home and tell mom and dad about it.

Day 2

Comes in and says that it is a go if the price is right. Dad called two other places and they will sell it for $XXXXXX, can we beat it. We write it up and give him a bottom line beating the other prices by $300. He even goes as far as to point out we left out the college grad money.

Day 3

Comes in with a unsigned counter check filled out for the amount stating it was from moms money market account and as soon as he brings the truck to her to see she will sign the check and we can finish up. He ask the salesperson if he can go show it to mom. The salesperson says he would have to go with him and he also needs to show the desk the counter check. He then says let me go check out and we will go, then the kid ask if he can see the keyless entry fob and key.

Salesperson goes to the desk, when he comes back the kid is gone and so is the Expedition.

Here is where it gets interesting, he leaves our store and goes to a U-haul place telling them he needs a tow dolly, they hook up the tow dolly and as soon as they get it hooked up they tell him to come in and pay, he gets inside and says he left his wallet in the truck and he steals the tow dolly.

Now our hero has a stolen truck pulling a stolen tow dolly which he uses to go pick up a Cadillac he had stolen the day before.

A high speed chase starts when the Metro Helicopter spots him, he makes it about 10 miles when he tries to take a sharp turn going 90MPH in a stolen Expedition pulling a stolen Cadillac, on a stolen tow dolly. He rolls the whole show totaling $100K worth of vehicles and a $300 tow dolly.

Thats 3 reasons why we don't do overnight test drives

isellhondas

For an overnight test drive.

I guess we are all different. I can drive a car fifteen minutes and know everything I need to know and most of my customers are the same.

verdugo

Looks like you guys are right. If it was all for one purchase, then it was indeed excesive.

im_brentwood

Doesn't surprise me one little bit.

I've got a few "Fun with service loaners" stories.

I think we all remember about me seeing one of my service loaners used in a track event. Well I have that beat.

Friend of mine owns a BMW store.. ahh, shall we say out west. Anyways, finds out one of his customers takes his service loaner to TWO Club Autocrosses.

Oh yeah? haha. OK.

Customer gets service loaner for the third time.. on a saturday, AutoX is on a Sunday.

He then takes customer's car, and shows up at the autocross with it. Now, is he going to run it? No. But he did register it and tape it up to run. The guy freaked out. He walked up to him and said "Hey, if you can take my car to a timed event I can takes yours, right?"

I would have PAID to have seen that!

hansienna

I would NEVER take a vehicle overnight because I would then fell obligated to buy at that time. IF we had driven the 2006 Sienna LE in daylight hours before we bought it, we would now be driving either a 2006 Odyssey EX or a 2006 GC SXT. The used 2004 Sienna LE we had driven did not have the annoying shiny circles around the gauges that reflect sunlight that are on the 06 Sienna LE, XLE, Limited.

The BEST salesman I have ever met was a Honda salesman who gave me the keys to a NEW 2002 Odyssey EX-L and said go drive it with your wife. (Most salesmen will NOT let the vehicle out without them being along for the ride.)

We were ready to order a NEW Odyssey with a $ 500 REFUNDABLE deposit since there was a 1 or 2 % chance we may not be able to buy it in the 4 or 5 months it took to arrive. "NO, dealer policy was $ 500 NON-Refundable deposit ONLY"...so we walked...and much later we bought a nice, mint condition, used T&C LX. :shades:

british_rover

we had driven the 2006 Sienna LE in daylight hours before we bought it, we would now be driving either a 2006 Odyssey EX or a 2006 GC SXT. The used 2004 Sienna LE we had driven did not have the annoying shiny circles around the gauges that reflect sunlight that are on the 06 Sienna LE, XLE, Limited.

You know I have been watching you complain about this stupid reflection thing on your Sienna for weeks now. Just go get those metal look accents replaced. I am sure there are plenty of after market solutions for that. Probably wouldn't cost you more then a couple of hundred bucks to change out the shiny bits with some duller black/gray material. At the very least you could have the circles painted black.

oldfarmer50

"...I've got a few "Fun with service loaners" stories..."

Better take them over to the "Stories From the Sales Frontlines" board. They're down to showing pictures of their dogs over there.

zoesam

First off, I'm a she, not a he, which I think is important. Secondly they were not all overnight test drives, if I recall correctly 3 were overnights, the rest were what I call "all day", but are usually about 4-5 hrs. It's not like I spend all that time driving the cars. I go about my daily life for that day & the car gets test driven to see if it's compatible with the way I live. How ez is it to park at the places I frequent? Do my shopping bags shift all over? Are the controls intuitive? (they always are in American brands, never are in Toyotas). I have a checklist for any test drive of a car I’m interested in.

To answer your question, the 10-12 different cars were different models/brands, not different trim levels of the same model. They were different types too. At first I was looking for a minivan, but we had a loss in our family which meant I no longer had a need for a minivan, so I had to start at square 1 again b/c I could then buy what I really wanted - a large SUV. I test drove ALL of those. My hubby really wanted me to consider a mid-size, so I tried 3 midsize SUV’s to be fair – those were 10 minute drives w/the sales rep.

Maybe I’m just an odd buyer, I know most people assume a monthly car pymt as the norm & trade in cars every few years. I haven't bought a car since 93 & my hubby’s car is older. I never lied to any dealer, always told them exactly where I was in the process. On a few occasions THEY insisted I take the car out for the day. So, what can I tell you? The dealers (at least here) expect you to take the cars out on your own. If it wasn't common, they wouldn't all have a pre-printed form to fill out. Esp w/4x4's, they often encourage you to take them up into the mtns & see how they drive there.

There were plenty of 5-minute test drives too. I can know in 5 minutes if I hate it, but takes much longer if it's a contender. Even on the vehicle I eventually chose, there were 4 additional test drives I hadn't planned on, one to compare the rack & pinion steering of the 07 to the regular power steering on the 06 (only a 5 minute drive on each) & another to compare 2 different engines & 2 different transmissions - 6 speed vs. 4 speed. Maybe that stuff comes naturally to gearheads &/or people who buy cars every few years, but it doesn't to me. The rack & pinion steering felt very loose to me on a curvy mountain road & I wouldn't have known that had I not had it out for the day.

Perhaps it is excessive to do that many test-drives, it's immaterial though, it's what I needed & I didn't lie & I am a serious buyer. I remember one saleswoman telling me that once I narrowed it down to 2-3, then I had to go back to all those dealers & test drive them all again back to back so I could compare. I didn’t do that! I think there's a HUGE difference in the way women shop for cars & in the way female sales reps deal with their prospects. I guess I'm lucky to live where solo test drives are an expected practice & I insist on working with women whenever possible. Consultative works best w/analyticals & women seem to know that. Female reps also rarely guess at answers they don't know, they find out the answers. That's important to me.

And yes, everyone is different, I don’t ever feel obligated to spend $30-50K on anything. That’s a whole lotta money! Many buyers (and this is a great thing for car salespeople) don’t have a clue how much they really spend on a car. They view it as a monthly budgeted expense that they'll always have. I view it as a large purchase; one which will be with me EVERY DAY for the next 10+ years, so I had better make the right choice.

jipster

I would NEVER take a vehicle overnight because I would then feel obligated to buy at that time.

I kind of feel the same way. In 2004 our Honda salseman wanted us to take a new Odyssey home for a overnighter. It was tempting, but it just didn't seem like the right van for us. I'm glad I didn't take it home because I may have bought it, and surely would have regretted buying the plain boxey style Ody with transmission problems. I like the new 2005 and up models much better.

The Swope dealership in Louisville let me have a 3 day test drive in the Buick Regal I ended up buying. I really liked that car though. Told them I would be taking a 60 mile drive to the mother in laws that weekend, they didn't have a bit of problem with it. It was a 5 year old car at the time with only 52k miles, in really nice shape.

hansienna

I did take action some time ago when I got a dark towel to place over the gauges and center stack to reduce the effect of the poor design that CR and others did not identify in their test write-ups.

More recently, I got black poster paper, cut out holes slightly smaller than the gauges, extra holes for the turn signal and bright light indicators and slid the edges of the poster paper above the plastic cover of the gauges.

Sad that neither Toyota engineers or CR detected a most obvious, GLARING defect in the Sienna. :sick:

stickguy

Isn't that the old "puppy dog" close? Supposed to work just like Old Framer was afraid it would!

I took a BMW convert once for 2 days (it was used though). That was their idea. It was over in PA (about 45 minutes from home), and I saw it on a saturday. I did need to try that out with the wife, so they suggested I take it and bring in back Monday. Well, OK by me!

Didn't end up working out that well, on th ehighway and getting th ewhole family to fit. SO it went back.

I also did one at lesat with a VOlvo, but at that point I had become friendly with the lady that now runs the place. That was a Friday afternoon just before closing, and bring it back the next day deal.

More recently, when I have been "just browsing", I have had a few sales people try real hard to get me to take it home to show the wife (ah, the missing wife, the strokes best friend!) At least I didn't waste their time taking something I was no longer interested in.

stickguy

funny how a small thing can really annoy you.

On my accord, the radio display (also the climate display and clock) is angled up a bit. It is a little mini screen, almost looks like a small nav screen.

Anyway, it is angled just right so that when the moonroof is open and the sun is behind you (a great time for th eopen roof), the screen comepletely washes out. Gets kinda annyoning, but not bad enough to make me unload the car!

hansienna

Thanks for posting another example of glare.

After covering the shiny circles around gauges with black poster paper and just needing the towel to cover the center portion of the dash, I am not as annoyed by the glare.

BTW, I sat inside my former 02 T&C LX and my back hurt within seconds and I realized why we got the 06 Sienna. :shades:

hansienna

LOVED your posting because most people have NEVER even heard of Teton Pass but we have been over Teton Pass think your posting is a classic. :shades:

british_rover

Err year old post and all.

You still can't use all 500 hp of the F430 on that road.

At 8,431 feet the power of the engine is reduced considerably below its maximum. I can't remember what the power loss per thousand feet is though.

tidester

You still can't use all 500 hp of the F430 on that road.

But you can certainly use all the horsepower you can get for the situation described!

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

joel0622

I didn't even know that a trailer towing package was an option on that car. I think you would be better off with an F450 instead of a F430

hansienna

Old, but excellent. I apologize for just reading it recently.

british_rover

I think I would have to initiate a citizen arrest if I saw someone towing anything with a F430.

blueiedgod

After covering the shiny circles around gauges with black poster paper and just needing the towel to cover the center portion of the dash, I am not as annoyed by the glare.

Why go through all the trouble when you can just either remove the chrom trim, or paint it black?

Did I miss something?

british_rover

Thats what I told him to try. Color one of the trim bits over with magic marker and see if that helps. You can always wipe the marker off with rubbing alcohol if needed.

jipster

magic marker... crayons... construction paper... sunglasses... all good suggestions for a $26,000 van.
I would take it to a body shop to see what they could do with it.

british_rover

I didn't mean as a final solution just a temporary mock up to see if it helps.

hansienna

Thanks for all the many excellent suggestions.

However, for only $ 1.07 cost of black paper and some of my time making a template out of clear, lightweight paper, I have eliminated the glare and the best part: The paper can quickly removed when and IF I replace the Sienna with NO damage to the instrument cluster that is VERY attractive at night. :shades:

Hmmm. Does anyone know a good place to buy a NON-reflective, carpet-like covering for the shiny portion of the center portion of the Sienna dash that will not damage it ? :confuse:

the_big_al

again I am replying to an old post but oh well...

For the last two cars that I drove I went on 2 test drives for my truck and 2 for the Impala. For the truck I drove both a 4X4 version and the 4X2 I ended up buying. It also wasn't a very long test drive since it was so similar to what I was replacing.

For the Impala we test drove a Maxx and a loaded Impala. The one we ended up buying we actually didn't test drive first, but it was the same price as the Maxx and bigger. It was also more in line with our budget than the loaded Impala.

For me it doesn't take much for me to decide whether or not I like a vehicle or not.