"Car Shopping" for my birthday (How do dealerships work?)

[Powerbook G5]

I work at a Dodge dealership in Jacksonville and deal with test drives every day. Oddly enough, we always insist on letting the customer go on a test drive but it is hard to get some to actually do it. I always loved test driving cars, but it is actually hard to convince some to try out a car before shelling out $30,000 for it. If you are 16 or 17, by law, we aren't supposed to let you drive the car. It is because of liability and insurance reasons. Now, sometimes if you have your parents with you, we will let it slide once we pull off the lot and find a place to park and swap drivers. As far as what you can drive, most are right...you can drive any car within reason, but you can't leave the lot in a Viper, SRT anything, or specialty vehicle unless we have proof you can afford the vehicle and have serious intent on buying it. You just have to realize that some of these vehicles are really expensive and some are even plain dangerous in the hands of some.

As far as everything else goes, appearance doesn't mean anything. I've sold $50,000 cars to people who come on the lot looking like they spent the previous night sleeping in a box. Buyers come in all types. The only thing that gets to me is when a customer is unnecessarily rude or stand offish. I've had customers curse at me for just trying to greet them. It just amazes me how mean some customers are when I am just trying to do my job. As long as you are serious about looking at the car, we try our best to help. Just realize that car salespeople work off of commission, so when you come on a Saturday and spent 3 hours going from car to car to car you are taking us away from working with someone else who is looking for someone to help them and the ability to try making some money that day.

Just keep in mind that you are the reason they have a job. The salesmen want you to drive that car you've always wanted so you will fall in love with it and buy one. Being 16, might be an obstacle unless you go looking with a responsible adult (meaning credit.) It's not like the mall though, these dealerships have insurance so don't worry about "you break it you bought it" stuff.

The only problem with this is that, at least at my dealership, if you as a customer get into an accident, I as the salesman pay to get it fixed...so if you are 17 and want to drive an SRT8 Charger, I will be a little nervous letting you get behind the wheel of a 425 hp car...

 

[IJ Reilly]

I'm amazed that some people will buy a car without driving it first. I suppose I shouldn't be, as I've heard that there's a inverse relationship between the amount a thing costs and the amount of time people take in deciding to buy (homes, taking the least time of all).

That said, test drives aren't very useful exercises, at least not the way most dealerships allow them. If you're really interested in a car, try renting one for a few days.

 

[Counterfit]

I work at a Dodge dealership in Jacksonville and deal with test drives every day. Oddly enough, we always insist on letting the customer go on a test drive but it is hard to get some to actually do it. I always loved test driving cars, but it is actually hard to convince some to try out a car before shelling out $30,000 for it. If you are 16 or 17, by law, we aren't supposed to let you drive the car. It is because of liability and insurance reasons. Now, sometimes if you have your parents with you, we will let it slide once we pull off the lot and find a place to park and swap drivers. As far as what you can drive, most are right...you can drive any car within reason, but you can't leave the lot in a Viper, SRT anything, or specialty vehicle unless we have proof you can afford the vehicle and have serious intent on buying it. You just have to realize that some of these vehicles are really expensive and some are even plain dangerous in the hands of some.

As far as everything else goes, appearance doesn't mean anything. I've sold $50,000 cars to people who come on the lot looking like they spent the previous night sleeping in a box. Buyers come in all types. The only thing that gets to me is when a customer is unnecessarily rude or stand offish. I've had customers curse at me for just trying to greet them. It just amazes me how mean some customers are when I am just trying to do my job. As long as you are serious about looking at the car, we try our best to help. Just realize that car salespeople work off of commission, so when you come on a Saturday and spent 3 hours going from car to car to car you are taking us away from working with someone else who is looking for someone to help them and the ability to try making some money that day.



The only problem with this is that, at least at my dealership, if you as a customer get into an accident, I as the salesman pay to get it fixed...so if you are 17 and want to drive an SRT8 Charger, I will be a little nervous letting you get behind the wheel of a 425 hp car...

The Return of Powerbook G5!! Welcome back. :

 

[miniConvert]

It helps to turn up in something half-decent if you want to be taken seriously.

That said, I've never had a problem being taken seriously. That said, I've almost always had the intent to buy, and usually have done.

Let the dealer 'educate' you

 

[janey]

Dress in a low-cut shirt and mini-skirt, and say "my daddy said I could have any car on this lot".

Oh wait, you have to be a girl for that to work. Used to work like a charm for an ex of mine though. She could turn that "spoiled rich girl" attitude on and off whenever she wanted...

I so have to try that one day.

There's a few cars I'd love to test drive...there's a lotus dealership not too far from here...and the aston martin one is a few blocks away from that...*whistles* exige and v8 vantage here i come just kidding

In all honesty though...I had no problem whatsoever test driving the mini i wanted. Even though it's sort of moot to just test drive before splurging on a car imo (although better than nothing), if you act the part, you'll probably have no trouble at all.

 

[feelthefire]

Having shopped for expensive cars before, and I am not much older than you:

they will copy your liscense as soon as you show interest in an expensive car.

If you are under 18, they will turn you down for a test drive because you cannot legally buy the car. You have to be 18 to sign a sales contract. They know they won't be selling you that $80k SUV today, even if you did have the money.

If you bring a parent, they will run that person's credit before even asking the sales manager for the keys.

You better hope on your life if anything you want to try is stick that you know how to drive it at least as well as the salesguy. I have been at dealerships buying very expensive cars, and watched people get yanked from test drives before they even reach the roadway for grinding the gears.

At 17, you really don't have enough driving experience to be confident behind the wheel of cars like these. You may find that it's not at all enjoyable. Seems like it would be but you don't have the driving skills to push the car and challenge its limits, so if you just want to drive a car down the street, go test drive a bunch of cheaper cars.

And don't go to the dealer asking to try a midsize sedan, a large SUV, and a large luxury sedan. They will know in a second what you're doing.

 

[Powerbook G5]

Look, honestly it's not like this is some sort of challenge like "see if they will let me drive 10 different cars". At the car dealership it's a business just like any other place. If you want to buy a car, you will be offered a demo drive. If it is a really expensive car or if it is a high performance car, they will most likely want to qualify you first to make sure you can both afford the car and reasonably be responsible driving it on the street. The dealership will let you drive as long as you are legally of age to drive and you are not trying to take out an SRT-10 Viper to "see what she can do".

Basically, just realize we as car sales consultants work off of commission so if you come on the lot just to dick around drive 10 different cars, it gets frustrating because we have to work and if we have a work plan with 10 customers to call and follow up on, a we owe to get taken cared of, an appointment in an hour, and then you get a 17 year old who runs around asking to drive a Charger in every color, it just makes it difficult to get our work done when we have actual customers who want to buy a car or are waiting for us to work out figures or an approval so they can take delivery.

 

[yg17]

Test driving cars that you have no intention of buying in the immediate future is just a waste of time, and if I were a salesman, I'd be pretty damn annoyed. I don't likes salesmen anymore than anyone else does, but these guys are making a living just like anyone else and your little joyride is taking them away from selling to potential customers.