That is possible, but if a salesperson does anything more than want a copy of my license for a test drive they are going to get an earful of vulgarity and me walking out. That's dirtbag level garbage.

The problem is Toyota and Subaru dealers have gotten really pathetic and used to selling cars far too easily, so they can have complete imbeciles actually earn a living selling cars now.

The best way to buy a brz is look on your local forums for actual people that sell them. There is always someone with a brain willing to give enthusiasts a good deal for an easy car sale.

Well, a test drive wouldn't affect your credit if you don't let them run it..... so.... yeah! Your point is invalid. :lol: You also seem to have a VERY rudimentary understanding of how credit works. You can test drive two billion cars and it not impact your score. You don't HAVE to hand over your social and fill an application out to test drive a car. That is the whole point of this thread, actually.... When you find the right vehicle and you know you're ready to buy, you have it ran once. If you're really smart don't even have it ran at the dealer, instead use your credit union.

That's pretty much false. Lenders don't care if you buy a vehicle. They care if you finance a vehicle. Simply test driving a vehicle does not mean you will finance it.

Test drives are not reported to the credit agencies and do not affect your credit. What affects your credit are "hard pulls" on your credit history, where a formal credit inquiry is performed in reference to taking out a loan. The dealer can't do a hard pull on your credit without your consent in writing.

There's no reason for a car dealer to do a hard inquiry on your credit just for a test drive. If they ask for your consent, simply refuse.

Further, even if you're shopping around for a car loan and getting multiple hard inquiries on your credit, that doesn't necessarily affect your credit score. The reporting system is set up to allow for shopping around for the best rate on a loan. Any effect a hard inquiry would have is suspended for 30 days pending you actually getting a loan. If you end up with a loan within a month, those inquiries don't affect your credit at all. (The loan itself will affect it, but not necessarily negatively.)

If you have a lot of hard inquiries and then don't end up with a loan, it might negatively affect your credit, but not enough to really matter or make any difference in your ability to get financing the next time you try. If you're applying for credit and getting denied, most likely your credit history isn't that good in the first place or you're simply trying to live beyond your means.

The reduction in credit rating for multiple hard pulls is intended to help prevent people from racking up a lot of separate debts simultaneously to spend beyond their means. Ten hard pulls for an auto loan is not the same at all as hard pulls for six credit cards, an auto loan, furniture financing, a second mortgage on the house and a set of rims from RimTyme all in the same month. One implies responsible use of credit. The other implies someone who just got his first job and first apartment away from mommy and daddy and has no idea how to manage money.

To put it in simple terms:
If you are worried about the affect of credit checks you probably have crappy credit to start with.

Not always. There are a lot of people whose credit is just fine, but they're inexperienced and believe silly nonsense they hear, like how test driving vehicles damages their credit or how shopping around for a better interest rate reduces their score. That leads to people deciding on a car before they drive it, driving only one car at one dealership, putting their trust in that dealer for financing and ending up paying more for a car that wasn't really their best option, financed at a higher rate than they could have gotten at a local credit union.

You don't actually have to have bad credit to make bad financial decisions.

The better your credit is, the easier it is to fall in to debt.

Also, you see it time and time again with this community in particular. A younger person gets approved for a loan on this car that they can barely afford and then want to sell it for what they owe. It's always above market value by quite a bit. Then they start talking about their rate, payment per month.... they'd have been much better off with a budget commuter for a while, building a decent credit history.

I honestly believe there should be a required course in high school dealing with credit, what apr means, what a budget is etc etc.... maybe some math..... :bonk:

This thread has been beaten to death already, but I figured I'd throw my 2 cents in anyway, because why not?


Before I bought my BRZ, I had test-drove 17 different cars. Not once was I ever asked for a credit check or a deposit to do a test drive. If I had been asked, I'd have simply said "no thanks" and walked out. I dress in "business casual" every day, I'm in my 30s, but I rolled up in a busted 11 year old Hyundai when I was doing this stuff, so it's not as if I screamed money.


A test drive is not a commitment to buy, and any dealership that is trying to prevent you from trying out their cars is not worth giving your business to. Without a test drive I probably would have favored an Audi S3 or a Camaro 2SS 1LE over the BRZ, but I quickly realized I didn't like the seating position in the Audi at all and the Camaro is completely fucking impossible to see out of and is an accident waiting to happen. These are things a test drive tells you. I test drove a CPO Alfa Romeo 4C, which let me know it'd be torture anywhere off a race track and I'd be going to a chiropractor after just trying to get in and out of it on a regular basis. All of these things you can't find out by just looking at it on a website, and I'm not going to spend my hard-earned money on anything I don't absolutely 100% love.

I had a budget of $60k, I wasn't dead-set on buying something new, I was fine with buying used for the right car, and in the end I bought a new BRZ financed at 1.35% and kept the rest of my money in investments. Overall I couldn't be happier with my purchase, and a lot of that is because I took the time to test drive a bunch of cars first so I didn't ever feel like I was "missing out".

My honest opinion is that some dealers and some salespersons are just shady. Don't do deals with shady people. Simple as that.

We have to run a credit check first!

Here in Silicon Valley, you can't go by "looks". That guy that looks like he hasn't combed his hair ever, in the wrinkled shirt and dirty jeans could be a tech millionaire.

Same with Montana. The old guy in a dirty t-shirt and velcro shoes just hopped out of a brand new S600, or Don Valentine pulls up in a '99 ML320.

I look a bit younger than I am, and dress casually on weekends. Most salesmen don't give me the time of day. Their loss, most of the real "professional" salesmen I have been around are shady as can be. I'll deal with the 20 year old kid who's putting in work to make a paycheck.

You can't judge that anywhere anymore. The tech industry has changed business culture for the better when it comes to dress. Lots of industries allow their office personal to dress much more casually because they are afraid if they don't they will jump ship.

That's true everywhere. I am in the tech industry. I used to work at the largest tech employer in the area on night shift for ~3 years. I was "unkempt" but not unclean, I just didn't really care to do up my hair or work on my beard that much when I was spending all night with just two other people in the office and only going out during daylight to eat on my days off and not much else. But I pretty much always wore flip flops, jeans, and a t-shirt with the company's logo. I would sometimes do an early lunch on my days off (staying up late) at very high-end restaurants where the average patron is in a full suit, and I'd be seated without so much as a hint of reluctance or any snide remarks. They'd see the logo on my shirt and realize even though I looked like a hobo I'd have no problem paying the bill.

The wealthiest person I know drives a 1983 Ford F-150 and dresses in long sleeved rough cotton shirts and coveralls. They're a self-made multi-millionaire that owns a bunch of extremely expensive farm and heavy equipment that they use for fun. He calls them his "big boy toys" or "life size Tonka".


Never judge a book by its cover.

I wander about myself sometimes ...

A bit of a necro, but my bet is it's the same reason they are so intent on getting your keys to "evaluate your trade-in." Once they have your keys, or your money, they can and, in my experience, will hold them hostage in an attempt to coerce you into buy a car.