I have bought three new cars from The Collection in Coral Gables and they have always been polite, courteous and throw great launch parties. Perhaps six months ago I decided to go over to their used car lot which is about a block from the nice new car showroom. I was debating trading my 997.2 for a used turbo or GT3 and being that they had one of each on the lot I decided I would drive both and then come to a decision as to how to proceed. The salesman there whose name I did not catch told me that no test drives were permitted until "we agree on a price". He basically meant you must committ to buying the car first and then they will let you drive it. Of course this is absurd so I walked out and shot off a letter to the manager Ken Gorin since i am sure he would be interested in buyers being chased off the lot. He was, and I did get a very apologetic phone call a couple of days later. I thought I had helped correct the problem for future buyers who may visit there. Wrong! So yesterday a friend of mine who I went to a ball game with told me he too had been at the Collection's used car lot looking at a 2010 Cayenne. A salesman there "Ozzie" also told him that he would not be permitted to drive any of the cars until a commitment was made to buy. Of course my friend walked out and as we speak is at another dealer buying a Cayenne. While at the game he simply could not believe that a reputable dealer would condone or allow this type of thing to go on and I for one am at a loss as well. How can anyone possibly be expected to commit buy something without even driving it?

 

Just ridiculous. Time for one more email and then move on. Why waste time with bimbos.

 

Truly absurd scenario.....

 

its called a high pressure sales philosophy and obviously promoted by the dealership to its salesman

 

+1 What he said!

 

see thats the stuff they try to pull on me cause Im young.. yet I never mentioned anything about test driving the car to them in the first place. I simply am browsing... if I see something I like then I would discuss price and then if it seems reasonable , test drive. but they jump the gun thinking I am looking for a joy ride... quite a few dealers have lost sales from me

 

My guess is that the policy varies among dealers and maybe also salespeople. Might also depend on how serious the customer looks, which is a good reason to pull up to the dealer in your best car.

My local Porsche dealer had no issues with my doing more than 20 test drives over more than a year, and the salesperson never went with me for any of those test drives. He won my loyalty (I didn't even visit other dealers), got the sale, and a nice commission (I didn't nickel and dime him on the price). Definitely not a stealership.

 

^ worst experience I ever had was going to look at a terminator cobra.. the guy asked me if i was just looking to go for a joy ride.. then asked me what year my viper was (i was driving a corvette z06) and then looked out the window and said ... I dont see the car must be sold...i bugged out he then found it in the shop and the car was destroyed (and they were selling it that way)

that was a fail !

 

I also went to another dealer 40 miles away yesterday and the difference was night and day. They were laid back and handed me the keys to a brand new 911 GTS with 9 miles on it to drive "as long as I wanted" by myself. That is where I will be buying cars from now on. It's a shame since the other dealer is literally 5 blocks from my house.

 

I have the same problem with MB dealer near me... they suck ... there is no 2 ways about it.. which is a shame cause my fam got 5 cars from them before they went downhill... and it is 2 miles from my house.. now we go up to another dealer which is maybe 30 mins -40 in traffic... night and day such a nice dealer respectful treat you well go out of their way for you !

 

We once got an SLK for my wife, and they had to get the car shipped from another dealer. There was a delay in shipping it, and it was my wife's birthday, so they gave us a brand new one from their lot to drive for a week until ours came in. We felt bad about putting a lot of miles on a new car, but the dealer insisted. I've been their loyal customer ever since.

 

funny my dad ordered my mom a c300 sport 4wd.. nothing special but like 40k car. car will be in in couple weeks well call you. month? month n half? two months no call? my dad calls.. the salesmen says he doesnt even remember who my dad is ... doesnt recall talking to him and their r no orders in teh system...


they feel bad. say were gonna get you what you want its in PA well ahve it in a day..

1 day 2 day 3 day .. etc; no call ... we go there and bug out .. the sales manager who ordered it for us is on vaca... wheres the car ? we dont know... its now in OHIO .. and will take 7 days to get...

it was 6 hrs from the dealer... why was it takin a week to do a dealer swap??

was not satisifed ! but he got it form them ....but never again !

 

My local Porsche dealer was awesome. Not so much for the BMW one. Met the Internet sales manager for a test drive around the block. Even though I told her the exact color I wanted and she insisted they have that car, I show up and mysteriously it's not in the lot. Huh? Scratching her head like wow it was here this morning! I drove 120 miles to a different dealership. They sold me the exact car I wanted at invoice no hassle and were extremely friendly. The other dealership calls me and despite having quoted me 4K higher than what we had discussed, magically she has the car I want at the same price. After I tell her I am buying the car elsewhere she proceeds to irately tell me how unfair it test drove the car with her (all of quarter of a mile) and bought it elsewhere and if I bring the car there for service I won't get a loaner vehicle from them.

 

Curious...did you buy the previous 3 cars from the same salesperson? Because that person would have to be some kind of idiot to blow you off like that, if you went back to him to test drive the fourth one?

 

my parents had diff sales people each time... thats another not necessarily good sign if their salesperson retention rate is ridiculously low !