Test Driving a C6 NOT Allowed at Dealer?

[MsSchroder]

When I purchased the extended warranty on my 02 Z a few years ago, I said hello to the sales manager who sold it to me. I was not in the market for a new C6, but he insisted on dragging me out to sit in one, crank it up, and he practically begged me to test drive it.

Of course I knew it would be all over with if I did that, so I declined

 

[caddy]

No Problem at Munday Chevy in Houston, Dude asked me which ones I wanted to test drive I told him one auto, One six speed and one Vert', he drove them off the Showroom floor tossed me the keys and off I went, then came back the following Sat with the wife and did it all over again..........And that's why I bought my new vette from Munday Chevy, and I'll probably buy my C7 from them also.....
Great place to do business...
Went to Ray childress's place in Hempstead, "Lawerance/Marshall" Chevy they wouldn't let me test drive a vette so I told em' to shove it.......

 

[Ozone]

That's funny...NONE of the Chevy dealers (or as I call them Corvette Collectors) in San Antonio allowed ME a test drive. That's why I was shocked when the salesperson at CARMAX tossed me the keys/fob and said "let's go".

 

[Vetteman77]

No Problem at Munday Chevy in Houston, Dude asked me which ones I wanted to test drive I told him one auto, One six speed and one Vert', he drove them off the Showroom floor tossed me the keys and off I went, then came back the following Sat with the wife and did it all over again..........And that's why I bought my new vette from Munday Chevy, and I'll probably buy my C7 from them also.....
Great place to do business...
Went to Ray childress's place in Hempstead, "Lawerance/Marshall" Chevy they wouldn't let me test drive a vette so I told em' to shove it.......

Funny, I was in Dallas not ever in a million years thinking about buying a vette, when my friend saw a GTO at a dealer in Dallas, TX from the road, so we stopped. I was just looking at the vettes druling at the mouth and this young guy (like 24) walks up to me and says, "you want to drive one?" I said, "no, I am just looking, my friend over ther wanted to look at that GTO. He asked again and I said there was no way his manager would let me drive one. Now picture this, I am wearing shorts, sandals and a ball cap on backwards. He said he would be write back. Long story short, I drove 3 of them and that was all it took. I had to have one. So I called the wife, got the approval after the shock was over and started talking numbers. I said, let me look in Houston, TX on my home and I will let you know. I spent about 2 months looking in houston and surrounding. Once I found what I was looking for, I started calling. LONESTAR CHEVROLET in Houston, TX off of HYW290 had one I liked. I delt with this guy for over a week, and he just kind of looked at me like I was this young punk. I went to every dealer with this green hat on backwards that said lucky charms on the front. I did this because I want to see who stereotypes me and judges me. Well, I decided on 2 cars I wanted to buy and they were at different dealerships. I went to LONESTAR CHEVROLET first, walked up with my sandals and backwards cap, a man met me half way over to the vette and said, "can I help you?" I said I want to drive this car right here and If I like it, I'm going to buy it today. He kind of looked at me funny and my brother was like, "why do you have to come over here looking like a bum with your hat on backwards?" I started laughing. The salesman came back outside and said, "I can't let you drive the car, we don't let people drive corvettes, a guy that really wanted to buy a corvette would understand that." I freaked out and said, "I'll give you 5 minutes to get the keys or I'm walking." He said, "it's not about time, your not driving the car!" So I went to Bill Heard, they let me any car I wanted but tried to sell me a car $10,000 yes $10,000 OVER invoice. :L is what I did. So back to my brothers house in Houston I went to surf the net one more time for my car. Landmark Chevrolet had some close to it so we went. It was 9:00 pm and I walked in and said that I just wanted to look at some cars and they said no problem, we don't close until all customers are gone. I walked in after a few minutes and told the guy that the internet showed there inventory to be more full than the lot was showing. He said that they had some out back and took me back there with a flashlight. Amongst the many dirty cars sitting in the very back with all of the shipping plastic still attached was my white whale, as my brother and I called it. I said, that one, I like that one, can I drive it? He said, "yes, let me write down the VIN numbers on these other cars so I can go and get all the keys to move them so we can get that one out." I was in such shock, that I told him not to worry about it. We walked inside and made the deal (invoice + 200.00) and I picked it up the next day after its' bath...:cool

Long story I know, but it just goes to show you that you should never judge a book by its' cover or a man by his hat...

I was not even looking to by any car at all, an when I drove that vette in Dallas, that was it baby. I will be a vette owner for life......

 

[Vettepirate]

My dealer didnt let me test drive the car until it was almost a done deal.

I shouldnt have expected any different, id just turned 22.

Sometimes though, the dealers are quite liberal about letting you drive their cars. I ask them why they dont worry more than they do, its usually something like "we have insurance"

 

[Vetteman77]

True, True. I think the Big Dog dealers are more willing to let you drive them...

 

[Patrick]

I think Andre has it correct when he says there's a certain amount of "visual pre-qualification" on the part of a saleman as to whether you are a serious Corvette buyer or not: how old are you? How are you dressed? What did you drive up in and what condition is it in? Not really fair, but there it is.

I also think certain Chevy dealerships just have larger volumes of sales when it comes to Corvettes, and that influences the dealership policy with respect to Corvettes. If your allocation is relatively small because your dealership mainly sells trucks, you're probably going to be less likely to give let someone take one of them for a spin.

There may also be something to the notion of insurance a dealership has to pay for all the cars they're holding on their lot. If a particular dealership is located in an area with a heavy traffic volumes on surrounding streets, there may be some reluctance to letting a Corvette go out for a test drive due to the risk of accidents.

Having said all of that, I can tell you that in the Denver Metro Area, in the past seven years, any time I've gone to a dealership to look at a Corvette, I've always been asked if I wanted to take a test drive- never even had to ask. The only exception to that was a local Corvette-only specialty dealership, offering used Corvettes. They were a very small operation and had a strict "no one test drives our cars" policy. I learned they went out of business a couple of years ago.

-Patrick

 

[Edmond]

I just don't understand how they expect someone to make a decision on something that is $45,000+ without even testing it out. I think that's a great way to not only lose the sale on the Corvette but also any trucks or daily drivers that potential customer could've bought from the dealership.

 

[linda lake]

I agree,try different dealers.When I bought my 05,the first dealer had just two and they were both on display in the show room. The second dealer let me sit in one on their floor but it had just sold two hours before I got there.Ah but the third dealer had atleast 6 on the lot and he had no problem letting me test drive a couple,guess where I bought mine.
L.Lake(LITLZO6)

 

[Vetteman77]

I just don't understand how they expect someone to make a decision on something that is $45,000+ without even testing it out. I think that's a great way to not only lose the sale on the Corvette but also any trucks or daily drivers that potential customer could've bought from the dealership.

My point exactly!!!! :cool

 

[MsSchroder]

. I went to every dealer with this green hat on backwards that said lucky charms on the front. I did this because I want to see who stereotypes me and judges me.

Excellent story. I like the way you operate. The final step would be to take a photo of your vette and make a copy of the paid sales receipt, and mail it to every bozo who treated you badly. Ah, sweet revenge

 

[Vetteman77]

I love the way you think!!:cool

I was in Houston this weekend wishing I was in my car so I could go by those dealers who rejected me and laugh in there face. :bash

I do realize my tactics were a little rough around the edges. I mean, a hat that says "Lucky Charms," who are we kidding here...:L
Thanks for the post MsSchroder!

 

[NORTY]

Hey, they're magically delicious!

 

[Vetteman77]

Hey, they're magically delicious!

You know it. Is that a great picture or what. Me going into a dealer with that hat on! Magically delicious......good stuff Norty!!:cool

 

[starfury]

I am looking at buying an 08 early next year. Myself and a friend went to 3 different Chevy dealers(Stevinson,Burt, & Emich) in the metro Denver area and one dealer in Ft. Lupton (Purifoy) who specializes in vettes. We were told at each dealer no test drive unless you are a serious buyer because of insurance reasons. I was wearing my jeans and a collar shirt and all of them except Emich knew I was Fed.

Yeah, I find it interesting I can test drive a 50k+ BMW, Audi and Infiniti but not a vette. My heart is set on getting an 08 but if all these local dealers have problems, then it might just sway me to look for another vehicle, which I really don't want to do.

 

[Evolution1980]

I am looking at buying an 08 early next year. We were told at each dealer no test drive unless you are a serious buyer...

If you told them that, wouldn't that make you a serious potential buyer? I'd probably tell them, "Look, I can't get serious about a car I can't first test drive! The BMW, Lexus, etc. dealerships let me drive their cars, so right now they are getting more attention from me."

Also, if they see you AND a friend looking to test drive a two-seater, they may be thinking "joy ride". Try going by yourself next time. Then the passenger seat can be occupied by the salesman and not your friend.


Don't know what to tell you. It bothers me when people aren't allowed test drive a vette, even the base model. Especially if these are dealers that specialize in vettes and have more than just a couple on hand, in stock.

I hope you find one that lets you test drive!
Welcome to the

 

[starfury]

Good Idea

Good idea. I didn't think about that, having a friend along. I even talked to the owner of the the dealership in Ft. Lupton for almost an hour and test drive was still a no go. But the good thing was when they started talking price, the dealer dropped almost 3k right off the top of a fully loaded 08 3LT coupe. Don't know about the 4LT pkg, would have to see one in person.

It was funny. When I drove the Bmw 335i, a C6 pulled into the Bimmer parking lot and I noticed everyone, customers and salespeople eyeballing it. Just goes to show the vette has the prowess and looks. Just got to wait 5 more months!!!! Oh, and I will get my test drive............

If you told them that, wouldn't that make you a serious potential buyer? I'd probably tell them, "Look, I can't get serious about a car I can't first test drive! The BMW, Lexus, etc. dealerships let me drive their cars, so right now they are getting more attention from me."

Also, if they see you AND a friend looking to test drive a two-seater, they may be thinking "joy ride". Try going by yourself next time. Then the passenger seat can be occupied by the salesman and not your friend.


Don't know what to tell you. It bothers me when people aren't allowed test drive a vette, even the base model. Especially if these are dealers that specialize in vettes and have more than just a couple on hand, in stock.

I hope you find one that lets you test drive!
Welcome to the

 

[Patrick]

I am looking at buying an 08 early next year. Myself and a friend went to 3 different Chevy dealers(Stevinson,Burt, & Emich) in the metro Denver area and one dealer in Ft. Lupton (Purifoy) who specializes in vettes. We were told at each dealer no test drive unless you are a serious buyer because of insurance reasons. I was wearing my jeans and a collar shirt and all of them except Emich knew I was Fed.

Yeah, I find it interesting I can test drive a 50k+ BMW, Audi and Infiniti but not a vette. My heart is set on getting an 08 but if all these local dealers have problems, then it might just sway me to look for another vehicle, which I really don't want to do.

I find this very interesting, starfury. Oh, and welcome to the

I purchased my first Corvette (a red '91 Coupe) from Purifoy. My next was a 2003 Z06 I purchased from Burt. And my current '06 Convertible I purchased at Johnson Auto Plaza. I had no problem getting a test drive in any of those occasions. None.

Of course, in all of those cases, I had sent an email via their websites enquiring about the car I was interested in, and sort of scheduled a time with the internet sales manager to come look at it. In the case of the Z06 I purchased, and the '06 Vert, I drove to the dealership in (what was, at the time) my current Corvette. But even in the case of the first Corvette I purchased at Purifoy, they had no hesitation about offering a test drive.

Perhaps it's who you are talking to at the dealership?

-Patrick

 

[Gersh]

I am looking at buying an 08 early next year. Myself and a friend went to 3 different Chevy dealers(Stevinson,Burt, & Emich) in the metro Denver area and one dealer in Ft. Lupton (Purifoy) who specializes in vettes. We were told at each dealer no test drive unless you are a serious buyer because of insurance reasons. I was wearing my jeans and a collar shirt and all of them except Emich knew I was Fed.

Yeah, I find it interesting I can test drive a 50k+ BMW, Audi and Infiniti but not a vette. My heart is set on getting an 08 but if all these local dealers have problems, then it might just sway me to look for another vehicle, which I really don't want to do.

The difference between a Corvette and BMW, Audi, or WTF is that a Corvette is known to be a fun sports car. The others are yuppie status symbols--they aren't fun to drive, so why do it if you aren't going to buy.
I went to the Boomland, the fireworks store, and asked to test drive a few fireworks--no way!

 

[Evolution1980]

The others are yuppie status symbols--they aren't fun to drive, so why do it if you aren't going to buy.

Not to hijack the thread, but I wouldn't say the 'yuppie' cars aren't fun to drive!
The M3 is a total blast! And the Audi Quattro's equally so. Each car has it's representative fun factor. It's just different fun in each car. (End of hijack :cool)