Test driving a car

Happyouter

How long would a garage give you a car to test drive? A second hand car.

Anan1

Happyouter wrote: »

How long would a garage give you a car to test drive? A second hand car.

Take as long as you reasonably need (i'd say 20 mins ish is fair myself). It takes longer for people who don't know cars, any decent garage should facilitate you.

kildare.17hmr

I have a test drive route for customers, its about 4 miles round the block and covers a good straight road and a twisting back road so they can get a good feel for the car. takes anywhere from 5 to 10 mins depending on the driver and this is plenty. let the car warm up for a few mins before you go and have a look around it while it is running and also under the bonnet while its running and do this again when you return.

Anan1 wrote: »

Take as long as you reasonably need (i'd say 20 mins ish is fair myself). It takes longer for people who don't know cars, any decent garage should facilitate you.

You must have been watching wheeler dealer, he always says that:D TBH if i was to go on a 20 minute test drive with every person who came to look at a car i wouldnt get much else done. I also find that people who dont no about cars go 500 meters up the road and ask where they can turn around!

Anan1

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

TBH if i was to go on a 20 minute test drive with every person who came to look at a car i wouldnt get much else done. I also find that people who dont no about cars go 500 meters up the road and ask where they can turn around!

There is a balance there, I think 20 mins is fair if the customer is genuinely very serious about buying the car. You're right though, the people who really should be taking time over the test drive generally don't. We regularly see posts here from people annoyed about things that they really should have seen on the test drive.

kildare.17hmr

Anan1 wrote: »

There is a balance there, I think 20 mins is fair if the customer is genuinely very serious about buying the car. You're right though, the people who really should be taking time over the test drive generally don't. We regularly see posts here from people annoyed about things that they really should have seen on the test drive.

I would agree and i must admit that from time to time i have done the very long test drives, one lasted nearly 2 hrs but that was an Eclass merc with a parce tag of 25k hangin off the window! "oh yes sir take as long as you need";) your right they should take longer but from experience once they say "yep thats ok, where can i turn around?" i aint gonna argue because they are ready to deal!:D

djimi

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

your right they should take longer but from experience once they say "yep thats ok, where can i turn around?" i aint gonna argue because they are ready to deal!:D

Or theyve realised that the car is a POS and want out of it ASAP

Tbh if Im buying a car Ill usually insist that I test drive it until Im sure I want it. If a dealer is only allowing me go 500m down the road then Ill assume that there is something wrong with the car that he doesnt want me to discover. However if the dealer is willing to let me drive it wherever I want for as long as I want Im fairly happy that hes confident that the car is okay. Obviously Im not going to take the piss, and 10-15 minutes is usually plenty of time to get a feel for the car.

kildare.17hmr

djimi wrote: »

Or theyve realised that the car is a POS and want out of it ASAP
Ah so thats ehat happens when they say they'll be in touch and never hear from them again!!

Tbh if Im buying a car Ill usually insist that I test drive it until Im sure I want it. If a dealer is only allowing me go 500m down the road then Ill assume that there is something wrong with the car that he doesnt want me to discover. However if the dealer is willing to let me drive it wherever I want for as long as I want Im fairly happy that hes confident that the car is okay. Obviously Im not going to take the piss, and 10-15 minutes is usually plenty of time to get a feel for the car.

I only every find its the people buying the expensive merc or bmw that will want a test drive like that, and they have arainged it over the phone before they even come and look! not once can i remember has a customer said anything about the route we use being to short, once or twice young lads have asked to go round a second time but that was out of excitment more than anything else! but your right i would be very cautious of someone that says turn around here after only a few hundred meters!

Magenta

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

I also find that people who dont no about cars go 500 meters up the road and ask where they can turn around!

I did that once. Got into a Focus, it was advertised as having a full service history but the log book hadn't been stamped in quite a while.
Soon as I put the foot down I noticed the speedo wasn't working.
I put 2 and 2 together and figured that the car hadn't been looked after- a responsible owner would get something like the speedo fixed!- and there's no shortage of Focus' (Focii?) around, so I turned back.

kildare.17hmr

Magenta wrote: »

I did that once. Got into a Focus, it was advertised as having a full service history but the log book hadn't been stamped in quite a while.
Soon as I put the foot down I noticed the speedo wasn't working.
I put 2 and 2 together and figured that the car hadn't been looked after- a responsible owner would get something like the speedo fixed!- and there's no shortage of Focus' (Focii?) around, so I turned back.

I wouldnt have dismissed it so soon without queering the speedo not working, if it was a newer model it could have been something as simple as an abs sensor that was on the blink, quite common nowadays and easily fixed! the previous owner perhaps didnt get it done as they were planning on changing the car and didnt want to spend any money! alot of problems like this can be resolved by talking to the dealer and asking questions and if he is prepaired to fix any problems and stand over it with a warranty then there should be no issue!

Magenta

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

I wouldnt have dismissed it so soon without queering the speedo not working, if it was a newer model it could have been something as simple as an abs sensor that was on the blink, quite common nowadays and easily fixed! the previous owner perhaps didnt get it done as they were planning on changing the car and didnt want to spend any money! alot of problems like this can be resolved by talking to the dealer and asking questions and if he is prepaired to fix any problems and stand over it with a warranty then there should be no issue!

It was a 2003 model and the dealer's response was "I didn't even notice".
There's too many cars around for me to be bothered buying one with at least one thing (that I could see) wrong with it.

kildare.17hmr

yeah i think you were right so if it was 2003, loads to choose from! did you get one in the end?

Magenta

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

yeah i think you were right so if it was 2003, loads to choose from! did you get one in the end?

Yeah I just figured "feck this there's a million Focus' in the country, I'm not bothered with this one!".

I didn't get one in the end. I was approved for the loan but stalled for a few weeks to think about it, then suddenly the recession hit and I pulled out of the loan application and emigrated a few weeks later.
Probably one of the best decisions I made, because the company I worked for at the time had mass redundancies 2 months later including everyone I started with, so I would have been out of a job and saddled with a big loan!

kildare.17hmr

Magenta wrote: »

Yeah I just figured "feck this there's a million Focus' in the country, I'm not bothered with this one!".

I didn't get one in the end. I was approved for the loan but stalled for a few weeks to think about it, then suddenly the recession hit and I pulled out of the loan application and emigrated a few weeks later.
Probably one of the best decisions I made, because the company I worked for at the time had mass redundancies 2 months later including everyone I started with, so I would have been out of a job and saddled with a big loan!

Lucky escape dude;):D

L-M

I've more or less the same test route for all test drives, and one or two other options in the case of heavy traffic. If the customer seems interested I'll offer to extend the route by showing them where they can go, if not I'll say nothing.

I'd never give a car out over a weekend or for a few hours, simply because I've NEVER seen a sale come out of it, only gotten one back that was taken on a family trip and was manky.

Most people will know after a short trip whether it's from them or not, and as for spotting problems, that's what the warranty is for