I’ve spent the last week shopping for a car. Which was complicated by the fact that I wanted a manual transmission so the selection was more limited. But after a test drive one salesman asked why I only wanted a manual. After I told him that manuals are more fun to drive he commented that I actually know how to drive one and that often people who try to test-drive a stick are terrible at driving them and keep making excuses throughout the ride. Which brings me to my question: how often during a test-drive are you horrified by the driving skills or habits of the customer? Ever gotten in an accident during a test-drive?
Not with a car, but back when I sold RVs, I had a customer take out a Winnebago View, which is a smallish Class B+ motorhome on the Sprinter chassis, and which are a bit top heavy. She ripped around a corner and down an on ramp and I swear the thing was about to come up on two wheels. Scared the shit out of me. Why is it that people think that rapid acceleration and stomping on the brakes is a good way to test a new car?
Because cruising down a straight road at 40 mph basically just tells me how well the AC and radio work?
Although treating a Winnebago like a Maseratti is a bit much.
- Because I want a car that has the ability to accelerate quickly enough for my tastes
- Because I want to feel if the cars pulls when I step sharply on the brakes.
Every manual I’ve ever driven has slightly different shift points, clutch pressure, etc., so I’m not surprised that a car salesperson sees more than his/her fair share of stalls. It sounds to me like this guy was just trying to stroke your ego to help the sale.
Not in car sales but service. So many times a customer would drive me around to show me the funny noise the car was making and apparenly it only makes that noise at 60 miles an hour around corners on city streets! Yikes!
Quite possibly part of his charm the customer routine but if so it failed. The car didn’t have enough power for me and I ended up buying elsewhere. But still, I’ve seen lots of lousy drivers on the road, they must all have bought their cars somewhere. Are they better drivers when they know there’s someone watching or do they drift out of the lane and cut people off during a test-drive too?
Well, you really need to give a guy some warning before doing it.
I always do the accellerate and brake thing when test driving, but I provide warning before the test drive that I plan on doing it, and find a parking lot or other safe area to do these things in, again with warning just before.
I asked one car salspperson this very question, and she told me that they average minor fender benders about once a month, and major ones (injury, write offs) extremely rarely. She did add that she has had several customers drive very aggresively while asking questions like “So, if i slow down, will you take $5000 off?”. She tells them, “No, I will ask you to stop, and then phone the police if you persist in dangerous driving.”
It’s absolutely necessary. I want to know how the car will behave if I need to do an emergency stop. I do, of course, let the salesman know beforehand what I’m going to do. And if he refuses to let me do it without good reason, then it’s NO SALE. Similarly, I need to know how well it accelerates out of danger.