86 Test Drives

[newft86]

Originally Posted by Nafe

Sucks for those people who work long hours Monday to Friday huh.....

We're willing to make allowances for people with special circumstances. Please call me to discuss on 0298288948 or 0406237776, cheers, Andrew Smith, Warren Toyota.

P.S. And this one's for you m0nty :P I'm a sales representative, not a sales consultant but your point is well taken.

P.P.S. Loki556, i understand where you're coming from as i have worked at dealerships that do test drives in that fashion in the past and ours used to be one of them. Unfortunately the last time one of our departments allowed a potential customer to test drive solo, he stole the car. That put an end to unaccompanied test drives. Not implying that anyone else is a thief but it's too high a risk for us, especially as we would be unable to replace the car for some time. Also, regrettably, i had to eject a potential customer from the driver's seat a fortnight ago when he refused my request to slow down as he was doing over 100 kph in a 60 zone in a matter of seconds and was in the process of dropping the clutch and about to plant his foot to the floor in third gear - i basically had to yell at him to get his attention and summarily drove him back to the dealership where he was asked to leave.

Now, granted you may not be 18 years old, neither was the person i stopped driving our car, as a matter of fact he is a gold c class licence holder. So far i have had more courtesy shown to our bosses property by younger people than more supposedly mature adults.

The problem with this type of vehicle is that tonnes of people have invested alot of their dreams into owning one and let's face it - the car is very exciting to drive, unfortunately this also seems to bring out the worst in people. The allure of the 86/BRZ is very powerful and of course people want to push it a bit, they've been waiting for over 2 years. We understand that, however, if we lose some clients because we are careful with our cars then so be it. Experience has taught us what we should and shouldn't do.

No disrespect intended and you may very well be the exception to the rule here but we'd have to be nuts to let people test drive this car solo, it's just asking for trouble.

[vtecr]

Originally Posted by newft86

We're willing to make allowances for people with special circumstances. Please call me to discuss on 0298288948 or 0406237776, cheers, Andrew Smith, Warren Toyota.

P.S. And this one's for you m0nty :P I'm a sales representative, not a sales consultant but your point is well taken.

P.P.S. Loki556, i understand where you're coming from as i have worked at dealerships that do test drives in that fashion in the past and ours used to be one of them. Unfortunately the last time one of our departments allowed a potential customer to test drive solo, he stole the car. That put an end to unaccompanied test drives. Not implying that anyone else is a thief but it's too high a risk for us, especially as we would be unable to replace the car for some time. Also, regrettably, i had to eject a potential customer from the driver's seat a fortnight ago when he refused my request to slow down as he was doing over 100 kph in a 60 zone in a matter of seconds and was in the process of dropping the clutch and about to plant his foot to the floor in third gear - i basically had to yell at him to get his attention and summarily drove him back to the dealership where he was asked to leave.

Now, granted you may not be 18 years old, neither was the person i stopped driving our car, as a matter of fact he is a gold c class licence holder. So far i have had more courtesy shown to our bosses property by younger people than more supposedly mature adults.

The problem with this type of vehicle is that tonnes of people have invested alot of their dreams into owning one and let's face it - the car is very exciting to drive, unfortunately this also seems to bring out the worst in people. The allure of the 86/BRZ is very powerful and of course people want to push it a bit, they've been waiting for over 2 years. We understand that, however, if we lose some clients because we are careful with our cars then so be it. Experience has taught us what we should and shouldn't do.

No disrespect intended and you may very well be the exception to the rule here but we'd have to be nuts to let people test drive this car solo, it's just asking for trouble.

totally agree, this is not a debate between salesman and customers, we all love this car, we all want one, but when you have thiefs/hoons/tire kickers, how do you sort out the real buyers?
insurance is a big issue, so is a car that you need to demonstrate - no good if it has been written off or in an accident

when i was at BMW, every Saturday in fine weather you would have customers that insists taking the 330 convertible by themselves for a few hours. Guess what they wanted to do? Cruise down a local strip and have their lattes showing off a car that was not theirs.

if you were a buyer but time wasters were test driving the cars before you for 2 hours, would you like the buying experience?

lets face it, people love to drive cars to see what it feels like, we get customers who are buying in 12 months time and want to drive 3 different cars - would you drive them?

lots of people complain, yet they are not buying

[BRAWL]

I test drove it no problems with the salesman in the car and only needed 15 minutes in an auto to know I wanted one (in manual).

After signing up to buy, he then brought a manual one around to my house so that I test that. He did not have to do it, but it was a nice touch.

[coyote]

Dealers simply can't afford to hand out keys to these cars, considering the demand and supply constraints and the demographic we are talking about.

Ironically, my neighbour spent the weekend driving a brand new Mercedes. He was in the dealership kicking tyres, so they handed him the keys and just asked that he bring it back sometime next week.

Mercs have come a long way in the past few years and I reckon the fact he now knows he'll be happy with that car may mean he buys it. He wouldn't have gotten that for a 10 minute test.