Arranging insurance for a test drive??

mr tommo

mr tommo

mr tommo

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13 Dec 2004
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Stoke-on-Trent
My dad is looking to buy the new Land Rover Discovery 4 however finding a dealership with one in has been a bit of a problem.

Our local dealer - Stratstones - have contacted him today to let him know they are getting 2 new demos in tomorrow hopefully.

However when he spoke to them earlier this week they told him he would have to sort out his own insurance for a 45 minute test drive :confused:

I found this obsurd considering he is preparing to spend over £40k with them :confused:, is this normal?
 
Seems nuts to me

Never heard of it myself, from my own experience and from my Dad's (when he used to have a company car)

We only had one dealer (BMW) which was a little funny about Dad having an unaccompanied test drive and we had to show them insurance docs and leave our car keys behind! The rest just gave us the keys and we were off!

It irritates me a little when dealers are so useless - you'd think they'd be doing everything they can to make the experience as painless as possible, especially when he's spending so much money!
 
I would be going to another dealership. I tested a lot of new cars last year from a lot of different dealers and didn't have to mess around with insurance for any of them. And they were all significantly less than £40k!
 
I'd go elsewhere. I've always been asked to take DL but never actually asked to show it.

Over the last year I've driven a Honda Civic Type R, Bravo, Brera 3.2 V6, 4.8l V8 Mustang, Focus ST, Golf GTI (Mk5), Cooper S and a few other slower cars and I've never been asked to provide my own insurance.

I was told I wouldn't be able to drive the Mustang as I was under 25, however when he took me out for a passenger ride he went to a industrial park jumped out and told me to go carefully :D

Some dealers are just morons, Audi wasted my time for 25+ minutes the other day, yet a local BMW garage is getting me a £26k car to test drive in the new year after a quick 15 minute discussion about what I was after.
 
it's a shame dealers go with you.
over here in they just photocopy your docs, give you the keys and off you go.
depending on the dealer, the car and the demand you get anywhere between 30mins and 2 hours

they only sit in if it's a powerful car (like BMW M), or if it's a relatively sporty car and you're under 25 (golf gti)

but then you can also get them for a day or so if you're serious about buying them. i presume the same can be arranged in the UK if the car isn't in demand?
 
mjt said:
it's a shame dealers go with you.
over here in they just photocopy your docs, give you the keys and off you go.
depending on the dealer, the car and the demand you get anywhere between 30mins and 2 hours

they only sit in if it's a powerful car (like BMW M), or if it's a relatively sporty car and you're under 25 (golf gti)

but then you can also get them for a day or so if you're serious about buying them. i presume the same can be arranged in the UK if the car isn't in demand?
Click to expand...

very bizzare unless you are under 25,
 
I wrote my own driver licence (UK) details on a whiteboard - not checked for accuracy, incidentally - and went out in a V7 Impreza for about 2 hours in Wellington, 4 months ago.

The guy looked at me with suspicion when I asked if he was going to accompany me, LOL!

Different way of doing things, I guess.
 
I totally depends on the dealer tbh. I've had them sit in while driving fiat 500's lol. But then given the keys to ibiza's and swifts. More powerful stuff I'm guessing they may like to sit in.. Will have to see when I start my next round of test drives lol
 
Sorry for the lack of replies been busy.

I'm glad it not just me who thinks it pathetic, this was from the head salesman too. Dad is going down today and the insurance company is closed anyway.

The closest Land Rover dealer is 40mins away and they didn't have any Discovery 4's in.

My dad usually would have told them where to go but I guess he just wants to get one ordered fairly quickly. Stratones are a pretty decent company though, pretty sure they have the local Ferrari/Maserati dealership too. My dad's disabled, with his wife and 2 young children and is turning up in a Mercedes E-class with private plate so its not as if they are worried about him nicking the car and going on a rampage :rolleyes::D
 
Is thatthegarage in stoke, or the one over at derby? I never found either of them to be great when i was up there but by preference id go to derby as they are bigger. As for the insurance, its rubbish, of course they have insurance - they are a garage, all they need is both bits of the license and you're away, its all part of being part of the landrover dealership network.

As for finding a good deal, id suggest he gets onto disco3.co.uk and signs up on the forums, not only is there a wealth of informaiton about 3's and 4's but also sponsoring sites which give VERY good deals to members, much better than "local" dealerships. They might be london based (or elsewhere) but the servised is many times better and the deals are much more appealing.
 
It's the one in Stoke mate, next to the Jaguar dealership.

Thanks for that site I will have a decent look through it tonight because its not a car I know anything about and I don't like to a saleman without knowing when he is talking rubbish or not.

He has arranged a test drive for monday morning at 11. The guy never mentioned anything about insurance this morning but I've told him that its a load of **** after this thread so he is prepared to just walk out on monday if they bring it up and head to the Derby dealership.

I suggested the Range Rover Sport but he "doesn't want to look like a pimp" :o

Its the new Twin turbo Jag engine (3.0 TDV6) so quite excited about trying that out :)
 
The 3.0 is a good improvement over the 2.7, its an nice car and they have done it justice in all areas except the front grill, personally i hate the front end look of the 4 over the 3!
 
Yeah can't say Im much for the LED running lights at the front either and I agree about the grille being a little too bling. At least the body coloured bumpers look decent.
 
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