Car buying in lockdown

[Changeismyname]

Has anyone bought a car while showrooms are closed? I have been keeping an eye out for something specific and a good model at a good price has come up but I have no idea how things are working at the moment. I really don’t want to buy without test driving but it looks like that isn’t an option at the moment. Is that right?

I got told that garages would still do unaccompanied test drives for serious buyers, you leave your car and keys with them while you do the test drive.

You can test drive a car atm as long as you’ve paid a deposit beforehand

Thanks ☺️

We test drove our car (which was brand new) last June. We just had to leave our really shit car and keys as security 😂😂 Thinking about it, we could have got a £25k car for the price of a 59 plate Qashqai that needed work. JOKING!!

The garage called us with details of a car we might like. It was the same model as ours though so we knew how they drive. We agreed it all without seeing the car. The dealers had a 14 day period where if we decided we didn't want it we could return it and get our old car back. It means we were able to give it a proper home trial rather than a 20 min test drive. Also we only had to go to the dealership once to pick the car. All the documents were done online. I loved the whole process. No faffing about!

We trawled online and found the car & spec. we wanted. Put down a small deposit, DH went and did a test drive, bought it and drove home. All documents completed online, it couldn't have been simpler. We had an issue with the windscreen that was sorted free of charge at a local dealer without issue.

We also looked at Cinch and Cazoo - good reviews and the process seemed really simple but neither had what we wanted. We did check all the online reviews of the dealer we bought from and they were all good.

We sold our old (very clapped out) car using We Buy Any Car who gave us a bit more than the part exchange offer made so all good there too.

We’ve bought twice during lockdown and my two daughters have each bought too.
We didn’t test drive, but none of them were old cars (but not brand new) You have 14 days to change your mind, so take it home and testdrive it at your leisure
The dealership left all the paperwork on the passenger seat and I signed everything and gave it ack to him. We stayed outside and wore masks.

There's always private sales. I sold a car during lockdown #1, much the same as ever.

I'm waiting to a delivery date for my new car. I haven't driven one. It was a really good price, discount for NHS staff.
I figured that it's a new car, it can't be that bad to drive???

Thanks all. It’s not a model/make of car I have driven before, I’ve just always wanted one. I need to make sure I like it to drive, and that it is big enough to fit the kids in the back, buggy in the boot etc (although that’s probably easier to do at home in the cooling off period than in a test drive scenario to be fair).

I bought one during lockdown. Was allowed to test drive it but salesperson didn’t accompany me.

Our local showroom make you pay a deposit first, you then take the car for a drive, and if you don't like it, you get your deposit back right away.

Buying a new car without test driving. All done on the phone. Salesman said car sales are booming.