Take a free ride: Test-driving cars with NO intention of buying a car!

Great Debates
1

First of all, some background: A Usenet site that I go to had a reg post about how if you gave an Oldsmobile Alero a test drive, they will give you a %50 gift certificate to CDNow.

Needless to say, I signed up! I was told that the sales staffs at the lots hated those programs, and they would simply sign the papers to get you out of there without wasting any of their time. This sounded good to me! That’s $50 iin music for a ride over there!

So after work, I headed down to the dealer. A guy asked me if I needed any help. I showed him my certificate, thinking he would know the score. Instead, he treated me like gasp a real customer!!!

We talked, he asked me all kinds of questions (I lied about when I would be done paying off my current vehicle, and also about the fact that I probably couldn’t afford a car with a $20,000 price tag). He was friendly, answered some questions that I had, told me about his wife, how Ford was discontinuing the Escort, and of course, walked all the way to the cars, got the exact one that I picked out, went back to get the keys, came back and sat with me as I drove it for a bit. He spent at least 30 minutes with me exclusively.

Anyway, this guy was nice. And in my head, I imagined some real customer coming up and another sales guy snagging him, and this poor guy, doing his job (and doing it well) was being taken AWAY from that persoon by me, Mr. CD Boy.

Needless to say, I felt like dirt. So I ask here about the ethics of what I did.

One one hand, they make the offer. They should expect people to drive their car who might not otherwise - and this might get them to purchase their car - maybe down the line if nothing else.

Who knows? Maybe when it does come time to get a car, I go there first for a cheaper car, but still to that guy, because of the impression he made on me? I cannot discount that totally, and I do have his business card.

On the other hand, it is most unlikely that I will be getting a car within the next 1 1/2 years, and I took up this guys work time just so I could get some CDs.

What do you think is right here? Have any of you done this? Any thoughts on how it went when you did? Would you do this? Or am I an asshole?

Yer pal,
Satan

http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif

TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
One week, one day, 22 hours, 53 minutes and 35 seconds.
358 cigarettes not smoked, saving $44.77.
Life saved: 1 day, 5 hours, 50 minutes.

2

It’s cool.

An excellent salesman like you described is just working the numbers and planting a seed.

Somebody like you is going to walk in there wanting some CDs and end up with a car.

It evens out.

3

The real question is: Would he let you deactivate the “lethal” passenger-side airbag?
– tracer, hijackin’ one Great Debate into another.

4

I’ve always felt bad about doing things like that. It takes someone with a flexible moral fiber.

However, in your case I really do think it was okay, at least you let him give his best shot at selling it. The people who want to get in there, and get the free gift, and leave are the ones that bother me. Except the lie. I wouldn’t put it past satan though. Hehe, I probably would have done the same thing.

At least it sticks in your mind, i doubt they sell cares on the first visit anyway. This is probably a drop in the bucket. The gift… chump change… and the time? Although I understand your point, they probably waste a lot of time on people who just want to drive the cars without a free gift.

To sum up my chaotic blurb. You did okay, at least you thought about the situation, and you’re getting the free cd’s.

Satan = Mr. CD Boy.

I’ll not soon forget that. :slight_smile:

The Urge

I’m never alone, I’m alone all the time are you at one, or do you lie?

5

I can see where you’d feel a little crummy about keeping the guy from paying customers, Brian, but look at it this way:

Every time you hear somebody talking about how they’re going to go car shopping, tell them about this great salesperson you ran into and how helpful and knowledgable he was. You may not be buying a car from him, but you can recommend him to people that just might bring him business. The word of mouth advertising you could do for him could more than make up for the half an hour of his time that you took.

6

Asshole :smiley:

Ow! Hey! Stop it!

I was kidding!

The SDMB Smoke-Out Continues
Delta-9 Stats
1 week, 1 Day, 10 hours, 14 minutes and 38 seconds
168 cigarettes not smoked, saving me $33.71
Life Saved: 14 hours

7

Promotions like that are designed specifically to get people onto the lot that wouldn’t otherwise. Think about it–say Olds makes about a $10,000 profit on that car. (wild estimation) If one person out of 200 who takes them up on the offer buys an Alero when he wouldn’t have otherwise, it’s worth it to them.

Also, if you go at a time when they’re not busy (say, a weekday morning), you’re probably not keeping him from another customer–you’re probably keeping him from sitting on his duff doing nothing.

Olds ran a similar promotion for $50 from buy.com a few months ago. It was about the same time Phish came out with their rather expensive new box set. Phish fans being largely impoverished neo-hippies, there was much discussion on the Phish.net about how one could go about getting “Hampton Comes Alive” on the cheap. Someone brought up this offer, which would almost exactly pay for the set and shipping. The thought of all those heads going to test drive Oldsmobiles cracked me up.

I’ve done this a few years in a row to get free tickets to our local bluegrass festival, and I’ve been known to get out and test drive cars for the hell of it. (Tell them you’re a med student, and they’ll let you drive anything on the lot. Remember that.)

By the way, got that link? I could use some CD–I mean, an Oldsmobile. :slight_smile:

Dr. J

“Seriously, baby, I can prescribe anything I want!” -Dr. Nick Riviera

8

Listen up, children. I have a story to share.

Today, I get out of class early, and decide to pick up lunch. Problem is, I needed money, so I had to stop at an ATM, which involved me walking slightly out of my way through the Oval. There were several groups out–one selling Earth Day t-shirts, another trying to hand me coupons for something-or-other that I paid no attention to.

And then I saw the tables. And the signs. The first one I noticed said “Myth #8: Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead,” and gave a bunch of Bible verses to explain the “myth.” I was intrigued, to say the least. So I looked at the tables, and noticed they were giving away free Bibles. These things looked like they’d sell for about $14 at Barnes and Noble–softcover, really nice. I was all over that one. I grabbed a free Bible, ignored them when they offered me information on Bible study, and high-tailed it out of there. On my way very far away from those people, one managed to hand me a coupon for Chick-fil-A, chirping “Jesus loves you!” as I stalked off.

I didn’t really feel bad about this right away. Then I stopped at the ATM, and got my first taste of the fact that I might have done something wrong. Staring at me from the button panel was a sticker. It’s hard to describe, so I’m going to scan it in later (yes, I stole the sticker too–I look at it as cleaning up graffiti). It’s a rather righteous-looking drop of water holding a Bible in one hand and what appears to be a power drill (maybe an electric toothbrush?) in the other. I shudder at the symbolism. And then, right after I pick up my money and start walking toward the bagel place, I notice a small piece of paper blowing in the breeze at my feet. I bend down to pick it up. It’s a tract called “THE HIDDEN SYMBOLISM OF THE DOLLAR.” This tract contains such gems as “Those who worship the dollar (and they are many–in fact most of American society) are Satanists,” and “THE BANKS OF THE WORLD ANSEWR TO A SECRET SOCIETY CALLED THE SKULLS.” As much as I want to say that someone’s been watching too many horror flicks, I couldn’t help but notice that I found this thing about a half a block away from stopping at the ATM.

Think what you want about the morals involved in taking a half-hour of some poor car salesman’s time. At least you didn’t rip off Christ.

9

Doctor J (and those of similar immorals): The site is www.alero.com . However, it is too late to sign up. Sorry…

Drain Bead: I’m sure Christ will forgive you. I hear that’s His forte…

Yer pal,
Satan

http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif

I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
One week, two days, 15 hours, 36 minutes and 47 seconds.
386 cigarettes not smoked, saving $48.25.
Life saved: 1 day, 8 hours, 10 minutes.

10

I’ve often left my Bible in the car without locking it. I’ve always figured that if someone steals it, they need it!

Tinker

I was gonna say “need it more than I”, but …

11

Satan there is no such thing as bad advertising. The idea is to expose the public to Oldsmobiles. They accomplished that.

Keep kicking that nicotine’s ass.

One of the few to be personally welcomed to this board by Ed Zotti.

Yours truly,
aha

12

Satan: I don’t think I’d do it; I’d be uncomfortable taking up someone’s time without intent to buy. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong; if they’re willing to give you $50 to test drive a car, then it must be worth $50 for you to test drive their car. It’s not like they’re in the charity business. Now, the lying was kinda immoral. Perhaps not quite asshole level, but still not exactly a shining example of humanity. I think that part of the deal for getting the $50 was a implicit agreement to provide them with relevant information that they could apply towards trying to sell you a car. By not providing that information, you didn’t completely fulfill your part of the bargain. Of course, I’m sure that they offered the deal knowing that many people wouldn’t fulfill their end.

Drain Bead:
I don’t think you should feel guilty. If you don’t read the Bible, it isn’t any use to you. And if you do read it, then the NTEs get what they wanted. I have a story, and I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I thought it might make you feel better.
A guy sees someone offering to debate anyone on Christianity. They get into a discussion, during the course of which the Christian mentions that he stands by everything in the Bible. So the other guy asks for his watch, quoting a passage to the effect of “Whatever anyone asks of you, give up gladly”. So the Christian, rather than backing down, gives the guy his watch.

P.S. We’re having a smoke out? Can I join in? :slight_smile:

13

::Fighting urge to point out irony of Satan feeling guilty::

Sounds a lot like those resorts that offer you a free toaster or whatever to sit through their marketing spiel… I probably wouldn’t personally do it if I had no intention of buying. If I did, I’d want to tell the guy at the beginning that I really just wanted the free CD’s and maybe spare him the time. I won’t say what you did was right or wrong because frankly I don’t know. It’s kind of a grey area, like whether it’s right or wrong to… I don’t know… troll the MB? (OK, bad example) I would tend to err on the side of caution, but that’s just how I am. Given how you felt afterward, would you do it again if another similar promotion was offered?

And the real question is, of course, how was the test drive? And what CD’s did you buy?

Drain Bead–maybe I’m just being dense, but what did you think the “righteous-looking drop of water” symbolized? Was there some sort of caption like “Drop your electric toothbrush in your sink and you might need this bible”?

14

Satan,

I’ve read this post with interest. You ask good questions!

But I think that the whole CD thing confuses the issue.

Let’s assume that TV-Warehouse sells TV’s and that the salesmen are paid on comission. I walk in, with no intent to buy, intending instead to just ask some questions so that I can discuss it with my wife and come back next week to buy. Do I need to tell the salesman that I’m not buying today? Obviously not.

Now, what if I have no intention of ever buying a TV at TV-Warehouse - instead I am checking prices and features before buying one on the 'net? Is anything about the transaction different? I don’t think so.

If I was feeling righteous, I might try to let the salesman know beforehand that I am definitely not going to buy from him, but, even if I did, he’s have to be a real poopyhead (deference to new SDMB guidelines) to not answer my questions.

Salesmen play the numbers - they never know who is looking to buy and who isn’t. And, they figure, neither do you! You might have been so impressed with him that…
(blah blah blah - it’s been posted already).

Did this help?

15

Id rather RENT the car from a car rental place & see how I like it.

CDNow won’t last the month, they said in today’s paper.

16

lol… you actually believe what the newspaper tells you? They arent interested in the truth… just a story :slight_smile:

Cd now is due to run out of money though :slight_smile: Most internet companys are (but then im suprised amazon is still around :))

17

I’ll agree with everybody else (or almost everybody) on this. I did something similar once (went to a car dealer for a promotion, they were giving away a TV at a drawing.) When you signed up for the gift certificate, I imagine you weren’t asked if you were going to buy a car or say “this offer is only valid if you’re buying a car in the next year”.

But I don’t see the need to lie to the salesman. Why not just tell him “I would be interested in test driving an Alero, but I’m not really looking to buy a car right now and I doubt I could afford an Alero anyway?” Maybe you would have wasted less of the salesman’s time.

18

sdimbert- I think that there’s a difference between ommission (not telling a salesman somthing) and comminsion (telling him something that’s false).

19

Anything from the return of the Great Flood to the idea that God might punish me for this by sticking me in the middle of a rainstorm with no umbrella while wearing a white t-shirt. (an umbrella! Maybe that’s what the object was!)

Either way, the interpretations are diverse and rather baffling. And amusing, but I was hoping that point got across on the first reading.

20

Drain Bead, if you do get stuck in the middle of a rainstorm with no umbrella while wearing a white t-shirt, will you take a picture and post it here? :wink: