How to blag a test drive?

housemaster said:
Your not and you missed my point. You were talking about blagging test drives not buying a car...
Click to expand...

but they dont know that....


I dont get the kick, I only go for test drives if I am genuinely looking at buying. But mainly because I drive so many different cars all the time anyway, I have driven A LOT of cars. So dont really need to blag test drives to drive things. I am tempted to try and blag a go in an exige S though. wan't to know what they are like with the supercharger :D only driven the 190's.

Oddly enough though the only time I had difficulty was at the ford garage getting a go in the st220. After driving the 330 and 325 fine (The guy at BMW just said take one out for a bit, then swap key when you get back and try the other one)! yet ford have a problem with a 2 year old ST220. I did turn up on the bike though :rolleyes: I dont look "dodgy" I dont think, just your average non-chavish 21 year old. The only thing the ford saleman managed to do was make sure I will never buy a car from there, ever! Although to be honest I dont think I would buy from a stealer anyway Tbh.
 
Last edited:
housemaster said:
That would fail. If you were that successful your PA would arrange for the car to be delivered to your house for the weekend ;)
Click to expand...


hehe, nah it works... I had a Cosworth escort for the weekend once

:D
 
do you think honda would give a smartly dressed 18 year old a test drive in a civic type r? I could book it over the internet. I would turn up our our new vw golf.
 
I'm tempted to drive an Exige S but fear that I'll like it too much. I don't want to subject my bank account to that.
 
Mr Mister said:
do you think honda would give a smartly dressed 18 year old a test drive in a civic type r? I could book it over the internet. I would turn up our our new vw golf.
Click to expand...
My local Honda dealer said their insurance wouldn't cover anyone under 25 to test drive their cars.
 
DannyDan said:
My local Honda dealer said their insurance wouldn't cover anyone under 25 to test drive their cars.
Click to expand...

That's actually BS. They do tell people this but it's just a polite way of saying sorry we think you are wasting our time.
 
[TW]Fox said:
How are you supposed to have an idea what you want next if you've never driven it?
Click to expand...
Damn Fox, we all know you like to research before you buy but thinking about your next motor already :eek: ;)
 
merlin said:
That's actually BS. They do tell people this but it's just a polite way of saying sorry we think you are wasting our time.
Click to expand...
Doesn't surprise me, they thought I was wasting their time until the day I picked it up :D
 
As others have said, it depends on the dealership. When I got my CTR I test rode a few of them. Some dealers just gave me the keys and said come back later, some came along with me and others came along and actually told me the route to take!

If one dealer won't let you testdrive then go to another. Non franchised dealerships and car supermarkets tend to be better than official dealerships.

I wouldn't bother with the suit. I expect most dealers have seen it all over the years and would make the decision if you are serious as soon as you walk in.
 
When I bought my first car 2 years back (19) I took two pug 2.0 406's out on test drives, no problems there - just as well I did, one had a serious engine problem and had no grunt at all - but I bought the second. I'm currently looking to buy a 3.0 V6 406 coupe, (21) again no problems on a test drive I had a few months back - but the dealer has always come with me, I find this distracting. Firstly because they keep you talking so it's hard to concentrate on how the car feels, and feel comfortable, secondly you feel bad about booting it about, that said he didn't say anything even after putting my foot down - but you could just feel the evil look burning into you

any tips for getting a solo trip?


James
 
housemaster said:
Your not and you missed my point. You were talking about blagging test drives not buying a car...
Click to expand...

I don't get to the buying stage for at least a few months after I've decided what to get, and that decision itself takes me ages. Take all sorts out with no intention of buying but every intention on narrowing down what make, model and trim level to eventually buy.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I don't get to the buying stage for at least a few months after I've decided what to get, and that decision itself takes me ages. Take all sorts out with no intention of buying but every intention on narrowing down what make, model and trim level to eventually buy.
Click to expand...
I suggest you read your post again, you know the one that said "When I go back to Uni I'm going back to blagging random test drives" and my response to that post. If you want to discuss the merrits of test driving cars and the lack of respect you sometimes get from dealers it is a separate discussion. When I buy a car I tend to narrow it down first, and then drive the couple that interest me. I agree that to buy a car without first driving it is stupid, but that is not point I was making. If you think driving a load of cars or as you said "blagging" a number of drives is likely to be seen as reasonable by a number of car dealers you are somewhat deluded.
 
housemaster said:
I suggest you read your post again, you know the one that said "When I go back to Uni I'm going back to blagging random test drives" and my response to that post. If you want to discuss the merrits of test driving cars and the lack of respect you sometimes get from dealers it is a separate discussion. When I buy a car I tend to narrow it down first, and then drive the couple that interest me. I agree that to buy a car without first driving it is stupid, but that is not point I was making. If you think driving a load of cars or as you said "blagging" a number of drives is likely to be seen as reasonable by a number of car dealers you are somewhat deluded.
Click to expand...
Given Fox's uncanny influence over the OcUK car buying public, I'd go as far as to say it's in any main franchised dealer's interest to make sure he gets treated well!
 
The same could be said for 100's of posters on web forums all over the place, but try convincing a car dealer on the merits of such a statement when it is so subjective. I suggest those so influenced, and that is not a dig at Fox who seems to have a broad appreciation of cars, broaden their horizons somewhat.
 
PMKeates said:
Given Fox's uncanny influence over the OcUK car buying public, I'd go as far as to say it's in any main franchised dealer's interest to make sure he gets treated well!
Click to expand...

quite scarily true. :eek:

Housemaster, I didn't miss your point. I was just pointing out that regardless of the fact that it is this behaviour that creates problems for people trying to get test drives, there is also no possible way of the dealer telling this untill you have actually bourght the car, so you are at the whim of his policy and first impressions.
 
Oakesy2001uk said:
Housemaster, I didn't miss your point. I was just pointing out that regardless of the fact that it is this behaviour that creates problems for people trying to get test drives, there is also no possible way of the dealer telling this untill you have actually bourght the car, so you are at the whim of his policy and first impressions.
Click to expand...
I would agree that most car sales people I have come across have an amazing lack of ability when it comes to the qualification of a prospective customer, a fundamental of selling in my experience. This is actually a big issue to me because I too have been inflicted by such poor sales skills, and on many different occasions, and I have written chapter and verse on BM3W and Pistonheads in the past on this very subjective.

But having said that I can also see why they sometimes form the conclusions they do for the reasons I gave in my post above, but as I also said painting everyone with the same brush is stupid, just like stereotypes in general don't you think....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom