Annoyned by dealership refusing a test drive

[Jetnoise]

I don't know what a "newspaper" is, but I certainly wouldn't buy one from you either. Could you be so kind as to post what dealership you work for, so I can tell all my friends and family not to do business there either? If you're not worried about losing customers while flexing on the internet, this shouldn't be an issue for you.

From the school of hard knocks.....
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… or …. an acronym for ‘north, east, west, south, past and present events report’

…. or ….. it’s a concatenation of the words “news” and “paper”:

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[EmCel]

Imagine going on a test drive with the OP and missing another customer who buys a car on a $10k deal, boom, you missed $2500 commission because you said yes on a test drive for a customer that told you up front he is not buying anything...

I'm gonna have to agree with this too because I do a bit of sales and don't waste my time with someone that's going to spend $200 to $500 vs another potential buyer who doesn't even care about charging $5,000 on their CC that same day. I don't get commission, I just don't like dealing with cheap ppl.

Once I know for sure that I have "that $$$" customer, my sales tactics and flirting skills come into play and works like a charm. I don't see anything wrong with it either. It's business.

Also, I only go to the dealerships if I'm buying a car the same day. My own loan in hand and all.

 

[Dory]

OP here, a few more points:

• The salesperson was still respectful and I was friendly back, but maybe projected a slight air of dissatisfaction, but it was not a bad encounter.
• This is the nicest ford dealership in my city so I normally go to it.
• I fully intended for the salesperson to ride along and wanted no more than 10 minutes of actual driving with no "racing around." This was litearlly going to be more like a set cruise for 40 and jot down which gear the car was in rpm type thing in my notes and then for 45, 55, 60 ect...
• I think you guys are right in that the sales/service are different "teams" and maybe even companies so that is why this whole thing went south.
• The car was not sold, not sure why that came up.

 

[Jaymar]

If I had a dollar for every one of these customers I'd be a rich man when the be-back bus rolled into town. I think some people are missing a very important point here trying to generalize salesmen. You think it was rude of him and lazy not to accommodate what basically amounts to a joyride in the company's property but what about asking a professional to do his job for free while also forgoing other possibilities to make a living during that time? Can you see how rude that is from the salesman's perspective? All on the prospect that you might be back some day to buy something? I had countless repeat customers in my time doing sales and even a few consults work out but not a single button pushing dingus ever came back to buy something "someday."

 

[shogun32]

Why drive the car unless the price is acceptable?

I've been into the same Dodge dealership a half dozen times to look at cars and they didn't bat an eye when I asked for a test drive. They let me pick the route, too which was a mini-torture test. I've even gone in to look at a used car told them I'm not really intersted in buying today, just want a look at it, to check the interior and overall condition, and the salesman says "One sec, I'll grab the keys and you can drive it" Even if they had to dig it out of the lot. Some people know how to sell, some are just morons.

I stood in my local Ford dealership sales floor this afternoon 2:30-3:30 and had LONG series of conversations with the various sales guys because NOT ONE customer was around. Sure, I bought 2 cars from them but if I had wanted to take a spin in the used Porsche on the lot or the new Mach-E (one of 3) sitting on the lot, Crystal would have grabbed her purse, the key and we would have gone down the road a piece to my handling loop and put the car thru it's paces.

If you're just joyriding and taking up time that could be serving an actual paying customer already milling around the showroom, sure that's in poor taste but the vast majority of the time these guys sit on their hands with nothing to do.

 

[young at heart]

I think that probably the biggest reason there exists strong feelings on both sides of this is because most of the pro-OP opinions come from younger folks who have no real conception of how a dealership works. One day it may change, but for now auto dealerships are not like Verizon stores.

And to the poster asking if there was an overall person who cared about both departments, sure there is. But this is such a trivial matter that it would never get to the GM, much less the dealer principal.

 

[young at heart]

I've been into the same Dodge dealership a half dozen times to look at cars and they didn't bat an eye when I asked for a test drive. They let me pick the route, too which was a mini-torture test. I've even gone in to look at a used car told them I'm not really intersted in buying today, just want a look at it, to check the interior and overall condition, and the salesman says "One sec, I'll grab the keys and you can drive it" Even if they had to dig it out of the lot. Some people know how to sell, some are just morons.

I‘d guess that “salesman“, who sold you nothing, may have moved on to a more suitable line of work by now. While he was fiddling around with a dead end who “wasn’t really interested in buying today”, his moronic co-workers were actually busy putting bread on the table.

Morons? I’m thinking not.

 

[Bugs]

My older cousin was my car hero. He got me started in plastic models in the 60's, slot cars in the 70's and then into Autocross - or as he called it in Colorado: Gymkhana.

Returning from a year in Vietnam, he bought a Porsche 914-6. Though he couldn't afford a Ferrari, he really wanted to test drive one. Unfortunately, the local dealership refused.

He figured driving up in a 914 made him look too financially-challenged to be a credible customer. He talked the Porsche dealership into letting him take a used 911 for a test. He drove it straight to the Ferrari dealership, where he finally got his test drive.

 

[shogun32]

I‘d guess that “salesman“, who sold you nothing, may have moved on to a more suitable line of work by now.

nope, he's still there. Been there 10+ years if I remember. When you've got 30 odd sales guys on the floor and 10 customers, and you get paid $250/car regardless of the sale price, they're happy to have something to do.

 

[shogun32]

or as he called it in Japan: Gymkhana.

fixed.

 

[vanquishvzla]

I don't know what a "newspaper" is, but I certainly wouldn't buy one from you either. Could you be so kind as to post what dealership you work for, so I can tell all my friends and family not to do business there either? If you're not worried about losing customers while flexing on the internet, this shouldn't be an issue for you.

nobody is flexing anything... but imagine that i had issues, every time someone i don't know tells me he/she won't buy a car from me... that's like worrying about what people you don't know say something on social media.... pfff.... can't care less...

I deal with thousands of customers a year, one more, one less, makes no difference.

 

[Jetnoise]

you're just a scared kid looking for love.

GUILTY AS CHARGED!!!!!!!

 

[Rapid Red]

Not letting someone test drive a 6 year old used car is just stupid and makes no sense.

They lost a customer over it.

I don't think so, they did not have a customer to begin with. That's what makes the whole post absurd.

 

[17Magnetic5.0]

OP here, a few more points:

• The salesperson was still respectful and I was friendly back, but maybe projected a slight air of dissatisfaction, but it was not a bad encounter.
• This is the nicest ford dealership in my city so I normally go to it.
• I fully intended for the salesperson to ride along and wanted no more than 10 minutes of actual driving with no "racing around." This was litearlly going to be more like a set cruise for 40 and jot down which gear the car was in rpm type thing in my notes and then for 45, 55, 60 ect...
• I think you guys are right in that the sales/service are different "teams" and maybe even companies so that is why this whole thing went south.
• The car was not sold, not sure why that came up.

I can tell you what gears I’m in if that’ll help next time I drive the car.

 

[Rapid Red]

I don't know what a "newspaper" is, but I certainly wouldn't buy one from you either. Could you be so kind as to post what dealership you work for, so I can tell all my friends and family not to do business there either? If you're not worried about losing customers while flexing on the internet, this shouldn't be an issue for you.

Seriously you don't know what a "newspaper" is ?

LOL I guess you don't get out much . They are best used in the bottom of bird cages & some folks wrap fish in them.

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