# Car dealerships and searchlights **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289 "2004-02-15T03:10:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/1 "2004-02-15T03:10:42Z")
My wife and I were on our way out to dinner the other night when we noticed a searchlight scanning the skies. We decided to follow it to see where it led. We arrived at a local car dealer. I said, “Hey, honey, they’ve got a searchlight!! Let’s forget about dinner and buy ourselves a BRAND NEW CAR!” Just kidding. Ok, is this what the dealer thinks is going to happen? Why do they do it? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/2 "2004-02-15T03:35:29Z")
To get your attention, a ploy which has now suceeded. Of course you didn’t buy a car on the spot, but next time you are going to buy a car, that dealership may now come to mind, which it may not have before. Flags, balloons, shiny objects, they try them all. ---
**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/3 "2004-02-15T04:23:37Z")
Maybe they were trying to send a signal to Batman ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_Samaritan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bad\_Samaritan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Samaritan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/4 "2004-02-15T06:47:52Z")
Another ludicrous ploy of auto dealers are the huge balloons. In my old hometown, two competing dealers regularly dragged out their gigantic Godzilla and King Kong blowup dolls and advertised “car wars”. ---
**Author:** ![Arturius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Arturius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arturius)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/5 "2004-02-15T12:36:24Z")
because now when you need a new car, you’ll remember where that light was, and hows there lots of cars down there. Good ploy. ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/6 "2004-02-15T19:03:24Z")
I miss the old plastic ‘propellers’ on a wire. I always wondered, as a kid, do those things have a name? and are they produced just to surround (usually used) car lots? ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/7 "2004-02-16T21:55:05Z")
Well how else could you possibly have found the car dealer in the dark? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/8 "2004-02-17T02:46:08Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > My wife and I were on our way out to dinner the other night when we noticed a searchlight scanning the skies. We decided to follow it to see where it led. We arrived at a local car dealer. I said, “Hey, honey, they’ve got a searchlight!! Let’s forget about dinner and buy ourselves a BRAND NEW CAR!” > > Just kidding. > > Ok, is this what the dealer thinks is going to happen? Why do they do it? Was it the dealership on Rte 7 in Tysons Corner? I was just out in front of my building (in Reston) and could see the lights moving on the clouds. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/9 "2004-02-17T03:30:59Z")
> [@bradministrator](#): > > Was it the dealership on Rte 7 in Tysons Corner? I was just out in front of my building (in Reston) and could see the lights moving on the clouds. That’s the one 🙂 I looked out my den window tonight seeing it. We live near Old Courthouse and 123. There are several on Rte 7, I don’t remember if this is the Toyota dealer or the one just east of it. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-dealerships-and-searchlights/229289/10 "2004-02-17T13:57:05Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > That’s the one 🙂 I looked out my den window tonight seeing it. We live near Old Courthouse and 123. > There are several on Rte 7, I don’t remember if this is the Toyota dealer or the one just east of it. I think it’s the Chevy/Pontiac dealer on 123 right between the toilet seat building and Rte 7. I grew up in a neighborhood not far from there, on the other side of the golf course. Funny coincidence that this is being discussed-- on Sunday I saw similar lights in the sky near Minneapolis and thought, “Must be a car dealership.” Those lights must annoy the hell out of pilots! And astronomers too, I suppose.