Aibu to expect to test drive 3 cars at a dealership?

I wouldn't buy a car without test driving it.

I don’t get this, the last 5 cars are ones I wanted and didn’t test drive any of them them

I’ve had this a couple of times when buying cars.

one with my partner - a car for him. He knew the model he wanted and was trying to assess if a newer model was better than an older one. At one place (which only had the newer one) they refused to let him test drive it unless he put down a deposit, which clearly we weren’t prepared to do at that stage, though we were serious buyers.

the other place was a car supermarket type place who again would only let you drive a car once you’d put down a deposit (as a “confirmatory” test drive). I wanted to drive 2-3 different models to decide which was best for me, so again, it was no good and we left.

I just don’t understand it. No way would I commit to buy a car without test driving it, and that’s part of the decision making process for me - how it feels to drive, is it comfortable, do the controls work well for me, how do the gears feel etc.

I don’t understand this expectation that someone should be prepared to spend thousands of pounds on a car from an on paper specification alone.

in both cases above, we bought a car from a dealer who let us freely test drive the car without any specific commitment (and funnily enough, we both purchased swiftly following the test drive)

Hopefully you didn’t buy one, not the best. That is unless you can afford an amg

In a weeks time the same cars might be sold and your back to the start again.

I test drove 3 mercs when I was deciding which one to buy. They can’t be bothered.

Go to 3 different dealers and play them off against each other. Simple

Going into a dealership with the expectation to test drive so many isn’t how it normally goes, if you went to see a car, drove it then decided to try another it would likely be handled differently. A good salesperson and customer ready to buy a car has done some research and has some idea what they want so can narrow down the car pretty well. Shows the sales consultant you might be wasting time and not any commitment to buying or near ready to buy. It’s nothing to do with how much your spending as in almost all dealerships the commission isn’t related to value of the car. I’ve worked in the car industry for around 8 dealerships.

Things like height on the road, comfort of seat when driving and feel of the drive can't really be told properly without driving it.
I love our car but haven't liked hire cars despite being "nicer" models.

If you like the cars they have, just ask to drive one, say you don't like it, ask to drive the next, say you don't like it and try the third. Then select the one you want if it's still available.

Of course you're not being unreasonable. Buying a car is a huge expense and you'll need to check it out properly. We said no to a car on second viewing as they wouldn't let me test drive it because DH had already taken it out. Bloody patronising as they looked at me with that "you're just a woman" face. In fact I have more interest in cars than DH does. We gave our money to the garage that was happy for both of us to try the car, we just left our car keys as security and showed our driving licences, both of which I thought was very reasonable.

Maybe they figure you're not going to buy. I have noticed that sales people often seem to know, even before I realise it myself!

I did this once, drove on the motorway for 4 junctions, turned around, popped home to hang out the washing and returned to the dealership. Didn't by THAT car, but did go on to buy one from there a few weeks later

We were looking for a car a couple of months ago. One garage we went to felt like the sales guy was telling us which car to buy. Too pushy, steering us towards certain cars, asking too many (irrelevant) questions. He didn't get a sale.

We went to test drive elsewhere, anything that we were interested in, they just went and got the keys and left us to have a browse. Much better experience. Going to the expense of buying a car is a big commitment, you should be able to test drive and see what you are happy with. If they deny you that, walk away.

I’ve test driven one I liked on paper and it made a horrible booming noise once over 60mph - no way was I buying it, though I did buy and love the same car with a bigger engine.

One a few years later I liked on paper, test drove it and discovered it hesitated every time I put my foot down, the seat was uncomfortable despite multiple adjustments, the gear stick was fiddly and I didn’t like the rear visibility.

I won’t buy a car unless I’ve driven it including at motorway speed and I tell them when I book it that I will be doing more than pootling round the block. I don’t do it for entertainment or for the sake of it - I’ve test driven six cars in my life and I bought four of them!

Or, refusing to let anyone test out more than one car, they end up selling 0

Your obviously not someone who enjoys driving. There can be a big difference in how different cars feel to drive.

They are on tight margins.
Go to the dedicated dealerships of the cars you like, test drive them there, then go back to the car warehouse to buy your car of choice at a lower price.
Bear in mind, you may even get a better price at the actual dealership though!

These places have tighter margins and don’t want to spend hours with you
so whilst it a lot of money for you to spend there only a small margin in it for them
if they took 3 people out in 1 car each they’d have a chance of selling 3 cars
taking 1 person out in 3 cars they have a chance of selling 1

Last few cars I've taken out by myself. It's a shame really as my favourite test drive was the one where the young, cock sure salesperson came out with me, turned green and kept reminding me of the speed limit 🤣

I’ve never quite understood the point of test drives. I think people just do it for entertainment. You’re only pootling round the block; you’re not on Top Gear.