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

[Monvelo]

Went to a big car dealership just to have a first look at some options. After looking, there were three types of car in the running so I asked about booking in test drives for a future date. I was told that they only let you test drive the one you are definitely interested in, having helped you narrow it down to just one. The reasons given were that it would take over an hour of staff time, it would be too confusing to me as the driver, and it's just not how they do things. I just don't understand this, based on price, space, mileage, reg etc, there is nothing to pick between the three types of car, so surely I would want to drive all three to see what I prefer!

@Niallig32839 but having looked in the flesh today there was nothing to choose between the three types, other than which I like driving best! I wasn't expecting to drive them today just to book it in for next weekend.

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

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

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

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

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)

I don't care about that specific one. They had 3 or 4 of each type that met my criteria.
Interesting to hear your perspective though so thanks.

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

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

Ive been to many dealerships and there's one local one I really rate so helpful and I've driven 3 before to get the right one. They deliver across the country apparently so must be decent! Car supermarkets are just after a sale and I'm pretty sure the sales people get more commission on different cars as they never seem to give a crap what you want, just push you onto certain cars.

Did they let you test the indicators were working?

I drove 4 cars at Porsche all vastly different, all difference prices and all lovely. So I’d go to a different dealer tell them about the other one and get them to get your 3 cars sorted. 👍

That's shocking. Go somewhere else

I bought a car from Fords of Winsford a few years back (a large all-makes car supermarket in the North West of the UK) and they were brilliant. Without asking any questions, they handed over keys to three cars at a time to sit in, start the engines etc and then arranged for me to drive the ones I was most interested in. Given that the main role of the dealership you went to is to sell cars, I can only assume they couldn't be bothered to assist you. It's rare that the sales people are rushed off their feet for every hour of the day. It's too big an expense to get wrong. Go somewhere else.

Go elsewhere, car supermarket places often don’t care if it’s a little more effort. Try a smaller dealership and they’ll often let you test drive as many as you like.

And that’s fine for you, but if other people do think that a test drive is important for them, why should they not be allowed to?

they can do what they like, in my experience a 1 day test drive doesn’t tell you what’s good or bad about a car. It certainly won’t tell you what you will or want like or can go wrong long term

I can never be bothered to test drive a car. I do some online research and then haggle for the best price I can get.

My last 2 purchases were both £50k+ and I never sat in either car until the day I picked them up.

But a relatively short test drive WILL tell you if you can get the seat, steering wheel, mirrors etc. into a good position for 5 foot me AND 6 foot DH. It will tell you if the pedals and gearstick are a comfortable reach (I actually couldn’t drive one car I test drove because if the seat was forward enough for me to reach the pedals I couldn’t comfortably use the gearstick). It will tell you what the all round visibility is like. It will tell you (if needed) that your pushchair will fit in the boot and leave room for shopping.

Right so you probably bought a “marque”.

”I don’t care whether these shoes actually fit and if I can walk in them - they’re Louboutins, the red sole is what matters”.

No it won’t tell you what will go wrong long term (although if you’re mechanically savvy like my partner then it will pick up engine noises or rattles that indicate if there may be an issue or something close to wear out) but it certainly will tell you if the visibility is good for you, if the seating position is comfortable, whether the buttons and the control panel are well situated and easy to use, if the car has a decent amount of power and torque in low and high gears, how it feels to corner, if the radio picks up decent reception, where the bite point on the clutch is etc. Basically all things you cannot tell about a car from researching it online.

The whole car buying process is abysmal and set up to be antagonistic. A combination of dreadful customer service from dealerships and some dim buyers who don’t know what they want and haven’t done any research. Everyone from salespeople to buyers think the other is trying to put one over on them. Buying a new car they will try and sell you GAP insurance, paint protection, wheel insurance and other stuff you don’t need or could get cheaper elsewhere.

Surely that's the ad a Tage of a dealership. You test drive. You can't buying online.👁

One garage, when asked if I could test drive a car, said, if you get your husband to come with you, you can test drive it'- Reader - I never went back

I went to a dealership before buying my current car about three years ago.
They were dreadful; pushy, misogynistic and rude. I test drove one car and mentioned that I was testing another at a different dealership. They were disparaging and said I couldn’t possibly like that car as the clutch was slightly offset.
I gave up and went to Arnold Clark, who were friendly and helpful. They gave a stonking great discount and many extras.
They even phoned me me six weeks later to say they’d accidentally taken £100 more than I owed so pays the back with interest.