Chevy refused a test drive

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Background: I received the airbag recall for my duramax truck, called my local Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids where I bought the truck brand new and they set me up with an appt.

While I was waiting I thought I would check out 2017 Duramax's as my oldest is going to driving soon.
I picked a sales guy in random and request a test drive.
He asked if I was going to buy one today, to which I was truthful and said nope.
The sale guy then became very short and started shouting that he is not going to let me "joy ride" in a $60k truck.
What the flip, I was in disbelief, I thanked him and asked for my lic back and walked out of there.

Good Bye chevy, you not going to see my casino winnings anymore!
 
You should have taken his card and said you will pass it around for your friends and family to not see him considering how rude he was. I think saying your son is coming to driving age and you were interested to see how it improved since your vehicle would have been more honest/got you a drive.
 
What you should have done was explained to the owner/ manager how this salesman lost them your business.
 
I have no love for dealer salespeople but if you don't have an intention to buy, you're just wasting their time asking for a test drive. Yes he was unprofessional with his reaction but just asking him in the first place was somewhat pointless.
 
There are dealers that I will never set foot in again due to some of the sales staff. When we were looking for our new car I spent quite a bit of time online looking for vehicles, just to go to the dealer and have nobody assist me. I am sure that being 21 did not help the situation. However, considering we NEEDED a new car it doesn't matter what your age is, or in this case what the value of the vehicle is. If it were a new Camaro ZL1 or the like I would understand. There are numerous situations where people go in to have their car serviced and drive off in a new vehicle. Keeping your eyes open and simply seeing if you like that vehicle is a good idea. That salesman is clearly not a good one!
 
Always reply, "yes, I would buy today if the price were right." And that's always truthful...even if your personal "goal" is 50% of MSRP.
wink.gif
 
Lots of dealers I've been to have not let me drive a car when requested, I'm the type of person that can't make a decision on the spot and I'm upfront about that, I need to drive the car and go home and think about it, my last round of car shopping I had really wanted an Audi A3, luckily the local Audi dealer threw me the keys to a brand new one and said I should at least drive one since they didn't have any used ones for me to look at.

I was all over the map at that point and one local Chev dealer refused to let me drive an Impala unless I was ready to make an offer to which I replied I can't make an offer if I can't decide if I like the car and I left without a test drive.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
The salesguy acted unprofessionally, however if you just answered "nope" then how is the guy supposed to know you are a returning customer or that you will be buying soon?


That “buy one today” question is a [censored] sales practice anyhow, Anybody ask me that kind of [censored] question gets branded swindler and gets a smart-alecky answer. Don’t want a stupid answer, don’t ask a stupid question.



Originally Posted By: umungus1122
What you should have done was explained to the owner/ manager how this salesman lost them your business.


Yep.

And Chevy didn’t refuse a test drive, a Chevy salesman did, not a very good one apparently.
 
Originally Posted By: seanf


I was all over the map at that point and one local Chev dealer refused to let me drive an Impala unless I was ready to make an offer to which I replied I can't make an offer if I can't decide if I like the car and I left without a test drive.


This I never understood. How can I make a decision on a vehicle if I've never driven it? Some sales people are just morons. I went with a friend to a local Nissan dealer. Before even doing a test drive the salesman stated "all of the dealerships in this area are very competitive, so we can only negotiate the price by maybe $100". My friend laughed and said "okay, then we will find a dealer that will negotiate".

I usually pay cash for vehicles, so I also hate that they ask "What would you like your monthly payment to be?" as soon as I walk through the door. I usually respond with "$0 would be nice".
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
The salesguy acted unprofessionally, however if you just answered "nope" then how is the guy supposed to know you are a returning customer or that you will be buying soon?


Yeah, the saleguy was probably in some kind of rotation for customers. If he wasn't buying today, he could be next in line for the next customer and because he's out on a test drive with someone who's not buying, then he could be losing out on a sale to someone who is.

In real estate, this is sometimes referred to as the $5000 lunch. You go to lunch and miss a customer that could have lead to a $5k commission. Salesguy just wanted to work the good leads, not the long term ones.
 
Dealers can really suck.

My wife and I walked into our small town's Chevy dealer wanting to look at a few cars, and told them I was ready to buy one. I told them I had recently drove 45 minutes away to test drive some Toyota's and Honda's....but I really wanted to support my local dealer.

I got the worst treatment and customer service. It was unbelievable.

I got the sales manager and told him I was a cash buyer and he just got lost my local business. I opened a bank bag that was in my wife's purse and showed him $30k in cash. And walked out. I went back to the Honda dealer and bought that Accord.
 
Originally Posted By: seanf
Lots of dealers I've been to have not let me drive a car when requested, I'm the type of person that can't make a decision on the spot and I'm upfront about that, I need to drive the car and go home and think about it, my last round of car shopping I had really wanted an Audi A3, luckily the local Audi dealer threw me the keys to a brand new one and said I should at least drive one since they didn't have any used ones for me to look at.

I was all over the map at that point and one local Chev dealer refused to let me drive an Impala unless I was ready to make an offer to which I replied I can't make an offer if I can't decide if I like the car and I left without a test drive.


That's how I am too. Only a fool is an impulse buyer,especially when laying down tens of thousands of dollars. I've always been lucky,every car I've looked at,the salesperson throws me the keys and says to go check it out and to take my time.
 
I wanted to buy a brand new sentra in 2016. I had enough saved up to pay for over 50% of the car... They wouldn't let me test drive one, probably because I looked young. And they tried to talk me into buying a CVT over the manual transmission I wanted. Never went back there again, even for parts for my other vehicles.
 
I have never once gone for a test drive with the intention of buying that day and have never been asked such a stupid question by a salesman. That is old school arm twisting that only works on weak minded people who aren't willing to stand up for themselves.

I did have an interesting experience at a Chevy dealer once when I went to test drive an Equinox V6 and was told that nobody was buying those because of gas prices and I should get one of the 4s. I told them I had no interest in an underpowered vehicle like that and he said that was all they had on the lot...I asked when then might have a V6 around to drive and got a shrug and a dunno. I just said OK and walked out, never to return...
Probably smart on their end as I had already taken a good look at the cargo area on a 4 and was amazed by how much potentially usable space had been wasted around the rear wheel wells, didn't look like a great design for stuffing a double ski bag into. Just very surprised that the salesman was not willing to lift a finger to chase down a sale...
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Background: I received the airbag recall for my duramax truck, called my local Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids where I bought the truck brand new and they set me up with an appt.

While I was waiting I thought I would check out 2017 Duramax's as my oldest is going to driving soon.
I picked a sales guy in random and request a test drive.
He asked if I was going to buy one today, to which I was truthful and said nope.
The sale guy then became very short and started shouting that he is not going to let me "joy ride" in a $60k truck.
What the flip, I was in disbelief, I thanked him and asked for my lic back and walked out of there.

Good Bye chevy, you not going to see my casino winnings anymore!



That salesman was definitely a douche bag. For all he knew,you could've planned on showing up the next morning to purchase the truck if you liked it after the test drive. I'm willing to bet he'll be gone soon.
 
I have generally found that salespeople reflect the climate of the dealership.
If he is on the floor and responded to you like that, management may be fine with that because they put him on the floor in the first place. You found out quickly that that dealership views customers as a mark.
However,you simply should have said " I'm going to drive the Ford and the Ram before I make any decisions, would you like me to consider a Chevy or not?" whether you were going to buy that day or not.
Car dealerships are a dime a dozen. Find one that is less sleazy. It is their job to please you, not your job to please them.
 
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